Olin Stephens

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I recently treated myself to a double book purchase....

1. "All This and Sailing Too" Autobiography of Olin J. Stephens II's design career.

2. "Lines" A collection of Sparkman & Stephens lines drawings, each with about a 200 word commentary.

Though published a few years apart, these texts complement each other perfectly. I can't imagine having read the autobiography without having the large drawings on hand for reference.

I swear I've learned more about yacht design in these past weeks than I have in my whole life. Dave Gerr's "The Nature of Boats" is also a good why-things-are-the-way-they-are text, but these S&S books are far more specific to sailing yachts, and they do NOT bother with dumbing it down for the newcomer. It's primarily a narrative of his career path, but there are some techno-heavy parts. If you don't already have a good handle on the basics of drag and stability, you'll be lost in these parts of the book. If you can give a half-decent definition of the Prismatic Coefficient right now off the top of your head, you'll LOVE these books.

The lines drawings are just pure art.

Finisterre is the design I'm currently hung up on.

[dasein668]

cooool.

Anything about Palawan III in either book? I'm always curious to hear any tid-bits on that boat, since I learned to sail on her....

[Tim]

OK, I am, along with this text, green with envy. Both of those books are high on my list of "I want".

I have been enjoying the nine excerpts from the "Lines" book in this month's Wooden Boat, and can only imagine the pleasure in having the full book before me. And "All This and Sailing Too" has been on my list since it came out last year.

Stormy Weather is the one that tugs my heartstrings at the moment. Lovely lines, an impressive sailplan...and recently rebuilt and restored to the glory she deserves, too.

Olin Stephens is not only an incredibly talented designer and, at age 94, an amazingly vital personality, he's also one of the few remaining "old school" class acts.

I was fortunate enough to recently obtain a copy of the fine Joel White designs book--another talented soul who, unlike Olin, was lost at far too early an age.

How far into my future can dabbling in wooden boats truly be?

Tim

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It was something of a "considered impulse" purchase. The excerpts in Woodenboat had me drooling, but when I looked up the price I KNEW I'd never buy it if I just put it on my "want" list. It was now or never, so I splurged. Worth every penny.

As for Palawan III, nothing in All This And Sailing Too but a single photo of her bombing along on a reach. Nice photo, though.

The lines, accommodations and sail plans are in Lines, though. OJS II's blurb reads:

It seemed clear as the sixties progressed that the faster boats were those with the shorter keels. Boats of the 5.5-meter class led the way, and our Palynodie for a french owner, Gaston Deferre, who had urged me to us a very short keel, was extremely fast in light airs though difficult to steer downwind. The logic of moving the rudder aft and away from the keel was persuasive, had been well used at the turn of the twentieth century, and was carried on in New Zealand before Bill Lapworth's Cal 40's brought it back to the U.S. about 1965.

Palawan was the first S&S design with a deep kel an separated rudder. Her design number (1821) is lower then either Intrepid (1834) or Roundabout and Clarionet (1856 and 1857). Of these Palawan III alone had a trim tab. This turned out to be an important aid to steering control. Its absence was felt on the two smaller boats, which broached too frequently on a hard run. As all three were fast, we followed their lead ithe next year, using a similar configuration, including the trim tab, on Intrepid. The steering arrangememnts that appeared routine on Intrepid were first tested aboard Palawan III. the rudder and tab had separate cable and quadrant controls that required concentric wheels on the binnacle stand. The two wheels could be joined by a friction lock so that, when tightened, one wheel would control both rudder and tab, though the relative angle between them could still be set independently. When fully disengaged, each could be handled as a fully independent unit.

Palawan III was built of aluminum alloy by Bob Derecktor, and launched in the early summer of 1966. I sailed aboard her in that year's Berrmuda Race and felt that she would have been the winner had not an experimental time allowance system given the race to the smaller Cal 40. With the possible exception of Running Tide, built two years later and relatively lighter, Palawan was one of our best performers under the CCA rule. Using almost the same lines, two more sister hulls (Equation and Lightning) with different rigs and accommodations, were built the next year - one in New York and one in California.

This group were all prize winners and have been described as flat out racers, yet they were comfortable and roomy cruisers and their seaworthiness has been proven by the extended cruises of Palawan herself and similar boats such as War Baby, Palawan with her sloop rig and masthead foretringle has much the heavier D/L ratio (319 to War Baby's 218) of these two. She has a center cockpi and a comfortable aft stateroom. All three sisters are moderate in ther proportions, have easy lines, rather deep in section and not too full in either end, with no flat surfaces for the sea to strike. Of the two later huls, Equation went to a 7/8 foretriangle while Lightning stayed with the masthead rig. Neither boat retained Palawan's center cockpit.

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Really sweet lines they are, too. She's far too large to ever be included on any list of mine, but she sure is easy on the eyes!

You learned to sail on a 57' boat?! Having started in windsurfers and sunfish, I can't imagine such a thing. I'll bet you have a unique take on things as a result.

[Tim]

Nathan has a unique take on so many things...it's not fair to blame it all on Palawan! hehe

Tim

[dasein668]

Mike, Thanks! Now I'll have to buy the Lines book... sigh.

Yes, I did indeed learn to sail on a 57 foot boat. Sort of. Here's the story.

When I was in college, I was working at this local coffee shop in Portland, and one of the "regulars" was Tom Woodruff, the current owner of Palawan III. He runs her as a charter boat for day sails out of Portland. (see his website: sailpalawan.com) His T-boat licence requires him to have one deckhand... so I sort of fasttalked my way into a job with him. I did off-handedly mention that I had never been on a sailboat before, but I glossed over that part....

However, for me, Tom was a great teacher. Probably because I am a take-charge-of-my-own-learning type of guy, and he's a teach-by-example-and-you-better-learn-it-the-first-time type of guy. Some people find him hard to learn from, but for me it was a perfect match. We got along well, and I ended up working for him full time for 3 summers. By the second year, he would sometimes decide that he didn't want to be the captain that day, and he would just hang out, and I would sail the boat. He has her set up to single-hand (yup, single hand a 57 footer) so really, one of us would sail, and the other would entertain the passangers with largely fabricated stories about the local area! I can't really think of a better job!

I must admit, I didn't learn it all on Palawan though: at the same time, I was sailing all day with Tom, and then heading to my wife's (girlfriend at the time, actually) grandmother's lake house and spending a couple of hours on a Phantom. I definately learned a ton about the actual sail handling on the Phantom... But I learned a lot about seamanship and boats in general from Tom.

Sailing on a 57 footer is definitely different from sailing on a 10 footer! Or a 28 footer, for that matter. Everything is heavier, forces are much greater, and generally speaking, things happen slower. On the other hand, in many ways it isn't so different as you might think! The other thing that is interesting, is that with the center cockpit, in a sense she doesn't feel much bigger than a Triton, in that you are only looking at 25 or 30 feet of deck in front of you when at the helm. Kind of like a Triton!

She is a beautiful boat... And easy steering too. Sailing around Casco Bay, if you were properly trimmed you could walk away from the helm for literally 15 minutes and the boat would track perfectly. We used to tell people (and I don't know where Tom came up with this, or if it is true or not) that Olin said, "She was the easiest steering boat I ever drew."

I'll agree with Olin, too, that she is comfy at sea! The center cockpit is great in a seaway, and the boat is fast and easily driven. I sailed her from St. Thomas USVI to Portland, via Bermuda with him. What a great experience. Lonely, but in a good way, since there were only 2 of us from St. Thomas to Bermuda. 7 1/2 days in which we only saw each other for a few hours during the afternoon when we were both awake, and during sail changes and watch changes. Otherwise we were alone on watch. Lots of thinking gets done!

Anyhow... I ramble...

Thanks again!

[dasein668]

Nathan has a unique take on so many things...it's not fair to blame it all on Palawan! hehe

Tim

It's my philosophy degree...

That's the other thing that Tom and I had in common... we both majored in philosophy!

[Shark]

Olin Stephens is partly responsible for my life long obsession with sailboats.

In 1973 a friend of mine bought Canuck II, a Sparkman & Stephens Maple Leaf Class sailboat - 37 feet long, spoon bow, beautiful counter. She had an enormous main and a mast that seemed to touch the sky. She scared the daylights out of me and I loved being on her!

The Maple Leaf Class was built, 7 boats, after WWII for a group of sailers in Ontario, RCYC I think. They were built in Toronto and Canuck II was the 7th boat.

I don't know where she is today but I'm sure that she greatly influenced my opinion about what makes a "classic boat."

Lyman

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Only after devouring All this and Sailing too and spending HOURS pouring over Lines did I recently learn that a special autographed, numbered, and sleeved collector's edition of Lines is available for not much more than the base cost.

DOH!!!!

[Old Ben Gun]

How about this one Sparkman & Stephens 90' Yawl Odyssey. We were sailing in Commencment bay Tacoma Wa. She is presently owned and operated by the Sea Scouts there.