The Herreshoff Sloop rig 28
Oh dear. What have I done ? I've possibly created a monster that will not go away until I tell the whole tale
The Herreshoff 28 came about through the efforts of one L.Francis Herreshoff who, as a noted designer of yachts both small and large, responded to the request of the editor of the "Rudder" magazine, an American sailing journal in 1942
The commission was to design a small cruising yacht and write the "how to build" articles to accompany the design written about in the magazine. 13 months later in January 1944 and well over the alloted time span for the article, LFH had designed a thoroughly succesful project and it became one of the most popular cruising yachts in the world. It is alledged that over 150 plans alone were sold in Australia after the second world war ( 1939-45 ) and many were built with the benefit of copies of the plans after the original builder had built his boat.
However, LFH had designed a ketch rig ( a two masted cruising yacht ) that has the same structure below the water line and essentially the same super-structure above the waterline, but has the benefit of a main and a mizzen mast to balance the boat for cruising. The first boat to arrive on the Swan river was Saga (a ketch rig) and was built by Johansen of Cottesloe. She was possibly the 2nd H28 built in Australia and the interest in her was immense as she arrived on the water on 1947.
The next H28 to raise heads around the river was a sloop rig H28. Research has lead me to believe that LFH had a sloop rig design on his drawing boards by 1945 and shortly after the success of the ketch rig, he released the sloop rig plans and in due course Johansen of Cottesloe had a sloop rig under way and Nova ( owned by John Fitzhardinge ) hit the water.in 1948. This format of boat became the preferred set up for builders of the H28, both backyard and in the builders yards, though the ketch rig held her own particular charm.
The Swan river H28 is easliy distinguished at a glance, in that they were built to race offshore as well on the river and they were then built with a mast that could be lowered to go under the bridges down at Fremantle and the tabernacle was put in place on all H28's that went off shore. (I wonder if that was the reason why sloop rigs were prefered? Only one mast to drop.) Another item which seems to be peculiar to the Swan river H28 is the small forward reaching spreaders just above the fractional rig on the mast. It seems that on the original H28 plans for the sloop rig, LFH had increased the height of the mast by a good 4 feet and had put in the extra support for the top of the mast to stop it from twisting off, forwards and or backwards under load from spinnakers and or backstay. Remember that the original masts were made of box section timber and didn't have the structural strength of aluminium that we have today. Last but not least, Jarrah was used extensively in the building of the boats below the deck line.
The 1950's and 60's were the hey-day for building H28's and they were built not only in Perth, but up and down the coast, with Bunbury and Albany being well noted places where H28's were built. Some were built literally in the owners back yards and then trucked to their launching points, others were built on the slipways of boat builders and eased into the water.
NB In relation to mast heights more information has come to light and a height of some 38 feet and 10 and 1/2 inches was the given, off LFH's drawings. ( Many thanks to a discussion between Jay Greer of Port Townsend in Washington and a BillP possibly of Florida. Both from the USA.
In these days, the movie camera was becoming popular and some amateur photographers were busily recording film of their boats and incidently, the world around them. Have a look at the Don Bourne and Wynella page. Permission was sought of Don's wife Nancy to allow us to use some film that they had and it was granted recently. In this you will see the life of the late 50's and early 60's and the world that existed then.
The commission was to design a small cruising yacht and write the "how to build" articles to accompany the design written about in the magazine. 13 months later in January 1944 and well over the alloted time span for the article, LFH had designed a thoroughly succesful project and it became one of the most popular cruising yachts in the world. It is alledged that over 150 plans alone were sold in Australia after the second world war ( 1939-45 ) and many were built with the benefit of copies of the plans after the original builder had built his boat.
However, LFH had designed a ketch rig ( a two masted cruising yacht ) that has the same structure below the water line and essentially the same super-structure above the waterline, but has the benefit of a main and a mizzen mast to balance the boat for cruising. The first boat to arrive on the Swan river was Saga (a ketch rig) and was built by Johansen of Cottesloe. She was possibly the 2nd H28 built in Australia and the interest in her was immense as she arrived on the water on 1947.
The next H28 to raise heads around the river was a sloop rig H28. Research has lead me to believe that LFH had a sloop rig design on his drawing boards by 1945 and shortly after the success of the ketch rig, he released the sloop rig plans and in due course Johansen of Cottesloe had a sloop rig under way and Nova ( owned by John Fitzhardinge ) hit the water.in 1948. This format of boat became the preferred set up for builders of the H28, both backyard and in the builders yards, though the ketch rig held her own particular charm.
The Swan river H28 is easliy distinguished at a glance, in that they were built to race offshore as well on the river and they were then built with a mast that could be lowered to go under the bridges down at Fremantle and the tabernacle was put in place on all H28's that went off shore. (I wonder if that was the reason why sloop rigs were prefered? Only one mast to drop.) Another item which seems to be peculiar to the Swan river H28 is the small forward reaching spreaders just above the fractional rig on the mast. It seems that on the original H28 plans for the sloop rig, LFH had increased the height of the mast by a good 4 feet and had put in the extra support for the top of the mast to stop it from twisting off, forwards and or backwards under load from spinnakers and or backstay. Remember that the original masts were made of box section timber and didn't have the structural strength of aluminium that we have today. Last but not least, Jarrah was used extensively in the building of the boats below the deck line.
The 1950's and 60's were the hey-day for building H28's and they were built not only in Perth, but up and down the coast, with Bunbury and Albany being well noted places where H28's were built. Some were built literally in the owners back yards and then trucked to their launching points, others were built on the slipways of boat builders and eased into the water.
NB In relation to mast heights more information has come to light and a height of some 38 feet and 10 and 1/2 inches was the given, off LFH's drawings. ( Many thanks to a discussion between Jay Greer of Port Townsend in Washington and a BillP possibly of Florida. Both from the USA.
In these days, the movie camera was becoming popular and some amateur photographers were busily recording film of their boats and incidently, the world around them. Have a look at the Don Bourne and Wynella page. Permission was sought of Don's wife Nancy to allow us to use some film that they had and it was granted recently. In this you will see the life of the late 50's and early 60's and the world that existed then.