What’s Traditional?
February 23rd, 2006
The arms race has started, a number of new boats are under construction to compete in the 2006 Shipyard Raid. How “traditional” these boats are is open to interpretation. Certainly they are of more advanced design than the 1800’s types we see in the European Raids.
As organizer this is a fine line, especially as a yacht designer myself. I want to see how we can compromise tradition in favor of slightly better performance, while retaining great beauty in that “traditional” sense. But I sense our Raid taking on it’s own character, and the boats following.
For me, traditional boats must possess a strong sense of the historic vessels that have been making just these voyages for hundreds of years. Much of this aesthetic is tied to construction methods and engineering that came around the Horn from Britain and Scandinavia. Modern “traditional” boats echo this construction even though it may be unnecessary from an engineering standpoint.
Of course the native dugout would be the most “traditional” in these waters, and I would look very hard at the entry of one in the Raid. But they were indifferent under sail at best and thus probably would not fit.
My problem is how to encourage the design and construction of safe family cruising boats while permitting the high-strung freaks to compete?
Best to all, Tad