This evening I was washing the dishes at Base Camp, our somewhat primitive (at least by modern North American standards) shore base, and musing on various metaphysical issues, as I tend to do when performing routine tasks…often to the detriment of the results, like dish cleanliness.
Anyway, after cogitating for a while on how two people with a very nice 56-foot sailboat could possibly be the same two people with no dishwasher at their shore base, my mind turned to loftier things.
And I was struck by a great truth about yacht design, probably inspired by having just read Voyages, the annual journal of the Cruising Club of America.
Good yacht designers create the boat their customers want.
Great yacht designers create the boat their customers need.
I have no idea whether this is an original thought, although I suspect that I must have heard or read it, or something like it, at some time in the past.
No matter, the point being that remembering this when we are searching for a boat will contribute hugely to good outcomes.
Or, to put it another way, the really great boats out there are designed (and built) by the few, the very few, who stick to a vision without being pulled this way and that by every potential customer with a large cheque book or by the marketing types who profess to know what said owners want.
Four great designers who come to mind are Steve Dashew, Jean-François Delvoye of Borèal, Olin Stephens (ably assisted by his brother Rod), and Jim McCurdy, designer of Morgan’s Cloud and Carina (line drawing above).
It’s not that these boats are perfect manifestations of their creator’s vision. Each designer has made some concessions to make their boats saleable—McCurdy probably the least, which accounts for why his boats never sold in very large numbers…and why they are among the best offshore boats ever drawn—but none of them allowed the market to pervert their boats to the point that their fundamental purpose, going to sea in comfort and safety, has been materially compromised.
Comments
I’m sure there are more designers with this level of intestinal fortitude. If you can think of other worthy additions to the list, and why they qualify, please leave a comment.
Further Reading
- How to make sure we buy a boat fit for task, rather than a floating mess of features.
- How To Buy a Cruising Boat Online Book.
Hi John,
Occasionally with land based friends, differences in behavior patterns get discussed and when I tell them that Ginger and I have washed almost every dish, utensil, pot & pan by hand over the last 15 years, I often see a dropped mouth and an audible “gawp” of dis-belief.
And while I am at it, let me put in a good word for routine, menial tasks. At worst it is a chance to go on autopilot and just relax. At best, I get great ideas on something that has been percolating in the back of my mind and I also have a chance to check in with myself as to where I am at and how I am: something that is harder to have float to the surface when bombarded with outside stimuli. At this point, we need to choose to “unplug” ourselves from computers, phones, audible books etc. to tune in to what is most important.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Hi Dick,
I agree completely. The unplug benefit is also one of the many reasons I like being offshore, even for just a single overnight—always puts things back in prospective.
Some people keep themselves amused with music and reading, or even playing with a device, while on watch. We don’t, and actually value the time to just sit and think, or even just sit and let our minds go blank as we watch the waves—makes for better watch-standers too.
Hi John,
I think that there is a lot of truth to what you are saying about the difference between good and great designers. This balance you describe is one of the hardest parts of my job and for anyone doing design work, especially when the product has a large safety component which the user may not be fully aware of. While I have spent significant time in the field with our customers, engineering relies heavily on product management to represent the customers’ needs and wants but at the same time we have to account for all sorts of other things that the customer won’t think of. For any complicated product, it is not reasonable to expect the buyer to fully understand the design and its tradeoffs (and to be honest, engineers rarely analyze everything, there is a decent amount of judgement thrown in). The functions of upstream and downstream marketing are the key communication pathway and it is important that they give realistic information which is unfortunately not always the case, especially with sailboats.
Then there is the topic of knowing someone wants something before they know it. There are some amazing visionary examples (Apple/Jobs) but I hear people use this as justification all the time in my work and it is really just a bad excuse for wanting to do something and not having other justification.
Eric
Hi Eric,
I hadn’t thought of extrapolating the thought to all design, but that makes perfect sense, particularly when we think of all the products we use in our daily lives!
Hi John,
As I grow older and more cynical I increasingly come to the conclusion that most people are sheeple. The one in a thousand or one in a hundred thousand who have the capability of analyzing a problem utilizing “first principles” and creating a solution that grows from that reality are what moves us forward as a society, but they are not common.
Yacht designers are for the most part just ordinary people, and as such they just follow the herd. Those who are good performers in the bar will likely be successful, whereas those who are too creative will inevitably be driven from the marketplace by the corporate bean counters.
Take for example something as simple as the design of a marine head compartment in a 40-50′ sailboat. I’ve been aboard perhaps 100 different boats in that category, and the only ones based upon practical logic I’ve ever encountered are the forward head in an Oyster and the head compartments on boats I’ve designed myself. Invariably the Designer glances at the dimensions available and sticks the toilet outboard underneath the side deck because that is a place you can’t stand up in— but mainly because that is how it is done by all the other Famous Designers who never gave a moment’s thought to this simple problem. Result: a head that is a struggle to use on one tack.
Fact: Sailboats heel when going to weather and bounce up and down when they encounter waves.
Conclusion: The only proper orientation for a marine toilet is fore & aft with cabinetry or walls on either side so your can brace yourself firmly in place as your perform your daily bodily eliminations.
The worst head design I’ve ever been subjected too was on a multi-million dollar custom 59 footer from the drawing board of a well respected American Famous Designer. Since he wanted to be successful, when his 6’6″ client said he wanted a “Man Sized Boat” the Designer just blew up the size of the head compartment by about 40%. On port tack in a moderate seaway it was almost impossible to stay on the toilet because there was absolutely no way to brace yourself from sliding across this mini-ballroom.
Well, at least we didn’t have to wash dishes in it! LOL
Hi Richard,
I totally agree that all heads should be oriented as you say. Seems like such a small thing, but after a week at sea, a poorly oriented head becomes a very big issue!
First time poster, but long time follower of yours and Dick on Alchemy, another Valiant owner.
The Valiant 40 was another boat designed for blue water cruising without much attention to mass appeal — according to the “group” designers in a bar in Seattle, and Robert Perry’s first success: for a cruising couple, but not so comfortable that guest want to stay too long. 🙂
To your comments: the original design had a port forward head (a little bouncy in a seaway, and helps to close the through hull on starboard tack) but the Valiant 42 design (same hull) went to an aft starboard head, a reasonable change, which I am sure Dick appreciates.
Always appreciate your posts.
Gordo
Hi Gordo,
Actually I think Bob designed the Valiant 40 with an eye closely attuned to the mass appeal of the 70’s. The marketing machine at Westsail had thoroughly tested and developed the dreamer market to the point where one of their biggest problems was cranking enough Wetsnails out the door. Bob simply designed a much better boat to expand upon the fashion of the day.
He didn’t give it a pointy stern just to show that he could draw a prettier tushie than anyone else, but rather because Westsail had created the illusion that it was a necessary feature if you planned to voyage to where the wahines dance.
Hi Richard,
Good analysis. I figure the marketing department at Westsail set cruising yacht design back 10 years by feeding into the myth that points at both ends were the only way to be seaworthy…not to speak of the even worse myth: slow=good.
Good on Perry for figuring out how to conform to the fashion and sell boats, but still build some much needed reserve buoyancy into the design and come up with a much better boat.
Dear John, For multihulls this video hints at the same issue;
https://youtu.be/zfpUEz7lPYQ
It’s all about experience and being clever,
Rob