Co-founded by Bill Green and Ian King, and now a part of the Vitters shipbuilding group, Green Marine was never afraid to ‘export’ its boatbuilding expertise and was responsible for several of the Prada syndicate’s Luna Rossa ACC designs


A few personal thoughts


Yacht designer, dinghy champion and Dynamic Stability System creator Hugh Welbourn remembers David Thomas and Bill Green


With the passing of David Thomas and Bill Green on the same October day, two giants of the yachting world have left us, no doubt heading into the sunset to swap tall stories of some of the most formative and exhilarating days of the current yachting era. I was fortunate enough to have known them, worked and sailed with them, and enjoyed their unstinting friendships and help at different times, and both their contributions have left us a legacy that has enriched this sailing world. Early Hamble days and dinghy racing – and David was already innovating with the first incarnation of the spinnaker chute, then with the creation of the single handed ‘Unit’, a contender for the IYRU trials for a new one-person dinghy. He bravely allowed me out to sail this gem of a boat one day, and that was the start of nearly 10 years – firstly racing with him, and then designing too under his watchful eye.


And what a 10 years that was – from his pen came Quarto which spawned a succes- sion of successful production designs with his trademark chines, then the One Tonner Chartreuse, and later the many Hunter Boat designs and the immensely popular range of Sigmas. In no time at all Thomas established a reputation as the man to


24 SEAHORSE


design the boats that people actually wanted to sail.


We had fun racing too – Quarto and all 24ft of her mostly in ¼in plywood – a brutal Dinard race saw us beat all the Half Tonners home to win that one… but in the middle of the night and David went down below for a while for reasons that no one at the time could fully fathom. On arrival he confessed he’d been down there ‘feeling’ the topsides flexing and was extremely pleased to make it to St Malo! Thanks a lot, DT… but the kindness and hospitality shown to me and many others by him and Trudi will live long in the memory. Ancient mariner and seaman that he was, never seen sailing without his pipe – right way up if it was a nice day, upside down when it was raining. He had a great feel for a boat, though, and one of the secrets of his design skills was being able to visualise how a boat would actually sail


‘When Bill Green agreed to build you a boat, it was always a personal thing – and when you worked for him you were part of the “family”. That’s how he approached everything and that is what made working with him so special’


– Geoff Stock, technical director, Green Marine


and then translate that to the drawing board and thence to the water. Unusually, David Thomas could turn his design skills to almost any size and type of craft – we enjoyed getting together once more on the 100ft sailing trading vessel Atlantic Clipper for a real change of direction.


Then he penned Chay Blyth’s first steel- built round-the-world fleet, a hard-chine sportsboat in wood for Iceland, and the list goes on and on down to the little Foxer dinghies and Cornish crabbers beloved of enthusiasts around the globe.


David Thomas’s work will live on – in every corner of the world you will come across some of his boats, being raced, sailed or simply enjoyed by the vast numbers who will take to the seas on his creations for years to come.


Moving on a few years and down the Solent to Lymington… Bill Green – and just those two words are enough to bring a smile to the face of anyone who knew him, and had the privi- lege of knowing Bill and Elsa as friends, colleagues, sailing or cycling companions. The other week, and a gathering at the Chequers in Lymington to remember Bill might have been a Friday evening 30 years back, from when Green Marine was on the first page of its illustrious and still very much ongoing history.


That night Peter Whipp was there too – the first customer to put his trust in Bill and his brilliant boatbuilding partner Ian King, and from their very first build – which happened to be my own Panda 83 IOR design – there was no doubt that here was a team to translate ideas and dreams


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