Daysailer

This daysailer is the perfect vehicle for Mr. White's style. The boat comes in two basic configurations, ketch and sloop with minor changes in the ends and to the sheerline. Both boats are handsome, traditional yachts with sweet sheerlines and shapely overhangs. The ketch rig intrigues me, and it might be worth putting up with the clutter of the mizzen in the cockpit just for the aesthetic benefits of the split rig.

Let's take a close look at both of these rigs. The ketch has an SA/D of 17.76, and that's broken into three sails. The sloop has an SA/D of 19 in a tall fractional rig with the option of carrying a light masthead genoa. The sloop shows swept spreaders. Neither rig has running backstays. There is little doubt that with the additional horsepower and the more efficient rig, the sloop will be the faster boat. Still, that ketch will make a very pretty picture lying to its hook with the mizzen left up.

Note the self-tacking jib on the sloop. This is convenient, but I wonder if it is worth the bother. A nonoverlapping blade-style work-ing jib is so easy to tack that I would chose to leave the hardware off the cabintrunk top.

The hull lines show a shapely midsection with relatively steep garboards that have more than a hint of hollow extending to the transom. It may not be the most current of shapes, but it sure is pretty and appropriate for the character of these boats. The D/L is 221 based upon a 7,916-pound displacement as listed in the specs, although the line shows a displacement of 7,316 pounds.

With almost a 50 percent ballast-to-displacement ratio, these boats will be stiff sailers despite their modest draft of 4 feet, I 1 inches. The keel lines look like the designer could have used a little help from a computer. Dave Vacanti has wonderful software for designing complex keel/bulb hybrids. These design programs increase the designer's power to manipulate shapes then deliver perfect full-size patterns to the builder. Mr. White's keel design leaves a lot of work for the loftsman. I like to remove all opportunity for interpretation in my keel designs. The ketch-rigged boat has 3 inches more sheer and additional length in its overhangs.

These are very practical boats. They are big enough to offer real speed and stability along with reasonable accommodations, without destroying the daysailing cockpit. Both boats were built and launched at the Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine. Construction was coldmolded wood with mahogany skins over 3/4-inch cedar strip planking.

It is always fun for a designer to design and build two very similar boats and launch them together. These two would make a hand-some couple cruising into any bay.