During the post-World War II boom years of small-boat sailing, Yachting World promoted some 30 designs, most of which allowed for home construction in plywood.
The largest was the Yachting World Keelboat, later renamed the Yachting World Diamond.
'For years the editor dreamt of a planing keelboat,' the magazine later reported of the resulting Jack Holt design. The prototype, Zest, built by R&W Clark in East Cowes, 'was thoroughly tested in the hard winds and seas of the autumn and early winter of 1960 (and) surpassed the highest hopes of her. Two rigs were tested-masthead and a three quarter fractional rig - before a compromise was reached with a 7/8ths fractional.
Zest was exhibited at the London Boat Show the following January, after which it was reported that 'boats are being built by several yards as
well as by a number of amateurs'. Around the same time, Bristol Aeroplane Plastics Ltd began to mould GRP yachts and the first of these, Bristol I, helmed by Jack Knights, was overall winner in the Round the Island Race that July.
The following month, Knights recorded five wins in six races in a YW Keelboat class of seven yachts in Cowes Week.
In 1962, Bristol Aeroplane Plastics introduced a GRP cruising version of the boat, with a 'cabintop to accommodate two berths, and the usual other arrangements, and two more berths under the raised aft deck' which, it was thought, would be 'the ideal boat for the man who wants a family cruiser but without those deadly dull qualities which usually go with a boat so described.' But despite these promising early signs, the class never really took off in home waters.
It was a different story in Australia, however.
Within a month of Bristol I's victory, people were buying plans in order to build yachts for themselves, all in plywood.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2024-Ausgabe von Yachting World.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2024-Ausgabe von Yachting World.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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wallywind 110 launches
The first example of Wally Yacht's new wallywind performance cruising range launched this summer, during the iconic Italian brand's 30th anniversary year - and in time for its debut at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.
Irish skipper wins Figaro
Irish solo skipper Tom Dolan took a historic victory in this year's La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, winning the solo multistage offshore race overall only the third non-French competitor ever to do so.
Youth AC puts on a show
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's team won the UniCredit Youth America's Cup after a highly absorbing series comprising 12 international teams racing the one-design AC40s off Barcelona.
ATLANTIC BEYOND
SAILING THE SECOND EXPLORATION 60 ON A WEST-TO-EAST ATLANTIC CROSSING WAS IDEAL FOR A RIGOROUS TEST OF GARCIA'S NEW NOWHERE YOU CAN'T GO FLAGSHIP
UNCONTROLLED
HELPLESSLY APPROACHING AN UNINHABITED ISLAND IN THE GALAPAGOS WITHOUT ENGINE OR ELECTRONICS, JON VAN TAMELEN FEARED BEING IMMINENTLY SHIPWRECKED
SECRET ISLAND
BEYOND THE FORBIDDING ENTRY RULES OF TAIWAN IS A CULTURE RICH IN SEAFARING HISTORY AND STUNNING LANDSCAPES, FINDS CAMERON DUECK
LAND OF THE BIRDS
SKIP NOVAK DESCRIBES THE PERILS, CHALLENGES AND JOYS OF A CRITICAL EXPEDITION VOAYGE TO SURVEY SOUTH GEORGIA'S ENDANGERED WANDERING ALBATROSS
FIRST STEPS TO BLUEWATER
YOU CAN GET INTO WORLD CRUISING FROM A STANDING START AND EXPERIENCE THINGS NO OTHER TRAVELLERS DO. CATHERINE LAWSON AND DAVID BRISTOW TALK TO FOUR COUPLES WHO PROVE IT
HARD CHOICES
IN AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM HER NEW BOOK, PIP HARE REVEALS WHAT DROVE HER ON WHILE RACING THROUGH THE SOUTHERN OCEAN IN THE 2020 VENDÉE GLOBE.
INTO BATTLE
COULD THIS BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE VENDÉE GLOBE EVER? HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT WHAT THE SKIPPERS WILL BE FACING.