Clockwise from top left: Hunt’s work was nothing if not diverse… designed in 1939, the Hunt 110 can stake a claim as the world’s first sportsboat and is still raced enthusiastically; among his successful 5.5 Metre designs was Minotaur, skippered by famous US skipper and boatbuilder George O’Day; in 1949 Hunt launched this experimental 42ft catamaran, here being sailed by the designer with his wife and young son; 36ft overall, the Hunt 410 was launched in 1947 when her pretty rounded coachroof was considered rather risqué
more palatable as popularity increased and had the advantage of giving her a distinc- tive, avant-garde appearance. This tale recently came to me from Ms Milly Biller, a class stalwart in California: ‘With several other 110 enthusiasts we headed down to Richmond YC on San Francisco Bay for a weekend of sailing… on the way I had the window down and heard a cyclist look at the line of 110s on their trailers and say to his buddy, “Yeah, I think those are boats.”’ Oh well… beauty is as beauty does. The
110 class is still considered sporty and looks to the future, trying a ‘fathead’ main and smaller headsail. They have also tried an asymmetrical kite with mixed results, to complete the sportsboat analogy. With an eye towards a similar concept
design but with more attractive ends, Ray Hunt next designed the International 210 in 1946 (the International part of its name is a bit of a misnomer or perhaps some wishful thinking by the class fathers). With WWII ending, and returning sailors anxious to hit the racecourses, the 210 was the boat of its day, combining high perfor- mance, pretty good looks and still with
44 SEAHORSE
that low cost. The 210 is a lovely 30ft boat with the same basic characteristics of the 110. It weighs only 2,300lb and has a 1,175lb cast iron keel similar to the 110. Length to beam ratio is still quite svelte at 5. You could buy a 210 with sails in 1947 for $1,500 ($17,340). Hunt drew beautiful radiused ends on
the 210, the stern especially, as the curve stops above the waterline and the rockered bottom bends up to meet it, giving a grace seldom found in chine-built hulls. The bottom is again gently arced, the chines gen- erously rounded and the topsides at bow and stern have a hint of shape from the con- formation of plywood sheet, again Har- borite, giving great stiffness to the panels. Like all of Ray Hunt’s plywood
‘sharpie’-type hulls, the 210 was intended to be a strict one-design class to be sailed at all the Massachusetts Bay clubs. It goes upwind like a train and downwind in any breeze is docile and fast. Like most double- ended boats it won’t really plane but mimics the bow-up attitude as if it’s trying hard! The unique thing about the 210 is the lack of a stern wave – and its
instructive burble. The wake exits as a silent hiss and a first-time 210 sailor will miss its clues about boat speed. Steering from the low side with your elbow at the water’s edge is about as pleasant a helming experience as you can find. The bête noire of the 210 is its genoa
with something like a 180 per cent overlap. Understandably, a skinny, light-displace- ment boat will want a low aspect ratio rig, so the genoa made sense (though Hunt tried to persuade the class not to adopt it), but despite innovative sheeting systems (similar to the Dragon’s high/low speed system), it is simply a nuisance and destroys visibility and the wonderful keelboat aspect of quick tacking on small shifts. The class lives on in pockets mostly in
New England, Maryland and at Gull Lake in Michigan, sail numbers reaching around 460. Modern examples are very sophisti- cated with a lever vang, two-speed sheet- ing for the genoa and modern composite sails and are roughly similar in speed around a course to a good Etchells. It’s a wonderful boat and would be a great plat- form for the subtle, constant modernisation
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110
