Had Laurent Giles never designed an ocean racer he would still have become famous for his beautiful motor yacht designs.

Woodpecker of Poole was built in 1948 for the owner of Samaki, he had intended to name her ‘Samaki Li’; 70ft long from stem to taff-rail, a light displacement motor yacht which has a displacement length ratio of 90.  She has a bold stem, with a good deal of flare in the bow sections and a wide sloping transom stern.  She has a fine, narrow, easily driven hull form with the longitudinal centre of buoyancy (L.C.B.) well aft with straight buttock lines and straight run aft.  Woodpecker bears little similarity to the Motor Fishing Vessels (M.F.V.) Giles had designed during the war, yet she retains the elegant workmanlike simplicity that her naval sisters had.