PURE AND SIMPLE-THE MICHAEL STORER INTERVIEW

Small-boat designer Michael Storer has a gift for turning the simplest of shapes into easily-built boats that somehow manage to exude elegance.

What’s more, these elemental canoes and skiffs frequently out-perform more expensive, complex boats. We recently caught up with the Aussie expat who makes his home in the Philippines, and asked him about his philosophies, his favorites and doing more with less.

Would you tell us a little about your background in boats? When you first became interested, first boat you owned and so forth?

My family had no background in boats and sailing. That was a big benefit. I started sailing when I found two sailing clubs on a Sunday in front of the house we were renting at Palm Beach, Sydney—the Pittwater Catamaran Club and the Palm Beach Sailing Club. I went out to look and Jay Booth and his crew Tim took me out on their 18-foot catamaran in quite a bit of wind. Our landlord sold us a kid's sailboat for seventy dollars. It was a bit like a Classic Moth with laced-on sails and a big rubber band as kicker. I messed around and capsized a lot for a half a year before I got brave enough to join the races. Sailing was my space. I sailed whenever I could. My parents supported me but left me to my own devices. I read every scrap I could and sailed every day on school holidays, hitching rides on racing yachts on Saturdays plus Club and School sailing.

How about your first design? What was it, and was it a success?

When I started sailing, I drew boats on every piece of paper that came my way. Some of my junior high school friends and I (I was a bit of an outsider) used to draw up “designs.” They all liked mine a lot and got very excited. In the early ‘70s there was a great change in sailboat design, so I kept drawing and absorbing the excitement.