Sunday, April 15, 2012

"straight is the line of duty; curved is the line of beauty": G.L. Watson - the Art and Science of Yacht Design

The handsome cover of this volume from the Peggy Bawn Press


George Lennox Watson by Sir James Guthrie RSA


Peggy Bawn sailing herself off Brooklin, Maine, 2007


Peggy Bawn on Belfast Lough c.1894


Shamrock II's launch, Clydeside


Hunter's Quay c.1882 Royal Clyde Regatta


In Famous Clyde Yachts, Henry Sheilds painted Watson's 1884 5 tonner Shona. Shona gained her fame in America as Charlie Barr's first command.


J. Stwart Clark's Ornsay on Rothsay Bay.


Watson designed this Lowestoft Beach Yawl Happy New Year IV, 1893


Spinnaker Letting Go by Barlow Moore depicts Watson's Valkyrie II losing the 1893 Americas Cup to Nat Herreshoff's Vigilant


Watson, c.1894


Sir Thomas Liptons Watson designed Shamrock II in the 1901 America's Cup


A rare onboard view of Shamrock II during the 1901 Cup. That's Watson with binoculars.


Queen of Scots (1903) designed for William Coats



I must confess that when I received this lavishly illustrated work, I had no knowledge of Watson or his renown. Gary MacMahon (see my AK Ilen posts) was a member of the production team for this sumptuous book through the work of his design firm Copper Reed Studio in Limerick, Ireland and was kind enough to send me a copy. The publisher, Peggy Bawn Press, is named after the small cruising/racing yacht, recently restored and pictured above. Below is a synopsis of this beautifully designed and exhaustively researched volume found on the publisher's website. I'm including this as it is far more succinct than I would be.

"Martin Black’s biography of the great Scottish designer, George Lennox Watson, is much more than a record of his life and work during the Golden Age of Yacht Design. Perhaps uniquely, it also describes the emergence of the role of the modern independent designer, of any profession or discipline. Watson’s career spanned a seminal period in industrial and social development, marking the transition from instinctive and evolutionary craft work to the application of disciplined technological innovation, using new material technology and tank testing.
So this book sheds light on social and industrial history with hundreds of contemporary illustrations, most of which are previously unpublished. Watson’s genius shines through in early racing cutters carrying clouds of sail, pro-bono pioneering work on lifeboats, America’s Cup challengers, and ultimately in sumptuous steam yachts, Watson’s adage: Straight is the line of duty; curved is the line of beauty... is consistently evident.
Carrying his prodigious research lightly, the author’s work floats easily above its load waterline, including delightful mini biographies of the colourful leading characters. Even the footnotes are entertaining.
Meanwhile this extensive and ambitious first volume has an easy “dip-in” structure to be savoured in slices. For example, the chapters on the America’s Cup challenge the conventional histories with newly discovered first hand insider sources.
In recent years, through many superb restorations, classic yachting has found a significant nostalgic niche in the yachting media, if only because of the innate beauty of the yachts and the spectacle they provide. This has revived the reputations of designers Herreshoff and Fife, but Watson’s genius needed to be rescued from a relative obscurity which was triggered by his early death. Was he “the greatest yacht designer of the 19th century”, as Olin Stephens acknowledged? Read Martin Black’s book and see if you agree. At the very least, you will find that George Lennox Watson deserves his place among the pantheon of the greats.
Then you may also answer the question I posed initially; along the way, you will enjoy many illuminating experiences, and also a rattling good yarn!"

Henry J Cooney

While this is not an inexpensive book, it is one that deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in yacht design and/or the America's Cup. Have a look!

Originally published by Thomas Armstrong in 70.8%

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Ullapool gets the nod


Ullapool Pier



St. Ayles skiffs beached at Loch Broom



Skiffie racing



A skiff in the foreground during Ullapool Tall Ships



Ullapool



The Harbour



Loch Broom



Coigach


all images courtesy
SCRA World Skiff Championships


Word came in my inbox today that Ullapool has been selected to host the Scottish Coastal Rowing Associations first ever World Skiffs Championship in 2013. What a great choice! I got to know Ullapool many years ago when I spent a summer just north of there on the Coigach coastline. A warm and welcoming town surrounded by spectacular mountains, moors and the sea, and the best fish & chips in the world. Here's the press release sent out by Chris Perkins for the Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club:

St Ayles Skiff World Championships – 8th to 14th July 2013

The Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club is delighted to announce that Ullapool has been selected by the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association as the venue for the first World Championship for Coastal Rowing using the St Ayles Skiff. With the astonishing growth of St Ayles Skiff building and rowing by communities internationally the time is right to run a Skiffie Worlds to give an opportunity for Rowers from across the Globe to meet in friendly competition.

Ullapool, on the banks of Loch Broom, a large sheltered sea Loch in the Northwest of Scotland, is an ideal location to host such an event. With an existing infrastructure developed to cater for the needs of visitors and great community experience in running large cultural events SkiifieWorlds will be well within the capacity of the village.

Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club together with their partner organisations, the Loch Broom Sailing Club, Coigach Community Rowing and the Ullapool Harbour Trustees look forward to welcoming visiting crews to our magnificent waters. A full programme of maritime and landbased activities and entertainment is planned culminating with the Prizegiving followed by a boisterous Ceilidh Dance on Saturday 13th.

For more information please visit the dedicated Website http://skiffieworlds.com/, a work in progress which will grow in detail as we get closer to the event.



To find out more about the Iain Oughtred designed St. Ayles Skiff see my earlier posts and visit the Scottish Coastal Rowing website.