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Yacht Design Explained: A Boat Owner's Guide to the Principles and Practice of Design

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The first guide to design aimed at every sailor, Yacht Design Explained uses state-of-the-art graphics, dynamic charts and photographs, and clear explanations to show what makes hulls, keels, ballast, rudders, foils, masts, and sails work. It reveals why certain designs perform well and others fail.


The authors examine a range of boats, from a 14-foot dinghy to a 40-foot cruiser, from a catamaran to an offshore singlehander. They break through the often confusing physics of yacht design to provide an understanding that sailors can use to get the most out of their time afloat.

Hardcover

First published August 17, 1998

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About the author

Doug Hunter

8 books

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236 reviews2 followers
March 10, 2019
Written 20 years ago (in 1998). Material on yacht rating rules is stale. Discussion of America's Cup designs and results is missing 25 years. Not a bad non-mathematical discussion in most places.

Section on model testing is between wrong and misleading. Problems with testing very small models, as at Steven's Institute, were well know even back then. The US Navy replaced its Experimental Model Basin (EMB) built in 1898 at the Washington Navy Yard with the new much larger Taylor Model Basin at Carderock, Maryland in the 1930's. Testing at Steven's was much cheaper than other facilities but had known problems. When the rule still required model testing in the country of the team, several US teams came to Carderock with bigger models after Steven's problems. I was there.
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