By Rich
Recently I’ve been lucky enough to steer a variety of sailboats nearly back-to-back, and I’ve been amazed at how different each helm felt. Most of the differences can be traced to the boats’ widely varied rudder designs, which caused me to ponder the challenges naval architects face in designing them. Continue reading Reflections on Yacht Design: Rudders
By Rich
I was able to hunt down and identify the make and model of the French production boat I “raced” earlier in the week, which I observed making significant leeway relative to my Sabre while sailing upwind in a stiff breeze. Continue reading How Not To Design A Cruising Boat Keel
By Rich
Stay with me here, because even I think I sound a bit like an old fart with this line of reasoning. It could well be that we all have an affinity for things that remind us our our youth. A such, I could just be getting old and prone to lamenting the passing of the “good old days.” But just in case I might be right, let me pose the following question for debate: have the best-sailing cruising boat designs that history will ever record already been built? Are marketing and other business considerations distorting contemporary yacht design away from the best hull forms in a manner similar to the way the IOR racing rule distorted 1970s designs? Here is one article, and another that can serve as primers for the discussion. Continue reading The Late 1980s: The Golden Age Of Yacht Design?
By Rich
It’s Sunday afternoon at the 2015 United States Sailboat Show, and I’ve just met a man on the verge of putting a deposit down on a new Jeanneau. When I ask why he is interested in selling his current boat in favor of the Jeanneau, his answer is blunt:
“It sails like shit.” Continue reading “It Sails Like S–t.”
