This
assessment, which is not the best news for the many owners of existing Spray clones, came from one of America’s
best-known sailboat architects, John G. Hanna, designer of the famous Tahiti
ketch.
In The Rudder Treasury (Sheridan House)
Hanna says: “Since the Suicide Squad has
been for many years building exact copies of Spray, and will continue doing so for many years more unless
restrained, perhaps I can save a life or two by explaining, as simply as
possible, the basic reason (skipping many other good reasons) why Spray is the worst possible boat for
anyone, and especially anyone lacking the experience and resourcefulness of
Slocum, to take off-soundings . . .
“A big
lurching cross sea, that would scarcely disturb a properly designed hull, can —
especially if it coincides, as it often does, with an extra-savage puff of a
squall — flip over a Spray hull just
as you would a poker chip.
“Many
duplicates trying to duplicate the circumnavigation have disappeared without
trace, just as the original Spray and
Slocum did.”
Hanna goes
on to say that one Spray copy that
completed a circumnavigation, Roger Strout’s Igdrasil, was flipped “up to the very point of the last rollover,
and for a second or two it seemed she would never come back on her bottom.”
Strout told Hanna that if ever he were building again for such a trip, he would
willingly sacrifice the comfort of broad decks and great initial stability for
more of the ultimate stability that infallibly rights a well-designed yacht,
even if knocked down with her masts in the water.
Hanna added:
“I trust a little sober reflection on these facts will cause a ray of
light to dawn in the minds of another
generation of would-be Spray
duplicators. The famous old ship had her good points, and no one admires them
more than I; but not enough to overcome some almost certainly fatal faults.”
All of which
tends to reinforce my own long-held belief that a large portion of any boat’s
seaworthiness consists of the skill and experience of the skipper (and crew, if
any).
Today’s
Thought
None but blockheads copy each other.
— William
Blake
Tailpiece
There’s a
new series of TV sets due to hit the market soon. They project in 3-D. They’ll
give you height, width, and debt.
(Drop by
every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
