Boat Design of the Month. March 2016.

Regularly or not, I will introduce boats that have been very influential in my life. Having studied 55 years of yacht designs since a very young age as you can imagine, I have been all over the place and like to these days to R& D's the source and for sure coming with my own, very own interpretation and hopefully improvements that I have learnt, it seems for ever as a Professional Yacht Designer. The first one is Oceanus.
If you do not know this sailboat, you have not dug out one of the Masters; William Garden, who passed away a few years ago. A long life, a multitude of projects built in all kind of shapes and forms,
in all forms of material and with a flair attained over a life time.
Garden designed Oceanus for his own use, designed on the floor of a house he was building on his private island. The drawings developed into a  sailboat 60' long x 12' in the beam x 6'-8" draft and with a sail area of 1000 sq/ft.

Below is what I believe the first write-up about the boat inside the 1955 Yachting Magazine, with well defined intention, method and execution.

Immediately, you can see that she is a very personal sailboat. The accommodation is limited to a couple and in an essay by garden about a later re-design sent to Wooden Boat Magazine, there were few changes. So it must have worked well. Bill kept the boat for twelve years and after a long period of neglect she was destroyed. 

She would be a beautiful concept to revive, so I endeavour the design Gardenia, a modern up to date version on the steps of William Garden with all due respect. A while back I introduced Gardena a steel version of the same boat with a transom stern. This time I went back to the original Oceanus with the double ends and destined to be built with wood.

The changes I made are in line with a more modern approach; longer waterline, an increase in the beam and flatter sections all the way fore and aft. Oceanus had a lovely stern, but made silly by hollowing the shape and therefore with loss in performance and bearing. I kept the draft to the same depth.

I did not modify the cockpit nor the pilothouse; I like the old fashion look of the later. The cockpit is large for longing and open to maneuver. The stern has enough length to accept a hard bottom tender.

The rig is of a cutter with a high clew jib for driving, and a staysail to carry the work well beyond moderate breeze. Taking reefs appropriately in between the change in wind velocity.