The golden age of yacht design

[Black Panther 1,692]

https://goodoldboat.com/yacht-design/?fbclid=IwAR17gSEZ67sq-gjX9HQ1dDH8keClkwxtyefMYRQdhnTqi8PnbhzVRtydo_M

[Dtwo 157]

Interesting, worth a read.

[markm 30]

Interesting but wow, talk about not being able to see outside your own pond.

Very US centric and curious in that quite a few of the US designers mentioned were, at least in my opinion, pretty ordinary, whilst some I've got plenty of time for (RP, Andrews for example) weren't mentioned.  I guess though if they were, it'd kind of defeat the argument that was being made.

As to the bit about not been able to mention recent designers, that's pretty much flat out ignorance, plenty of good people still doing design, just not very many in the states.  As to the production build boats not having name designers, well most I'd contend have a better rep and are better known than half those listed from his 'golden age'.

 

[marinheiro 359]

amazing how it idolises the IOR rule, this was the worst thing that ever happened to yacht design and in Jim Young's words created expensive slow yachts.

[Fogg 427]

21 hours ago, marinheiro said:

amazing how it idolises the IOR rule, this was the worst thing that ever happened to yacht design and in Jim Young's words created expensive slow yachts.

And dangerous yachts. Fastnet ‘79.

[Dtwo 157]

On 30/07/2020 at 1:57 PM, markm said:

Interesting but wow, talk about not being able to see outside your own pond.

Very US centric and curious in that quite a few of the US designers mentioned were, at least in my opinion, pretty ordinary, whilst some I've got plenty of time for (RP, Andrews for example) weren't mentioned.  I guess though if they were, it'd kind of defeat the argument that was being made.

As to the bit about not been able to mention recent designers, that's pretty much flat out ignorance, plenty of good people still doing design, just not very many in the states.  As to the production build boats not having name designers, well most I'd contend have a better rep and are better known than half those listed from his 'golden age'.

 

Hmmm, the angle I got was that the "golden age" was when designers were following their instincts, in comparison to the modern age when everything is modelled extensively before the lid comes off the carbon jar.  Certainly US-centric but interesting nonetheless.  The conviction of putting your ideas down on paper, seeing that turn into a yacht - and then waiting to find out how it performed!  I think that was the point personally.

[aardvarkash10 1,065]

sounds like an older rock music fan "Meh, nothing worth listening to was produced after Woodstock..."

[marinheiro 359]

2 hours ago, Dtwo said:

Hmmm, the angle I got was that the "golden age" was when designers were following their instincts, in comparison to the modern age when everything is modelled extensively before the lid comes off the carbon jar.  Certainly US-centric but interesting nonetheless.  The conviction of putting your ideas down on paper, seeing that turn into a yacht - and then waiting to find out how it performed!  I think that was the point personally.

but remember the computer modelling is only as good as the inputs, the computer does not design the boat for you, just analyses what you tell it.

The designers of old used  whatever latest technology was available, George Watson tank tested models for Lipton's first challenger back in 1901, similarly many US yacht designers tank tested designs in the Steven's towing tank over the decades and there was always testing models on lakes or other locations. IOR was the start of the use of computers in yacht design. Chuck Paine worked in Carter's office for a couple of years running computer programmes to test various tweaks on the measurement points to optimise rating, to quote from his book

"I would hand him (Yves Marie Tanton) improbable points in space which would result in an unbeatable IOR rating and he would draw a buildable set of lines that were more or less fair and passed through those points" 

[Zozza 324]

When keels fall off modern yachts, is that bad boat designing, or bad boat building?

[marinheiro 359]

8 hours ago, Zozza said:

When keels fall off modern yachts, is that bad boat designing, or bad boat building?

both, if I can generalise most of keels lost off racing yachts have been pushing the boundaries, whilst the production yacht losses have typically been cutting corners