Quiet genius


When reeling off a list of the most famous racing yacht designers of the past 75 years one name does not always trip off the tongue as easily as higher-profile international figures. Yet, as Julian Everitt describes, Ericus Van de Stadt was perhaps one of the most influential designers of them all 38 SEAHORSE


Ericus (Ricus) Gerhardus Van de Stadt, usually known more simply as E G Van de Stadt, was an internationally renowned ocean racing yacht designer who suc- ceeded in getting innovation to work for him, rather than letting it frighten his clients away in the conservative world of offshore raceboat design. Van de Stadt pioneered trends that right from the outset of his offshore design career, beginning in 1949, took until the mid-1960s to become the norm and still form the cornerstone of fast yacht design today. I speak of course of aeroplane section


high aspect ratio fin keels and spade rudders on light-displacement, flattish- bottomed hulls. In ocean racing design terms the appearance of the 39ft Zeevaalk, Van de Stadt’s second design since setting up a design and build business with his wife in 1933, was truly revolutionary. The keel was short fore and aft with a


vertical trailing edge and only a small slope on the leading edge. A trim tab enabled


the aero foil keel sections to be made asymmetric for additional lift upwind. The rudder, another aeroplane wing


profile, simply hung off the stock, with no skeg and nothing to support it other than the bearing surface at the interface with the hull. This, combined with what was, in effect, an ultra-light displacement, was regarded by the conservative offshore racing world as verging on dangerous. The use of plywood, hard-chine construc-


tion did little to reduce the incredulity of a design establishment who considered that the very laws of offshore seamanship were being challenged by this Dutch upstart. Zeevalk undoubtedly represented a


watershed moment in conceptual terms but, despite being highly successful on the racecourse, few other designers followed the concept. She did, however, represent a significant element of a designer/owner relationship that would, only 11 years later, produce one of the most significant ocean racers in the history of the sport.


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