This is an article from Good Old Boat (a magazine we like a lot), written by Rob Mazza. Good Old Boat and Rob have graciously allowed us to republish it for OCH members.
Nothing looks quite as “yachtie” or traditional as a clipper bow with its long bowsprit pointing the way ahead. Some of the most classic designs through the history of sailing have sported clipper bows, from the little Friendship sloop to the magnificent designs of L. Francis Herreshoff and Bill Garden. Clipper bows don’t have to have bowsprits (that configuration is known as a “bad” clipper), but the bowsprit does seem like the logical extension of the line of the bow as it arches compellingly forward. However, we must remember that yacht design — like architecture, art, music, fashion, and automotive design — does evolve over time and go through “periods,” so trying to define what exactly constitutes “good” design in any of these various disciplines can be a moving target. Every time I visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, I’m bowled over by the large Jackson Pollock pantings. But even he once asked himself, “Is this art?” Tastes change and, as we will see here in the case of yachts, they often change and evolve in line with shapes defined originally for racing. This evolution does not always move in a straight line but, in some cases, in what looks like a circle.
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Edgar Boyd says:
Very interesting. I really enjoy this sort of essay.
EB
David Tew says:
You mention bald-headed clipper bows. I’ve always been an admirer of Phil Rhodes’ take on those: the Vagabondia series and Thunderhead and her near sisters. http://astro.temple.edu/~bstavis/pr/vagabondia38.htm
Mark Kellogg says:
May I interject into this fine article the name of C. Raymond Hunt who, without regard to any of the prevalent rules of his time, introduced the plum bow International 110, the International 225, the 37′ cruising sloop Huntress, and the 1010 in the years 1939-1941. Each of these plum bows fit into the period between the 6 Meter (which Hunt raced) and the Bounty II of 1956. Yet one marvel of this creative inventor is that he also drew the lines of Design Number 14, the beloved Concordia yawls and sloops during the same years.
Larry Cheek says:
Since I grew up in the godforsaken desert of West Texas and never even saw a boat before I was 14, my tastes were hardly solidified as an adolescent. I began to notice and become interested in boats only after I moved to the Seattle area 20 years ago when I was in my 40s. While I can appreciate the functional purity of the current trend of plumb bow/high freeboard/Bauhaus-like slab sided sailing yachts, aesthetically I find them graceless and drearily repetitive. They look like appliances, while boats designed by Herreshoff, B.B. Crowninshield, Hunt (the above-mentioned Concordia yawl), Iain Oughtred and many others are unquestionably works of art.
I’m OK with workboats and racing boats being less than beautiful in pursuit of a functional objective. But a pleasure boat should give pleasure—it’s that simple. There’s no excuse for the white floating slabs.
Samuel Anderson says:
Re: Dave S. and Gerry Douglas — it’s always satisfactory to see one’s own precepts celebrated by others! I agree absolutely that what’s in vogue at age 14 establishes a person’s taste in yacht design forever. I was born in 1933 and for me there can never be a more beautiful design than the Concordia yawls of my teenage years. A memorable day twenty years ago spent with Waldo Howland exploring the boats and boatyards of the Buzzards Bay region served only to confirm that in every respect.
Dave S says:
Except for clipper ships, I was never into the racing scene, but I found the article very interesting. Reminds me of men and women’s fashion: everyone wants the latest and what goes around comes around. Also I enjoyed the Gerry Douglas quote, “a person’s tastes in yacht design are established at the age of 14 by the boats then in vogue.” I was born in 1948 and it explaines a lot of things about me.