Fifty years ago – 1971 quite a dull year by all accounts: the year that the microprocessor was invented and Texas Instruments released the first pocket calculator, Disney World opened Florida, Apollo 14 lands on the Moon. In the UK decimal currency is introduced and Laurent Giles creates ten more magnificent yacht designs. It had […]
Boat Plan Sets Historical Yachts Model Plans Production YachtsFriedrich-Karl Erdmann contacted Laurent Giles early in 1995 about purchasing plans to build his Vertue. This was eight years after the newly transformed design company had increased the range of construction choices to include both strip plank and welded steel. It transpired that the construction contract with Otto Knenemund was signed in September 1995 and […]
Boat Plan Sets Historical Yachts Model Plans Posters and Prints Yacht RegisterDonella, the prototype to the Donella Class was designed in 1956 and during the following two years was built by Messrs. Percy Mitchell of Mevagissey, Cornwall. Altogether nineteen Donella class hull numbers were assigned of which two (hulls numbers 12 & 13) were not built. Four of those that were built: numbers 5, 11, 14 […]
Boat Plan Sets Racing Yachts Yacht Register80 years ago 1939, Flica II, although never an Americas Cup challenger, was none the less notable in the International Yacht Racing Rule 12 m class. She was one of the largest I.Y.R. Twelve Metre class ever built, however some commentators deemed her to be too long, too narrow and too heavy. In fact, at […]
Boat Plan Sets Historical Yachts Racing Yachts Yacht RegisterThe Westerly Konsort proved to be popular right from the outset and remains one of Westerly’s most popular cruisers with eight hundred and twelve built between 1979 and 1992. The project to introduce a ‘gap filler’ between the Centaur and Longbow models demandeded the yacht being designed twice: the first brief from the builder was […]
Boat Plan Sets Game changers Historical Yachts Model Plans Production Yachts Yacht RegisterToday, ten years after the mission started a visitor to the Laurent Giles can find either directly from the site by searching the design name, or by using the contact feature, technical and design information on all of Jack Giles designs and most Laurent Giles designs up to the end of the twentieth century. For […]
Boat Plan Sets Historical Yachts Model Plans Posters and Prints Production Yachts Racing Yachts Uncategorised Yacht RegisterDesigned in 1968 the Westerly Centaur is thought to be the last small craft design that Jack Laurent Giles contributed to before his death later that year. He didn’t survive to see the construction of what is probably the most important development in production yacht design and certainly the most prolific. Fifty years ago, Laurent […]
Boat Plan Sets Production YachtsSeventy years ago, a busy time for Newman & son, the Poole yacht builder. In the previous ten years eight new custom Laurent Giles designs of various sizes left the yard. 1948 saw the start of construction of another two: the 38’ racing cutter Tilly Whim named after a cave on the Jurassic coast of […]
Boat Plan Sets Game changers Historical Yachts Model Plans Yacht RegisterNearly forty years ago, November 1977 was indeed a prolific month for the construction of new wooden Vertues; building commenced on five, all of which were launched and are still afloat and enjoyed today. It was shortly after this profusion that the initiative was raised to produce these famous little ocean cruisers in GRP, and […]
Boat Plan Sets Historical Yachts Yacht RegisterHistoric records refer to Rhakotis as a settlement on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast before Alexander the Great founded the famous Mediterranean port city of Alexandria in B.C. 332. Alexandria was an important city of the ancient world; for more than two thousand years, it was the largest city in Egypt and was its capital for almost […]
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