Chine Boats. Letter of Mark.

-Finally. From scorn to actually winning price money; the saga of the angular boats.

- See also on this Blog: on Search.
 Boat of the Month: August 2016. " Black Soo".

- " You cannot be what you can not see". (salesforce-org. dream force).
- Eight years old, I am sailing a Cadet, the hard chine pram with spinnaker for two people. After a week, the very young owner as you can imagine, allowed me to go on my own. Never forgot the blessing moments, the freedom, the attention, and the cold and the elements.

- A little side story.
- Way back when Miami Boat Show 1980-81? I met a Frenchman who was trying to introduce a 43' French designed and well-built aluminum 43' sailboat. A nice raw product with the unpainted topsides.
- I simply told him, it was impossible to sell in the U.S. Myself having tried the same venue with half a dozen aluminum boats built in Canada. They sold alright on their own merits but nothing more. Sure enough, he never sold the boat, but for a pittance years later.

- Fast forward. The original title to this blab was to be: "Geometry in space". I think an appropriate title for simplified shapes but complicated to achieve a well-done result.

- The best thing I love about Yacht Design is to develop a hull shape. The definition of the whole boat, from top to bottom and sideways. I have had the opportunity to design hundreds of powerboats, sailboats; where the whole apparatus starts with shape in space and therefore the title of what could have been.

- For me, the father of the Light Brigade, the hard Chine and simplification of construction in the modern era after World War 2, is the great Dutch Architect Ricus Van de Stadt. As depicted above, and showing the sections of Black Soo in the year of 1958. Before this boat, he designed and built the 12.5m. Zeevalk back in 1949. Checking all the points made above. Light: 4.9T; single Chine and Plywood with panels construction.

- Of course, there are so many variations on the theme that one must start from the beginning and probably the main reason for developing such shape for a boat. I think it starts with the notion of simplicity, a reason which might be true or not. Simple is not necessarily simple. But let's say that the source could be found on the oyster's bays where commercial venue indicated to have sailboats ( with this essay I am only considering sailboats) that are fast to build, shallow draft, and economical, thus the sharpie.

- See also this Blog on Search: Swing keel; centerboard.

- I am jumping the gun a little bit by presenting Spencer's designed U.L.D.B Infidel/ Ragtime. Really the first large size light boat born in New-Zealand and the inspiration for many designers, including myself to study the boat and the implications towards newer models of the genre. Past and present is the future. 

- If the video doesn't load up, use the following link. 

https://youtu.be/UHuQWIJod6k

- With the 3 examples, Black Soo; Zeevalk and Ragtime, it can be proven that a single chine can be extremely fast and efficient. If speed is the requirement, the beam has to be kept moderate.
- I present my case for a simple shape and super performance in the following article written number of years ago.

- To be noted, the single angle bottom- topsides and the construction based on L or T extrusions for frames and longitudinals. The later are not notched into the frames and are simply bent and swept around the hull. Could not be easier!
(to be continued).