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How SHEARWATER Came
To Be
By TED CARY
The Shearwater
project began as a concept in the mind of Bill Mathers. Bill spent part of his
youth as a U.S. Navy salvage officer, refloating vessels which had fallen victim
to V.C. mischief along the coast of South Vietnam. He liked the work, the sea,
and the travel. So when he left the navy, he stayed with the sea and travel.
Thirty years of working in marine construction and marine archeology, with
thousands of miles of sailing aboard the two boats he’s owned, has left him
with some definite opinions as to what he wants in a vessel. When he decided to
get what he wanted it was clear that none of the production boats, and few if
any custom designs, were even close enough to use as a starting point. Bill had
spent eight years sailing the seas of Southeast Asia aboard his 80 foot S&S
schooner, built in Hong Kong in 1937. He returned to the States in 1990. Then
had three years of sailing the Chesapeake Bay and Caribbean with his Tektron 50,
an open bridgedeck, performance-oriented catamaran designed by John Shuttleworth.
To his mind, in the interest of safety, utility, and enjoyment, the new boat
would be a catamaran. He went shopping for a designer who would work with him. A
few false starts led him to a surprising but fortuitous choice.
Jim Donovan had developed a sold
reputation in yacht design. But all his work had only one hull. Still, he was an
avid beach cat sailor and was eager to expand his portfolio into the multihull
field. The enthusiasm, technical competence, and attention to detail reflected
in his impeccable drawings convinced Bill that Jim could help transform his
concepts into an extraordinary vessel.
The two of them planned, Jim
drew, and Bill looked for a builder who could help with structural engineering
and deliver the final product within a reasonable time frame and budget. One of
the more promising bids came back from Gold Coast Yachts in St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
Forty-three of the forty-seven boats GCY had built were commercial day charter
boats. In the grueling arena of 365-day-a-year sailing, their products have an
enviable record for low maintenance and longevity. And Joe Colpitt’s
uncommonly fast and comfortable 56-foot trimaran Virgin Fire was
convincing evidence that the design and building teams at Gold Coast Could
successfully collaborate with an owner/designer. After several rounds of
negotiation a contract was signed, and owner, designer and builders committed
themselves to the creation of Shearwater.
A cooperative project like this
is not an easy thing. The participants can go their separate ways at completion,
but the product of the union will probably be around for a long time. The
outcome will have long-term consequences for both reputation and personal
satisfaction. Everyone involved wants to see a functional work of art at sea
trial time. Those who spend their lives making boasts tend to be decisive and
opinionated. It’s required conduct if you ever want to launch one. The little
office at Gold Coast witnessed some spirited exchange as the design was adapted
to meet GCY engineering parameters and the construction techniques were matched
to the requirements Jim and Bill had established. Mutual respect, open minds,
and well-presented evidence kept the process moving.
Let’s take a look a Bill’s
original wish list, and see how close the reality is to the dream. The boat is
intended to be both home and cruising vessel for the owner. It was also expected
to serve as a platform for surveying of shipwreck sites, for the purpose of
archeological recovery. It needs to deliver a crew of six to eight members to
remote sites in a timely and economical fashion. Then it must work as a dive
platform and site plotting office, as well as a living quarters for the
archeologists. To be effective at all of these tasks it must be fast, sea
kindly, stable, have a sizable deck, provide areas for personal privacy and
socializing, have functional desk space, and a mechanical shop, and incorporate
conveniences for efficient work. It also must be simple enough to be reliable
and easily repaired. Shoal draft expands the utility, since shipwrecks are often
shoal water groundings. To boost crew confidence and morale, the vessel should
be unsinkable.
The stability at anchor, deck
space, and sleeping quarter’s privacy are best provided by a cat. Payload and
space requirements, considered along with performance demands, will determine
displacement. Then we get down to the decisions that have more possible choices,
with less clear difference between them, and where compromises must be made. The
score here determines where she falls on the scale from adequate to excellent.
Hull shape bears heavily on speed
potential, carrying capacity and quality of the ride. The target for sailing
speed was over 15 knots. That indicated hulls with a waterline length- to-beam
ratio around 12 to 1 and fairly buoyant ends for a high prismatic coefficient.
Jim had to consider, however, that very high prismatics deliver the speed along
with high vertical accelerations as the ends bounce over waves rather than
easing through them. Maximum speed was not worth accepting a rough, exhausting
motion. A carefully crafted compromise was required.
Also to be considered was
motoring performance. Bill decided that 6 to 8 knots powering speed would fill
his needs, allowing engine weight and fuel tankage to be kept moderate.
Bill wanted the simplicity of a
fixed mast, but was willing to consider a rotating spar if it could be
demonstrated that it was simple to use and reliable. Roger Hatfield asked him to
sail a boat with a Gold Coast built rotating mast, and talk to the crews of GCY
boats. The final choice became a slightly modified version of the 72-foot stick
for Virgin Fire, providing better drive, at price and weight figures
competitive with a fixed aluminum spar. Bill says the mast is self-tending while
sailing, requiring only a pair of lines to fine-tune the angle to apparent wind
direction. That combines with the self-tending jib to make tacking a matter of
simply turning the wheel. No sail handling required unless the light air reacher
is deployed.
The standard construction methods
at GCY have been strip planking and plywood/stringer components, with occasional
use of honeycomb or foam core. Jim showed convincing evidence that a shot at the
target weight was going to require a lot more composite work so Shearwater
was delivered with fir strip bottoms, Baltek DuraKore topsides, high-density
foam inserts at all openings, foam-core decks and cabin top, and Nidacore
honeycomb-cored bulkheads, bridgedeck panels, and furniture panels. The
vacuum-bagging pumps ran a lot of hours, and it shows in the stiffness and
finish. And with all of the structure less dense than water, no amount of damage
could sink her.
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Mathers 57’ |
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Dimensions
LOA 56’9"
BOA 30’0
LWL 54’0"
Hull Width 6’0"
Draft:
Rudders down 4’6"
Rudders up 1’11"
Dagger down 9’0"
Displacement 30,000lbs
Sail Area:
Main 1,128ft²
Jib 427ft²
Reacher 925ft²
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St. Croix, USVI
