weather helms. The summer people were being beaten so they went out to 

 win by imitating. Soon the standard rudders and jibs were of a wide variety 

 of shapes and sizes. Eventually a class association was set up to regulate 

 the boats. A crude set of specifications was adopted, but as racing became 

 keener even these were discarded for a more rigid set in 1937. This was the 

 year of the first southern Massachusetts yacht racing association for 

 18' Knockabouts Class Championships. 



"During the winter months the boats were still being 'doctored' for speed, 

 and a spy system was used for trying to discover what was going on in the 

 various garages. Rudders changed shape as did centerboards, cockpit ar- 

 rangements, height of mainmast, etc. By 1946, the year following World 

 War II, the first honest attempt was made to keep the class 'one-design.' 

 Today the Specifications Committee is still the most active and abused, but 

 the boats do race evenly and no class has as much fun trying to out-gadget 

 the other. The specifications have never been able to agree on one standard 

 shape for a rudder, but they did agree on one standard over-all area for a 

 rudder. So racing today are perhaps ten difi^erent types of rudder designs. 

 This is also true of centerboards. The rule reads that '. . . if the centerboard 

 is of proper thickness {%'') and of wood and fits the centerboard box 

 when housed, it is legal.' There again, perhaps one might find no two center- 

 boards absolutely alike in weight and shape. Some are of heavy oak, some 

 of light plywood. 



"To go on in this manner is perhaps not necessary. Yet the untold stories 

 of some of the characters who sail these boats would fill a book. Before 

 major regattas poems may be stuck to masts announcing a hazard, or light- 

 weather sails may be mysteriously shifted to the heavy-weather bag by the 

 same person who invites you to dinner and provides the baby sitter. I sup- 

 pose this goes on to some degree in all classes. 



"The future of the class is uncertain. Fiberglass boats are the only new 

 boats being built. The young sailers have been tending toward fast light 

 displacement hulls with parachutes. However, along Vineyard Sound and 

 Buzzards Bay where a good sou'wester keeps the average 18' boat at its 

 mooring, knockabouts continue to race. Some family-type sailors who have 

 not done much sailing as youngsters are beginning to adopt the boat for day 

 sailing. The older wooden boats are a very bad risk for a novice because of 

 the care needed to keep them seaworthy. The people who are coming into 

 the yachting market are not knowledgeable enough to recognize the fine 

 sea-keeping qualities of these boats, consequently the market for new boats 

 is primarily with the established sailors. Six new boats have been sold this 

 year." 



42 the sailboat classes of north AMERICA 



