So the truth is out: just like that seemingly placid Ben Ainslie before him, Giles Scott also grows big horns once out on the racecourse. Bit of a relief really. When his rudder pintles failed at the leeward gate during this year’s Princess Sofia in Palma, Scott went delightfully ballistic, finally hurling $1,500-worth of carbon rudder assembly into the wild blue yonder in disgust
she was sold after the series. Soon after launching Dubois had requested a re-measurement because the numbers did not agree with his predictions, but the original rating was confirmed. Later, when the rating shot up, Dubois was exonerated but it cost RORC rating secretary Keith Ludlow his job.
The third raceboat to shine was Stephen Fein’s 1986 One Tonner
owner David Lieu among his clients and Lieu had a ‘hobby’ boatyard called Supercraft producing motoryachts.
Poulsson became a firm friend of Dubois. They were later to
co-own Firebrand, originally Dennis Miller’s yacht from the British Admiral’s Cup team of 1967. She represented the apogee of Olin Stephens’ six decades of designing and brought much pleasure to Dubois’ connoisseur’s eye.
For the 1977 Admiral’s Cup Supercraft built the Dubois 44 Vanguardfor Lieu. In those days the Admiral’s Cup and the SORC were the twin pivot points of 40-50ft offshore racing. They were the battleground for boatbuilders seeking to usurp aluminium with composites, masthead spars with fractional rigs, proving grounds for hardware innovators like Tim Stearn and the setting for the North vs Hood vs Sobstad vs Ulmer Kolius vs Horizon contest for sailmaking supremacy.
It was also where helmsmen and designers made their names. So when the Hong Kong team finished third in the 19-nation 1977 Admiral’s Cup behind Britain and the USA, Dubois’ reputation got another boost. Also aboard Vanguardwas a young Malcolm McKeon, thereby starting a relationship with Dubois that was to last 30 years as intern, then co-owner of Dubois Naval Architects and an integral part of the firm’s growth and reputation.
If you had to name three Dubois race yachts that were genuine stars, then Peter Cantwell’s 42ft fractionally rigged Police Car would be the first. Dubois was influenced by Laurie Davidson’s step in Girth Stations which he used on the 1978 Half Ton Cup winner Waverider. Police Car looked like no other boat in Cowes that year, with her graduated blue topsides and NYPD cap badge motif, though she did resemble a big Half Tonner and was ooched and pumped the same way around the racecourse by a hard-driving Aussie crew. In the windy 1979 Admiral’s Cup series their downwind speed was a revelation. The Aussies won and Police Carwas the second highest individual points scorer behind Jeremy Rogers’ Peterson- designed Eclipse, but only by dint of losing points in a contentious protest in the third inshore race. The second Dubois star was Victory of Burnham, a masthead 43-footer skippered by Phil Crebbin and a shakedown project for Peter de Savary’s 1983 America’s Cup challenge. Britain won the Admiral’s Cup in 1981 with Victory just 1pt shy of the top boat, edged out by the Kiwi’s Ron Holland-designed Swuzzlebubble. Victory, however, was later mired in a rating controversy when
Full Pelt. By the mid-1980s the One Ton class was the hottest of all with Briand, Humphreys, Farr, Davidson, Andrieu, Judel-Vrolijk, Joubert-Nivelt, Jeppesen, Gonzalez and many others jostling to be top dog. In the hands of Jo Richards, Full Peltdominated the Sardinia Cup of 1986 and went on to win the Fastnet the following year. These were good days. Dubois parties were an expression of his own gregarious character. Bette Midler was the star turn at one of Ed’s Cowes bashes. Later, when Dubois had launched his own Dubois Cup for his superyachts, parties and music were integral. Friend, New Forest neighbour and Dire Straits bassist John Illsley could get even the straightest-laced Dubois Cuppers on to the dance floor in Palma.
Such joie de vivre was Dubois to the core. He celebrated people, their culture, humour and experiences, which is why clients enjoyed building yachts with him so much. Or in the case of Stephen Fein, why he adored having Ed as crew on his Full Pelt One Tonner or his Formula 40 trimaran. With Ed onboard it had to be fun. There are legions of people with their own ‘Ed stories’, cherishing them now that he has gone.
By the mid-1980s Dubois’ blossoming design practice was also producing series-built boats for Westerly Marine (17 models) and Henri Wauquiez. More significantly, he was making the transition to being a groundbreaking designer of superyachts… Police Car’s success brought a swathe of new commissions. One was for the 122ft Aquel IIfor American client Bob Milhouse. She spearheaded so much of what has become industry practice. She was very long for a sloop at the time. The superstructure created interior volume and expansive views out, yet was rakish and lithe. A furling boom tamed the massive mainsail. Dubois had brought to big boats the same visual allure that characterised his smaller boats. He went on to develop a window treatment with an upturn that has informed many designers and builders of deckhouse saloon yachts since. This definitive Dubois signature found its way into his motor yacht
work too, eschewing the tiered decks and tortured lines of some of his contemporaries for harmonious, handsome and beautifully proportioned shapes.
Recently the Dubois office had developed a wholly new aesthetic of ultra-modern flush-decked yachts topped by a curved glass coachroof. Launched in 2011, the 66m sloop Aglaiawas the largest Dubois yacht and her 83m mast was the tallest ever made by Southern Spars. A similar blister glasshouse had since been devel- oped for a 2,000-ton, 101m sloop. On the drawing board at the time of Ed’s death, she may yet become the world’s largest sloop. Sail and party on, friend. Tim Jeffery
SEAHORSE 9
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RICHARD LANGDON
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