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Newsletter Spring 2002
EDITORS’ NOTES Spring 2002
 Lucia del Sol Knight, Editor
Blue Hill, Maine U.S.A.
Jim Mairs, our editor at W.W. Norton, asked me the other day if I had a sense of when the Encyclopedia will be done. I asked him why on earth he would believe what I said, since I’ve been wrong every time so far. He said, “Well, you bit off quite a bit.” Patiently he said to let him know when we got close, so the machinery of publishing this book would start to turn, and make the manuscript and 700 photographs and drawings into a book.
Yes, we did bite off a lot. We have struggled — and it’s a good struggle — for over seven years now to collect and organize and finalize entries for over 500 yacht designers worldwide spanning the last 200 years. Almost 80 valiant writers have wrapped up their entries with a few latecomers just now finishing. Many of our Editorial board members have read most of the entries; their comments and corrections have strengthened them.
Illustrations are pouring in and caption writing is underway. It’s exciting to see how the illustrations are going to make this book come alive.
We did lose a few Subscribers, those patrons whose generosity allow us the funds to go after the 700 photos and drawings,when people had to actually pay the balances of their gifts. But with 177 in hand, we’ll close things out soon.
So, when will the book be done? While we are hurrying, we know that this is not the time to be hasty while attending to the remaining details. I’d say we’ll have our part wrapped up within the next three months. It will take Norton about one year to turn it into a book. My apologies to those who are impatient. We, too, are eager to complete it and will continue to charge towards the finish line.
We welcome three industrious new Board members: Marilyn Mower of ShowBoats International magazine, Iain McAllister, captain of the William Fife Jr.-designed Solway Maid, and Claas vander Linde of Switzerland, whose passion is multihull yachts. We thank you and our other advisers for your considerable help!
Soon, The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers will be done.
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 Bob Stephens designed Lena, “a low, narow, fast daysailer” in 2001. The 46’7” wood-epoxy sloop combines traditional proportions above the water with contemporary underwater lines.
Photo by Elizabeth Z. Coakley
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Daniel B. MacNaughton, Editor
Rockland, Maine U.S.A.
Having clearly demonstrated that we have no concept of time, we have come to dread the entirely sensible and obvious question of “When will the book be done?”. I sometimes lie awake at night and wonder why, when we were conceiving this project, the word “Encyclopedia” didn’t jump out at me a bit more. I marvel at the patience of the publisher, the subscribers, and our seldomseen families and friends while we just keep plugging away, doing the vast array of things which will, one of these days, produce The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers.
And review of the status of the hundreds of entries reveals that we are close, very close. In fact, to quote Lucia over the dinner table after a couple of glasses of wine, “Dammit, we’re closer to done than we’ve ever been!”
Of course we’re anxious to wrap it up and get our spare time back and figure out what we might do next (something small.....) but it feels like we’ve learned how to do this, now, and it has been so, so rewarding that we kind of wish we could keep doing it forever. Our individual senses of yachting history, of the importance of the Encyclopedia, and of the need to do more, have broadened and deepened. And best of all have been relationships we have developed with people from the furthest corners of the world, who for minimal material reward have put heart and soul into this project for the good of the sport of yachting.
One might think, with it having taken so much longer than we expected, and having turned out to be so much bigger of a task than we expected, that we might be losing energy, but in fact the opposite is true, as we round the last mark and head for the line.
And dammit, we’re closer to done than we’ve ever been!
Can you help us with these missing birth and death dates, or confirm the “circa” dates? And if you should hear that any designers has passed away, please let us know.
| NAME |
COUNTRY |
BORN |
DIED |
| Arena, Dan |
U.S.A. |
c. 1917 |
? |
| Barber, Archibald |
Australia |
c. 1880 |
c. 1960 |
| Brett, Peter |
England |
1910 |
? |
| Campos, Manuel |
Argentina |
1895 |
? |
| Clayton, Charles |
England |
1845 |
c. 1912 |
| Dallimore, Norman |
England |
? |
1958 |
| Fearon, Thomas |
U.S.A. |
c. 1840 |
c. 1907 |
| Franke, Paul |
Germany |
8 Feb 1858 |
? |
| Gallinari, Egidio |
Italy |
? |
? |
| Kelly, I. Judson |
U.S.A. |
1894 |
c. 1947 |
| Lawlor, Dennison J. |
U.S.A. |
1824 |
c. January 1892 |
| Lehfeld, Ernst J. |
Germany |
1900 |
? |
| Liljegren, Charles |
Sweden |
1865 |
? |
| Lisee, Joseph Napoleon |
U.S.A. |
1871 |
? |
| Martens, Carl |
Germany |
? |
? |
| McClain, George Melville |
U.S.A. |
? |
? |
| Owen, George |
U.S.A. |
1871 |
1958 or 1959? |
| Paris, Alexandre |
France |
c. 1890 |
c. 1961 |
| Payne, Arthur Edward |
England |
1858 |
c. 1905 |
| Primrose, Angus |
England |
? |
1980 |
| Saefkow, H. |
Germany |
c. 1880 |
? |
| Shepherd, Frederick |
England |
? |
? |
| Small Brothers, J.&S. |
U.S.A. |
? |
? |
| Zaal, Dick |
Netherlands |
? |
? |
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