tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1654421371514079156.post4238352868039001007..comments2022-10-16T12:07:22.825+01:00Comments on scottishislandsclass: The designer unconstrainedUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1654421371514079156.post-80976132902745035642012-10-10T12:05:21.241+01:002012-10-10T12:05:21.241+01:00Thanks for your comment Hal and I hope you're ...Thanks for your comment Hal and I hope you're all well over in Ireland. When I get a chance I'll do an updated post over at http://www.scottishboating.blogspot.com on this subject.Ewanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164790608082005605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1654421371514079156.post-2857997305796287722012-10-10T11:45:17.168+01:002012-10-10T11:45:17.168+01:00In 1893,John Coats Jr.commissioned the great G L W...In 1893,John Coats Jr.commissioned the great G L Watson, at the height of his career, to create two identical 36ft cutters purely for match racing. These were specifically not to be influenced by any rating rule, truly unconstrained. The result was the delightful clipper-bowed pair Gypsy and Brunette.In his extraordinary busy period,also designing the America's Cup challenger Valkyrie and Britannia II and a steam yacht of 1025 tons for Arthur H E Wood, he also managed to find time to occasionaly helm one of the pair in their frequent Saturday races. My beautiful Peggy Bawn, built the following season as a "fast cruiser" which could also race as a 2.5 Rater, is almost a sistership to the match racers. So she also represents an unconstrained design, from the Golden Age of Yacht design. Indeed her hull shape and hydrostatic paramerers conform closely to the "Britannia Ideal" which, for a sea-kindly sailing craft, persisted as a type right up to the late 1960s, until more powerful auxiliary engines caused sailing yacht design to move in the direction of quasi motor sailers. See also my foreword to Martin Black's "G L Watson--the Art & Science of Yacht Design".<br />Hal Sisk <br />PS Yachtsmen are slavish followers of fashion and most one designs reflected the style of recent racing craft. An classic example is the Dragon class, with unnecessary long U-shaped overhangs, looking backwards to racing rules which primarily measured waterline length. Hal Sisknoreply@blogger.com