Best Yacht Designer in the GRP Era

[Fr J Hackett]

Of dud designers?
I'm no fan of Crealock canoe stern boats, but many people like them and buy them, if designing them paid his bills because people wanted the boats, that's successful design work from my point of view.
It's a concept I don't admire, done to a good standard.

Well you answered the question posed by the post title, many people bought and still buy them.

Do you not like them aesthetically or on the grounds of practical experience?

 

[Daydream believer]

Brent Swain
He proved (by his criteria that is!) that GRP is rubbish & that we should all be sailing rusty steel skips
Now that takes nerve, to go against all those proper designers who know what they are actually doing, rather than a bloke in a field with a sheet of steel plate talking "b""s"
Trouble is- history has shown,(so I am told) that sometimes it works!!:encouragement:
But I will stick with voting for Stephen Jones & Bruce Farr

 

[Seajet]

Whoever designed the Buckler 24 deserves a George Medal for sense of humour

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jestajosh/buckler-24-sailing-ketch/

 

[Poignard]

Whoever designed the Buckler 24 deserves a George Medal for sense of humour

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jestajosh/buckler-24-sailing-ketch/

Oh dear, that's awful.

Still, it's one way to counteract the effect of windage on the bow

 

[Praxinoscope]

Another +1 for David Sadler, but I would also have Van der Stadt on my list.

 

[Seajet]

And of course Oliver Lee, he did the earlier better Hunters and the Anderson 22 & 26 ( the latter was a format handed to him after the 1979 Fastnet and a survey among all then A22 owners ).

 

[AndrewfromFal]

Eh? The Ron Holland-designed Discovery 56 was an entirely new project initiated by John Charnley. Nothing to do with WY.

I remember reading somewhere that the hull mould was from the (Holland designed) Trintella 55, and at the time Trintella and Westerly were in common ownership, and went to the wall before Hull no 1 was completed (HYS finished it). If you look at the respective dimensions and indeed photos of the sole 55 and the Discovery, the similarity is uncanny.

 

[doug748]

Whoever designed the Buckler 24 deserves a George Medal for sense of humour

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jestajosh/buckler-24-sailing-ketch/

Sailboatdata tells us it is the great Bob Mayo:

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/buckler-24-ms

Sadly it seems to be his only triumph.

 

[johnalison]

Another +1 for David Sadler, but I would also have Van der Stadt on my list.

David Sadler certainly. I had a Mystere 26 in 1973, by the successful designer Fred Parker. It looked not unlike a wooden yacht of the '60s. Soon after we started to race her in about 1975 the Sadler 25 came along and overall was a more effective boat, though we could occasionally pull away on a fetch. The Sadler also made better use of its length with no wasted space for a stern locker or overhang.


Even before the Sadler was the Ecume de Mer. I don't know who the designer was but to my mind this was the boat that rewrote the rules for fibreglass yachts and led the way to modern designs, once they'd thrown off the pinched sterns of the '70s.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Even before the Sadler was the Ecume de Mer. I don't know who the designer was ...

Jean-marie Finot.

http://www.finot.com/bateaux/ancienbt/ecume/ecume_hist_ang.htm

 

[AndrewfromFal]

Even before the Sadler was the Ecume de Mer. I don't know who the designer was but to my mind this was the boat that rewrote the rules for fibreglass yachts and led the way to modern designs, once they'd thrown off the pinched sterns of the '70s.

Jean-Marie Finot....and as while we're talking about French designers who produced ground breaking designs - honorable mentions must go to Andre Mauric (the fantastic Jeanneau Melody, - among others) and Philippe Briand, whose London Office I pass daily at the moment.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Your rules won't let me put in Johan Anker but Bruce Kirby (designed the Laser) surely has to be in there if just for that alone - he did a lot of other stuff too. And being as I can't have Johan Anker I'll say Sean McMillan (Spirit yachts). Also Andy Wolstenholme, partly for Motor stuff, Tony Castro and Rob Humphreys. And Pete Thorneycroft for Nelson/TT hull design in the MoBo.

But they're really just names you can't leave out of a list of top designers - there isn't a "best".

 

[matt1]

And of course Oliver Lee, he did the earlier better Hunters and the Anderson 22 & 26 ( the latter was a format handed to him after the 1979 Fastnet and a survey among all then A22 owners ).

Cracks me up "the earlier and better Hunters" .....because a squib with a lid is so much better than a Sonata or Impala!

 

[Frank Holden]

I see that Jack Laurent Giles was mentioned earlier in this thread...
While I have a lot of admiration for his work - I owned a Vertue for quite a few years - I don't think he can be counted as a great designer of GRP boats.

Yes he was working on the design of the Westerly Centaur which was introduced in the year of his death... 1969 and features of that design can be seen in later Westerlies..

While a lot of 'Laurent Giles' designs were introduced by Westerly from 1969 until the introduction of the Ed Dubouis boats in about 1984 these boats were designed by the company that now trades as Laurent Giles Naval Architects and I think previously was Laurent Giles and Partners or somesuch.


'Laurent Giles Yacht Designs of the 1970s.
Laurent Giles was quick to adopt the new GRP construction techniques which emerged in the sixties, on his death in 1969 Jack was working on the 26 foot Westerly Centaur which eventually reached production numbers in excess of 2,500 and was a hit across the globe.

A long period of close co-operation with Westerly and Moody yachts followed with Laurent Giles designing the great majority of production boats built in the UK until the early eighties. The firm is widely known for its production designs of this period.'

https://laurentgiles.co.uk/history/

https://sailboatdata.com/designer/laurent-giles-jack

 

[Seajet]

I would certainly include Laurent Giles among the greats; his designs have introduced, and given a lot of pleasure to, thousands, quite possibly more than any other designers' products.

Pageant No. 1 was at my club for many years; she's named ' L Gee ' in his honour.

 

[sjdtuk]

Think the 43 and 45 were Ray Wall's too.

 

[Habebty]

Does that now mean we have a list of nearly everyone who has designed a fibreglass boat?

 

[michael_w]

And of course Oliver Lee, he did the earlier better Hunters and the Anderson 22 & 26 ( the latter was a format handed to him after the 1979 Fastnet and a survey among all then A22 owners ).

But he couldn't do a decent rig for toffee. Just look at the awful things Squib and Ajax sailors have to put up with. Titchy pocket handkerchief kite setting miles off the deck for example.

 

[Seajet]

But he couldn't do a decent rig for toffee. Just look at the awful things Squib and Ajax sailors have to put up with. Titchy pocket handkerchief kite setting miles off the deck for example.

That was the trend of those times, so as to reach the pole standing up; he managed just fine with the Hunter 490, Hunter 19 / Europa, Hunter 701 and Anderson 22, all have efficient rigs with excellent overlap slots and good spinnakers; the Andersons' 290 sq ft kite is hardly titchy.

 

[michael_w]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned German Frers.

I love that bow angle on Rebecca. 4 spreader rig on the mizzen is pretty cool.

Bit on the large side sir, how about something a little smaller.

Swan 46. It's the signature transom roll.