Alfred
Westmacott72 CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2016
It’s fast – a Sunbeam won Cowes Classics Week
this year – and it’s pretty. What is it that makes
this design so successful?
THEO RYE
I
f it was possible to add up all the hours spent sailing
on and around the Solent, it’s quite probable that
one man’s designs would be top of the list. Alfred
Westmacott did more than his fair share with the
Bembridge ODs, the Victory class, the Seaview Mermaid
ODs; not to mention the most popular of all, the X-ODs.
For many though his 1922 design for the Sunbeam is his
prettiest; said to be an improved version of the Mermaid,
with two feet more length to play with, the resulting
overhangs give the hull a distinctly classy air. Their
relatively high specifi cation (including a lead keel) also
imbued a sense of exclusivity from the beginning, and
although not cheap, they have proved remarkably
long-lived and nearly all the class are accounted for.
They raced on the Hamble from 1923 and a second fl eet
at Falmouth started up the following year; the Solent
fl eet decamped to Bembridge in the 1930s and then after
the Second World War was re-established at Itchenor
where it has remained ever since.
The sail area at 300sq ft is generous; the sail area/
displacement ratio as designed is 218, well above the
X-OD at 178, and it shows; they are powerful boats and
demand respect in a breeze. From the fi rst sails, though,
it was clear that they would benefi t from a good chunk
of internal ballast to aid stability; the rules specify 250lb
for the Solent fl eet and up to 450lb for the Falmouth
boats. That increases their waterline length from the
designed fi gure and decreases the freeboard, which was
never excessive; one Sunbeam (Judy) was lost near the
East Lepe buoy in heavy weather in July 1939 and her
skipper Mr A Candee was drowned. Handled sensibly
they have since proved to be dependable boats, although
when the Solent fl eet opted to build new GRP boats a
few years ago, built-in buoyancy was incorporated.
The original sail plan (shown) was later modifi ed to
allow a standing backstay and slightly smaller mainsail.
The distribution of sail area between the main and jib is
not fi xed in the rule, but the area of the jib can be nomore than 100sq ft, which combined with a small
spinnaker (or none at all for the Falmouth fl eet) keeps
the crew work light. That makes fi nding (and retaining)
crew easier than in some classes; they can be sailed by a
couple or three, and probably as a result the class enjoys
a remarkable loyalty. They are proper ‘little yachts’ to
sail; their displacement / length ratio is perhaps
surprisingly high at 304, but it gives them the heft to
shoulder their way through a chop.
However much they undoubtedly owe to their pretty
profi le above the water (and the bow in particular is a
delight) the underwater body is also worth study. The
buttock and waterlines show an easy entry and run,
with a sensible waterplane that will not be overly
sensitive to crew weight aft. The midship section has a
fi rm tuck into a relatively slender keel; and with its full
bow sections it could pass for an International Rule
hull, but for the greater relative beam. When the design
was fi rst published in the March 1923 edition of
Yachting Monthly the editor Herbert Reiach described
it as “powerful yet sweet-lined”, and so it is. Attributed
just to “the board of Messrs. Woodnutt, of St Helens”,
it has been suggested that the design may show the
infl uence of a talented draftsman employed there at the
time, Louis Jacobs, who later went to Camper &
Nicholsons. However, all the Sunbeams in Lloyd’s
Register of Yachts were listed as designed by “A
Westmacott” and if Jacobs played a part, like many
others before and since, the extent is now forgotten.
In the words of Reiach, the Sunbeam could not “fail
to appeal to yachtsmen who are on the lookout for a
really able little boat” and so it has proved with sail
numbers across the two fl eets now in the high 60s.
Lighter and slimmer but with more sail area even than
a Dragon, these are thoroughbred racers but as well
mannered “inside the Wight” or in Carrick Roads as
you could hope for; and a sweet and lasting legacy
for a talented designer.SUNBEAM OD
ALFRED WESTMACOTT
WOODNUTT & CO, 1922
CLASSIC DESIGNS