Herrshoff "The wizzord of Bristol"
Just finished reading L. Frances Herrschoff's biography of his father capt. Nat. If you haven't read it, and are at all interested in where modern sailboat designs come from this is a must read. It was published 1953, so you need to keep that in mind as you read it. It's also written by a Son who obviously loved and respected his father, so again keep that in mind; but it's not too flowery in that respect. It really gave me an appreciation of the staggering accomplishments that N.G. Herrshoff achieved in his lifetime, simply amazing. It is also a nice slice of yachting history, esp. the early America cup races. Just to list a few of his accomplishments; I don't have the book in front of me now, so it's just some from memory. He designed and built 6 America cup winners. He Single-handedly redesigned the way wooden boats were constructed, from heavy lugs to light weight, strongly constructed speed machines. He invented the cross cut sail used today. He designed the winches primarily used today. He designed the hollow metal spars. He design over 2000 different boats. He perfected the steam engine used in steamboats of the late 1800-early1900s. He designed the first Navy torpedo boats. He perfected the bulb keel. He designed and built many fin keel sailboats in the late 1800s. He developed the rating system to allow different design sailboats to race against one another, His system is used today with little changes. This is just a sampling of it.
