naval architecture – Page 2 – stephenlirakis.com

copied from sailing anarchy. Clever plan.

THESE BOATS ARE NOT REALLY ANYTHING TO DO WITH 12 METERS.

Tom Ehman’s Golden Gate Yacht Club Challenge already made its first political change – it’s now known as the SF Yacht Racing Challenge to keep from pissing off the rest of the Bay Area clubs. One sneaky anarchist attended an Ehman presentation about this ‘outside the box’ event for the age-advanced, and here are the details we’ve scooped up:

+ The new class will be known as Super 12s, and will be more of a ‘Spirit of Tradition’ version of a 12 rather than a real one. A Grand Prix (post-1983) 12 above the waterline, a modern fin-keel yacht below. Carbon-composite hull, deck and rig.

+ Strict OD including deck hardware and sails (lesson learned from Volvo) for the obvious cost savings, as well as to make it a crew contest, not a design/budget battle. Draft will be under 10? – they’re shooting for 9’5? – both for access to area clubs and to commercial yards.

+ Boats are expected to be convertible to a charter life after their competitive lifespan ends.

+ Crews will have a strict nationality requirement (passports?) as well as an interesting diversity requirement: each crew will need to include a minimum of two women and two men as well as two aged 22 or younger, and one aged 62 or older. College sailors should be eligible through their senior year, and the total crew size will be 12.

+Teams will have to work with local YCs/marinas/yards to create a base in an existing facility – no building out of own piers for a team base that is separate from existing local sailing community

+ Fleet racing and match racing finals will take place on the San Francisco city front for 2 weeks in July, when average afternoon (1300-1800) wind speed on the Bay is 13kts or more virtually 100% of the time (13-30kts). There will be no upper wind limit; lower wind limit of 5 knots or so, though stats say it ain’t gonna happen much, if at all. “Hell or high water” is what we were told.

+An East Coast venue will likely come into play within the first couple of years, and our guess is an obvious one: Newport. We can see Annapolis trying to regain some of the luster they’ve lost as one of America’s real sailing cities…other than that pesky problem with having breeze.

+The boats should cost somewhere between 2 and 3 million, and the campaign another 500k to 1M.

Several Italians are apparently quite keen; we’d hope to see Vincenzo and Patrizio back in the kind of racing they both enjoy. Here’s an Italian take on it.

MY FIRST TRANSATLANTIC RACE

“Guinevere” an Alan Gurney design for George Moffett was launched in the spring of 1966 at Jackobson’s yacht yard in Oyster Bay, NY. I sailed my first Bermuda Race aboard her and again in 1968 another Bermuda Race and the Transatlantic race to Germany; the longest race I have ever sailed (24 days); finishing in Travemunde, Germany at the bottom of the Baltic.
George was a wonderful man and a fine helmsman.
Like any long race there are so many wonderful stories; which at this point in my life I have accumulated a few.

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SHAPE OF SPEED

The America’s Cup showcased foiling under sail; something no one can ever unsee. Foiling is the new standard. Swing keels are also a standard in the search to reduce wetted surface.

It is hard to imagine that “Charisma” was once the standard for speed under sail. Construction with aluminum lent itself to very strong boats that could be easily altered. “Charisma” was perhaps the penultimate IOR boat.

For ease of altering a boat nothing can beat aluminum. Carbon fiber is however in a class by itself for strength to weight ratio; making today’s yachts lighter and stronger than ever.

BUILDING A FAIRLIE 55

from loft to launch the story of building a boat.

CORONET 3 6 14

Progress on “Coronet” is moving along nicely, the planking is making it look like a boat.

A WAY OF LIFE OCEAN RACING

A look back at the “Whitbread Around The World Race 1973-74”. I knew so many of the sailors and had been invited to sail the race myself; however life does not always follow our plans.
Life at sea is a way of life. The greatest change apart from the boats in the now “Volvo race” is perhaps the food. I used to say I ate better on a boat than I did at home. That is no longer the case.

“CORONET” NEW YEAR’S EVE

An update of “Coronet” on New Year’s Eve. The framing is finished, the keelson is installed and the planking is underway. She is starting to look like a boat.

EVER CHANGING SHAPE OF SPEED

AMERICAN EAGLE REACHING THROUGH THE ANCHORAGE

THE GRAND PRIZE "THE ADMIRAL'S CUP" — THE GRAND PRIZE “THE ADMIRAL’S CUP”

Every sailor wants a boat that is faster than his opponent. An edge that allows for errors in judgment. The achievement has been interrupted often because of rating rules; which attempt to make unequal boats equal. The disparity has now grown to a point where it is silly. Not that it was ever perfect.

Uffa Fox sitting on the upper balcony of his house in Cowes watching over the boats returning from a day’s racing, worked towards planing hulls, light and strong.

Dick Carter, so well known for fast boats that two of his designs were chosen for Admiral’s Cup teams before they were finished; i.e. untested.

Süd Fischer’s “Ragamuffin” , for me was not only the fastest of her time but the best sailed.

The just finished America’s Cup has changed the paradigm of the search for speed under sail.

CARL EICHENLAUB

the passing of a legend

Carl Eichenlaub passed away early this morning. In a sport full of iconic figures, he stands with the best and most unique. Few people in the sport have the breadth and depth of his talent.

Any one of his many accomplishments would have made him worthy of inclusion in a list of greats. Champion sailor in the Snipe, Lightning, while also sailing in the Star, Soling, FD’s and IOR classes. As a builder of those boats, a few of which helped to change the face of the sport, perhaps most notably Doug Peterson’s “Ganbare”. Friend and mentor to literally thousands of people around the world.

Carl’s boat building skills were legendary. “In many ways Carl is a genius,” says Lowell North, a sailmaker who has three times sailed himself to a world championship in Eichenlaub Stars. “Although some sailors on the East Coast may not agree, we on the West Coast know that he is the best.” This quote was from an extensive Sports Illustrated article in 1965, the entirety of which is well worth reading, because it captures the essence of the man, which almost literally never changed. Anyone remember the slogan “Any slob can win in an Eichenlaub”?

Away from the sport he played classical music on a bassoon and contrabassoon with several different local orchestras. He loved the San Diego Chargers and NASCAR and in recent years had taken to traveling to what he called “Dog Regattas”, otherwise known to the rest of us as dog shows, with his wife Jean and their herd of dogs. A graduate of San Diego State in ’53, Carl is a member of the Intercollegiate Sailing Hall of Fame and is an SDSU Distinguished Alumni. He was 83 years old. He passed away quietly with Jean and his children Betty Sue Sherman and Brian close by.

While winning races and building great boats for customers is interesting, of far greater importance is the esteem with which he was held in the sport. Carl was the shipwright for the US Sailing team for decades. He always took care of the US team first every day, but after that work was done he would help sailors from other countries fix their boats. For the sort of service he gave to the sport in 2000 he was awarded US Sailing’s highest honor, the Herreshoff Award.

Many people will have words of tribute for Carl, and we thought it appropriate to start off with what Dennis Conner had to say about him this morning:

“Carl Eichenlaub was truly a genius. He could sail a bath tub down the San Diego river with a sheet as a sail. He built championship boat after champion boat for the Snipe, Lightning and Star class He could play in the orchestra, build a railroad, invent a cedar core spruce star mast, go to the Olympics and not only repair the damaged US boats but help the entire fleet, He could build, paint and launch an ocean racing boat capable of winning the SORC “STINGER”, in 30 days from start to finish! All this as well a being a great sailor, winning Championships from Sabot to Snipes to Lightnings. He inspired some of our very best sailors, Lowell North, Pete Bennett, Malin Burnham, Earl Elms in San Diego.. He will be remembered as being one of our greatest sailing talents, along with Lowell, Buddy and Bill Buchan.There will never be another Carl, he was simply the BEST!”

I was in San Diego just one month ago. I saw Carl’s Daughter and asked after him. She replied that he was at the boat shed working.

I first met Carl when I was in San Diego, rebuilding a Dragon for the Olympics. That was 1971. The boat had been built by Kelvin Savell, a close friend of Carl’s and another lover of classical music. Kelvin’s first love was building musical instruments, but boatbuilding gave him a living. Our paths crossed a number of times after that. When Carl was about to build his first aluminum hull, we spoke, I had just finished “Courageous” the 12 meter.

I told Betty Sue the story and how the idea of this remarkable group in San Diego was a thought that remained with me.

LET ASHLEY TRY OUT

I was supposed to be part of this video supporting Ashley Perrin’s bid for a place on the all women’s team in the next Volvo race. The timing didn’t work out. Here is the finished product.
Ashley was on the crew of “Tempest” the 80 foot Sparkman & Stephens ketch in the 2005 Transatlantic race. We won our class; without Ashley this would likely not have happened.

Category: naval architecture

NOT REALLY 12 METERS