Coming of age
Sailing in the 1970s was characterised by innovation, enthusiasm, mass participation and home boatbuilding. Rupert Holmes reports
The 1970s saw further rapid advances in boat design, with new boats becoming quickly outclassed. It also coincided with a new rule for rating race boats, the International Offshore Rule (IOR). This had an enormous effect on yacht design – many cruising yachts also sported the narrow, pinched sterns of the era.
IOR severely penalised righting moment, so the bulb keels that had started to gain in popularity in the late 1960s disappeared. Instead, lightly ballasted keels, with their centre of gravity well above the mid point, became the norm. In my view this set yacht design back by almost two decades. It also had important safety implications in terms of ultimate stability that helped contribute to the Fastnet race disaster at the end of the decade.
Nevertheless yachts became faster and were generally more robust, more reliable and more fun to sail. For instance, the Macwester 27 of 1972 – a development of the earlier 26 – was one of the first yachts to benefit from tank testing to improve its hydrodynamic efficiency. The result was significantly deeper bilge keels that were set at more efficient angles and a more effective rudder. This transformed speed and handling and, combined with a new interior, created a desirable yacht.
This was also the heyday of home boatbuilding. Participation in boating continued to grow at a staggering rate, so the demand for craft far outstripped what the second-hand market could supply. By contrast, today’s boat buyers reap the benefits of the huge number of boats that were built in the 1970s and now often change hands at very modest prices.
It’s often thought that sensible cruising yachts of this era were built exceptionally strongly. Incidents today tend to be shared rapidly via social media, but 40 years ago it was easier to keep embarrassing events quiet. Yet, there were numerous examples of problems, including a near new Westerly Pageant that sank on its tidal mooring in Chichester harbour when one of the keels parted company with the hull.
Similarly, all but a few Westerly GK29s, Fulmars and Konsorts had to have the
reinforcement that spreads the keel loads in the bilge replaced with top-hat stringers in place of the original glass-over-plywood frames. As with 1970s cars, the scale of some problems at this time should not be underestimated – large numbers of near-new boats had to be modified and Westerly was by no means the only manufacturer that suffered. Fortunately for today’s buyers the appropriate repair procedures were well understood and have usually withstood the test of time well.