Sail Far Live Free

"The trunk cabin is “streamlined” akin to a Buck Rogers rocket ship but, to me, such radical streamlining seems to be somewhat unnecessary on a vehicle that will rarely travel faster than a man can run." - Ted Brewer (see below) As you may recall, I started a series of guest blog posts late last year featuring some of my favorite sailboat designers, including Ted Brewer and Bob Perry . This particular post is a continuation of my "Question of the Month with Ted Brewer" series. This month, I asked Ted, "Do full keel boats and classic designs still make sense for cruisers today, or have these boats run their course?".  Ted's response below is an excellent historical perspective on cruising (and racing) sailboat evolution over the past 50 years. Whether you're a fan of classic designs featuring full keels, skeg rudders, and heavy displacement like myself, or you favor today's modern thin fin keels, ultra-short overhangs, and light displac...

The following is an email I recently received from Ted Brewer. This isn't this month's " Question of the Month with Ted Brewer " post (that's coming next week!), but I found it to be an interesting story and thought I'd share it. Email from Ted Brewer to SailFarLiveFree.com: "Kevin, I just read your blog about the tragedy of Triple Stars and it really brought back some memories. In '64 I was working for Bill Luders and we had designed a steel 45 foot sloop, the Matinee , for a Connecticut owner. The yacht was built in Germany and, after he saw the drawings and the Matinee , Sir Bayard Dill of Bermuda ordered a sistership. Just like a lady, the Duchess of Devonshire was late in arriving and, by the time we offloaded her from the freighter in New York, towed her up to Luders Marine in Stamford, Connecticut and commissioned her, the autumn was well along. Indeed it was a cold and blustery day in early November before we sailed from the yard, with f...

I'm really excited to announce a new monthly series that will be appearing here on SailFarLiveFree.com called "Question of the Month with Designer Ted Brewer ". Many of you are familiar with Ted and his sailboat designs and writing. For those that aren't familiar, you're in for a real treat! Ted has graciously agreed to be featured in my new monthly series where he will answer a sailing-related question (usually focused on design or Ted's experiences) that I present to him. Obviously I'm a big fan of Ted's work and have plenty of questions I'm eager to ask, but I'll also occasionally use questions submitted by you the readers here at Sail Far Live Free.  The first post in this series will appear in a week or so, but feel free to submit any questions/topics you may have for Ted to me via the comments below or email until then. Ted at the drafting table To whet your appetite, here's a bit of Ted's background in the form of a bio he ...