These are Heywood’s original notes from 1956:
“For some years my wife and I have felt that the centre cockpit design offered the best accommodation for an ideal family cruising boat. We were particularly attracted by the way (Fred) Shepherd seemed to have solved the problems involved when he designed Aideen in the 30’s. Thus it was with this yardstick that we approached Laurent Giles”.
“As usual there had to be a mass of contradictory requirements. Our boat must be equally suitable for extended foreign cruising in warm climates as for pottering about an icy Solent at weekends. She must provide really comfortable accommodation for 3 adults and 3 children both at sea and in harbour. She must have a really good performance under either sail or power and yet my wife and I must not be confined to port just because all our friends seem otherwise engaged”.
Unconventional though it may be for a purely cruising boat to be drawn with a fore triangle more reminiscent of ocean racers under the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s pre-1957 rule, it is this sort of cruising which confirms the logical thinking of both Giles and client that this is an ideal solution to the problem of pottering short handed when one wishes, or sailing at the maximum speed of which the boat was capable.