HAIL BRITANNIA

Dan Spurr has always been one of the best in the business, but in a couple of paragraphs in “Evolution by Design,” he really swung and missed. What I mean is: “Stodgy British designers of the past century and their now-oldfashioned (though sea-friendly, one should note) concepts .... ” Hey, Dan, that’s just history. You might not like the fashions of the past century, but the designers were certainly not stodgy in their time and place. They had superb craftsmen and materials to work with and sophisticated yachtsmen as clients. And, apparently, they didn’t feel the need for “home fashion” in their yachts. And who hasn’t had, or at least wished for, a great cruise on a boat with a “cabin in the woods” down below? Why the put-down? § In any case, without today’s technology or blunders (like an anchor hanging directly off a plumb bow), that British influence produced some of the finest sailing yachts ever and ones well-fitted for their purpose (with a few turkeys too, naturally). At a time when marketing has taken over yacht design (just as it has architectural design), we need Cruising World to keep up the standards no matter what the stylists say. —Bob Hart, via email