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Dick Carter - Yacht Designer
In the Golden age of offshore racing
Special limited edition signed by Dick Carter.
With foreword by John Rousmaniere
Over the next decade, Carter and his yachts dominated across the world, winning successive World One Ton Cups with the likes of Tina, Optimist, Wai-Aniwa and Ydra, the Half Ton Cup with Crocodile and Two Ton Cup with Aggressive. During 1972 Wai-Aniwa skippered by New Zealander Chris Bouzaid capped off a great season by finishing Top Boat in the Southern Cross series lifting New Zealand to win the team trophy.
The stories behind other top Dick Carter designed racing yachts include Robin Aisher's Frigate, 2nd boat overall in the 1973 Admiral's Cup, Carina III, a member of the winning team at the same event, Chica Tica II, winner of the 1976 Cape/Rio Race, Dr Recchi's Custom 65 footer Benbow, line honours and handicap winner in the 1977 Middle Sea Race, and William Hubbard's Lively Lady II which dominated the 2006 Bermuda Race prize-giving.
Despite his lack of formal training in naval architecture, Dick Carter made himself into a skilled yacht designer with radical ideas and a record of daring and continuing success. The results his designs achieved, are a direct reflection of his innovative mind. Blessed with what sailors call 'an eye for a boat' - an intuitive understanding of why some boats sail faster and better than others, coupled the ability to transform that understanding into new expressions. He was the first to separate the keel and rudder in ocean racing, the first to introduce a trim tab to the trailing edge of a keel, an idea later adopted by Olin Stephens on his 1967 America's Cup winning 12 metre Intrepid. Dick was also the first to radically reduce weight and windage within the rig, pioneering the idea of internal halyards and shroud tangs. "They don't even do that on America's Cup yachts." Ted Hood remarked at the time.
As John Rousmaniere writes in his Introduction: "This story of the underdog sailor taking on the world and conquering it is often surprising, roundly entertaining, inspiring and instructive. Dick's approach was straightforward: challenge the common wisdom with a daring that he describes as: 'Once a challenge is met successfully, that is enough for me.'"
The last challenge was the first he could not successfully meet - the petroleum crisis during the 1970s that depleted economies and nearly destroyed the boating business. Just a decade after he burst on the scene, Dick Carter retired from boats, and moved to furrow a fresh course through life. Many of his old friends and shipmates were sure he had died. Now Dick is back, larger than life - and with a remarkable story.
| Extent: | 328 pages | |
| ISBN: | 9781912621316 | |
| Imprint: | Fernhurst Books | |
| Illustrations: | 74 full page plates + line drawings | |
| Price: | £40.00 |
| Sample Pages | - | Order on-line |