What Tradition Has
to Offer
Copyright 1995 - 2006
Michael Kasten
There are those who choose to ignore our roots, are not
interested in them, have forgotten them, or who perhaps have never been
exposed to classic boats in the first place. Well, regarding our
seeming focus in the direction of traditional boats I have been pleased to
discover that many people are receptive to classic style.
Excellent!
We have made use of tradition simply as a springboard.
Naturally there is a place for all types - well nearly all types. Although an
element of beauty can be found in nearly any boat, given the openness to see
it, the blatantly ugly should be extinguished.
Who is to say though what's ugly?
It was said by Salvatori, the great architect, "Any
structure should have the qualities of Function, Strength, Aesthetics, and
Economy. The element of Aesthetics, is equal partner to the other
requirements. Aesthetics will ask that a balance be struck between the
engineering on the one hand, and the art or design of a structure on the
other. In other words, perfect engineering does not automatically imply good
design."
Although he was referring to buildings, we can apply the
same statements to boats...!
In their book Sailing Yacht Design, Henry and Miller say,
"These principles are not easily described, but may be summed up in one
word: balance... This is an artistic or implied symmetry of balanced masses,
rather than a geometric symmetry."
I feel it is at times a lack of exposure to tradition that
drives most peoples’ interest in what we sometimes refer to as cutting edge
stuff, i.e. the trend toward the go-fast, the ultra-light, the extreme. It is not
always so much an informed preference as perhaps an unfamiliarity with the
heritage from which our boats have come to us...
A common misconception with boats is that "traditional
equals slow." Not so!
My schooner Emerald is a traditional old crab crusher
by some definitions - a dowdy old single-chine gaffer. How is it then
that her fine lines have carried us to victories against much larger boats
in various local races? Sister ships of this excellent design by Tom Colvin
have won several other local races, and have carried me nicely across
oceans. Hmm... a highly capable "dowdy old gaffer" then...?
My own reluctance to immediately embrace new boating
fads or fanatical boat types comes from a natural caution - a conservative
approach. Of course if we did not progress, we would be just simply
old fashioned. We should remain open to various extremes, but caution
is also good, as is evidenced by
the BOC racer built out of recycled aluminum with a 17' deep fin keel on
which the
keel promptly fell off and scuttled their mission before it even got
started...!
It often seems that as soon as
someone does something crazy with a boat, immediately everyone else has to
have one of those and attempt the same. Unfortunately, many boaters are led
into desiring this stuff by all the hype and the glitter, rather than
necessarily with good boat-sense. This trend is extended via the all
too common production boat mentality: a mind set established by bean-counters and sales people, rather than by a sensible approach to boating.
As in Hollywood, there is a point where a boat will simply
become all fluff and no substance. Unlike Hollywood however, many
of the resulting production boats are just downright ugly...!
I feel boaters deserve
better.
Many production boats are poorly made as well. One
only need remember the thousands of GRP runabout power boats built with the
absolute minimum of structure. In terms of safety, this is very much
in need of improvement!
In part, this is why we like metal boats. With each
new vessel imagined, on the design side we have the opportunity to create
something with an eye toward "modern-classic" aesthetics. We also have
the benefit of being able to take advantage of inherently strong materials.
Robust and safe, yet fast and graceful... The sweet
spot of good design.
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Michael Kasten
Metal Boat Quarterly #2 - Spring 1995 Editorial
- Updated 2003 & 2006
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