DesignShowcase: Beauty by Design
Ivor Wilkins with Marilyn M. Mower
10/01/2005

"Good Lord, Charlie," exclaimed veteran British America’s Cup campaigner T.O.M. Sopwith, "She’s like a ruddy great pantechnicon."

The "Charlie" in this derision was the foremost English yacht designer of the day, Charles E. Nicholson. The vessel being compared to a moving van was Endeavour II, the J-Class yacht Nicholson had just designed for Sopwith’s 1937 Cup challenge.

Olin Stephens, now 97 years young, designed more than 2,000 boats. He is still vitally interested in all aspects of yacht design. Photograph by Billy Black. (Click image to enlarge)

Endeavour II was defeated that summer by the greatest J of all time, Ranger. This American yacht heralded the debut and meteoric rise of her co-designer, Olin Stephens.

Over the next half century, Sparkman and Stephens was the dominant design force in racing yachts and Stephens, now in his 97th year, remains an iconic figure. So, when he ventures a critique of the state of modern yacht design, he is guaranteed an attentive audience. With the most gentle of dispositions and Old World manners, Stephens is much too polite to dismiss modern yachts as "ruddy great pantechnicons." But, possessed of a sharp intellect and an astounding ability to cut to the chase, there is little doubt that this is exactly how he views large modern yachts.

Top: G.L. Watson’s design for the royal yacht Britannia, inspired Olin Stephens throughout his career. The seaworthiness of long overhangs still finds fans today. Photograph by Mystic Seaport Museum/Rosenfeld Collection. Bottom: The lines plan is a new S&S custom project inspired by Stormy Weather which this client admired. This yacht, however, will have a modern canoe underbody, bulb keel and spade rudder. (Click images to enlarge) 

At this year’s Yacht Vision Design Symposium in Auckland, New Zealand, Stephens was the keynote speaker. Given that he delivered the final address, there might have been expectation of an avuncular benediction, but that would underestimate the man entirely. While giving praise for the technical achievement of today’s superyachts, Stephens wondered if the essential point of it all had become lost.

Of his 53’11" yawl Stormy Weather Stephens said, "I liked her not only for her success, but because she was attractive and had a certain character." Blurring the line between racer and cruiser, she scored back-to-back transatlantic and Fastnet victories. (Click image to enlarge)

"I just wish they looked a little bit better," he chided gently. "Beauty is a difficult thing to speak of. I am as confused as anybody about that," he confessed. Nonetheless, he launched an appeal for that elusive notion of universal beauty. "I have been lucky to have interests outside of yachts," he said. "I love listening to music and I have a great interest in painting. A beautiful piece of music or a painting brings moisture to the eyes and makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Britannia did that for me, but the yachts of today do not."

Top: Michael Peters’ admiration of traditional boats was manifested in this glamorous speedboat he drew for a client who found more value in aesthetics than practicality. Bottom: "All of us have drawn boats we aren’t proud of to put food on the table. Thank God for clients who appreciate aesthetics, who understand the beauty of craftsmanship and line." - Michael Peters. (Click images to enlarge)

Britannia was the royal sailing yacht designed by G.L. Watson, for Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. Launched in 1893, she measured 102 feet, carried 10,000 square feet of sail and won more than 200 first prizes in her racing career. Although Stephens’ critique was delivered with a gentle touch, there is no question about his horror at some latter day creations. Modern yachts, he lamented, often do not look as good as
commercial and naval vessels.

"To me, the conventional type of boat that originated with people like Watson, Fife and, to a lesser extent, Herreshoff had it." Of Watson and Fife, Stephens writes in his autobiography, All This and Sailing Too: "Both set patterns for beauty, and I have paid them the compliment of accepting them as guides to an impossible perfection."

For those who do not know Olin Stephens, it might be tempting to dismiss his views as the nostalgia of a man clinging to his past. This would be a mistake. He has designed and built in every material from wood to composite and witnessed sail advance from cotton to carbon. Always embracing the future with enthusiasm, he was an early convert to computers. He may be old, but he has never been old-fashioned.
"When you look at a boat and start at the bow, it seems reasonable that the bow should be lifted from the rest of the boat. It goes first into the sea and needs to keep water and spray off the deck. A little flare there helps too. It puzzles me why sailing boats today have plumb stems and power boats have long overhangs. It seems to me a reversal of how things should be," he said. Arguing for the aesthetic benefits of a distinct sheerline, he said a yacht needs to dip at the waist and rise again toward the stern.

"I have grown up with different rules. Superyachts are remarkable technical achievements, but I do wish they could look as if they were intended to go to sea." - Olin Stephens. (Click image to enlarge)

Turning his attention to megayachts in particular, Stephens said he was impressed by the efficiency and performance of modern yachts, both power and sail. "It is a tremendous achievement, but I wish they could look more as if they were intended to go to sea. I wish there was more accommodation in the hull than above the deck. Big superstructures do not look seakindly."

So, which of his own boats does Stephens feel most sympathy for? During the session, Stephens recalled Stormy Weather (1934) with great affection and also named his 12-meter Intrepid. In a later exchange on the subject he added Gesture (1939), Running Tide and Yankee Girl (1970), Prospect of Whitby and Dora (1971), now called War Baby. "I think they were all handsome, although the use of aluminum alloy in the later boats made [that] more difficult."

Ed Dubois’ design for 130’ Kokomo shows his appreciation of sheerline. Top: His latest project, an even larger sloop but with an even lower superstructure. Bottom: "Styling for styling’s sake is not good design. Stuff driven by fashion is not good design. We have to remember these are boats, not architecture on the water." - Ed Dubois. (Click images to enlarge)

"Today’s materials and the urgency for speed set different patterns. Weight must be kept out of the ends, making them short. What we may see as time passes may become accepted as beauty," he said. "But I have grown up with different rules."

However, he is clearly not alone in believing that aesthetic rules do exist and designers flout them at their peril.

First to his feet in the discussion session after Stephens’ address was designer Ed Dubois. "I own a boat that you designed when you were two years older than I am now," he told Stephens, "so perhaps there is hope for me yet."

He agreed with the notion that there were elements of beauty that were not subjective. "Harmony of line is a natural thing. A boat either has it, or it doesn’t," he said. "Perhaps we all need to try a bit harder."

Dubois commented later that yacht design seems to have gotten divorced from naval architecture and that many large motor yachts seem more like architecture on the water "with styling for styling’s sake."
Also on the Yacht Vision panel was contemporary powerboat designer Michael Peters, who admits a secret love of traditional boats. "While he was talking, I know some of us in the audience were embarrassed by some of our creations. There’s a time when we all think we have become whores, but if we drew nothing but beautiful boats, we’d go out of business.

Photograph by Yachting Photographics. (Click image to enlarge) 

"Boating used to be an activity for an elite clientele. Now, to bring boating to the masses, marketing guys want designers to cram in every possible thing. Some production boat salesmen seem to think they are selling boats by the pound; that more is more."

"Just about all production boats aren’t pretty," said Dubois. "This stuff is driven by fashion, and it comes out looking like a cross between a Nike training shoe and a steam iron. It’s just not good design…and upright stems on sailing yachts are daft. They were created to beat rating rules, but on cruising boats they generate a huge weather helm reaching, and you can’t get enough weight aft to keep them from sailing bow down."

A beautiful boat, says Peters, is long, low and lean. But today’s customers seem more interested in residential amenities. "People boated differently in the old days; it was a bit like nice camping and then you returned to the mansion. Today, everyone wants a California king and seven-foot headroom in every cabin," he said. "You can still have that in Olin’s definition of a beautiful boat, but it has to be three-hundred feet long."