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I designed
Frances for my own use. She was to embody everything I knew about
the design of efficient cruising vessels of GRP construction, to be capable
of yearly cruises to and among the Caribbean Islands, to be small enough
to fit my limited budget yet large enough to survive a gale at sea.
She is small enough for me to handle the little maintenance required with
GRP construction, capable of being laid up alongside a local lobsterman's
wharf on an outgoing tide for periodic attention to the bottom, or even
towed behind a good Maine Peapod if the engine and wind should choose to
die simultaneously.
Frances
is a small boat. She does not have full headroom, although there
is now a coachroof deck plan giving 1.8m headroom, but she does have lots
of sitting room. A great deal of attention has been paid to stowage
space, but any experienced cruising sailor knows that space is no good
if the displacement and freeboard of the yacht are such that, should that
space be occupied by useable supplies, she would float halfway up her sides.
Load Frances with your cruising gear and she won't show it, in appearance
or performance. Many an ocean passage has been made in smaller boats.
She's
a double-ender. Not as fast as a transom or counter stern, but not
much slower either, and the sea keeping qualities are so well known as
not to require repeating here. Many long hours were devoted to developing
the hull shape, including the carving and gradual perfection of a half
model. The entry is modelled quite sharply and the keel extension
is carried right up to the canoe body of the hull with a very tight fairing
radius. This allows the entire keel to act as a vertical wing and
thus prevent leeway. The rig is tall and narrow, increasing the leading
edge of the sails. These three factors make Frances a weatherly boat.
She has quite high freeboard, with bulwarks around the forward and aft
decks. They have gone out of fashion on racing boats, but once you
sail with decent bulwarks as well as lifelines betwixt yourself and the
hereafter, you won't want to go to sea again on a boat that is not so equipped.
Amidships, the high freeboard combined with a flush deck are responsible
for all that lovely room below decks.
I wanted
a boat which could carry her sail well. On the other hand, I wanted
the desirable wave performance of a tender boat. That is, one which
is an easy roller. There was only one solution to this conflict.
I got the sail carrying ability from the moderately heavy displacement
and achieved an easy motion by shaping the hull sections with a high angle
of deadrise and very easy bilges. The result is a hull which is easily
driven and has relatively less wetted surface for her length than many
yachts in her size range.
Frances
sports a rather tall, 7/8 or cutter rig. This gives a great proportional
area to the mainsail, which is only proper on a pure cruising yacht which
does not attempt to cheat a rule which favours foretriangle area.
It's easier to reef a main on a blustery night than go forward and change
down to a smaller jib. For the fellow who intends to spend his time
making long open water passages, the cutter rig offers a lower sail plan
and more choice to achieve a balanced and more manageable spread of sail.
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