ENTERPRISE 



This 13-foot centerboard sloop, designed in England by Jack Holt at the 

 request of the News Chronicle, has had a spectacular history. The spec- 

 tacular part began with a trip across the English Channel by Numbers 1 

 and 2 of the class on January 7, 1956. Starting from Dover at 3 a.m., they 

 sighted the French Coast in two and a half hours. In the six years since 

 that audacious beginning, numbers for over eight thousand boats have 

 been given out, a large proportion of them in England. It now vies with 

 the Lightning class as the second largest one-design class in the world, 

 with only Snipes in the lead. As far as we know, no other class has ever 

 grown so fast. Of eight thousand boats, about eight hundred are in the 

 United States. 



According to a possibly prejudiced importer: "She is very fast. This au- 

 thor ( who sells other boats also ) knows of no boat her size or under that can 

 beat her. She will easily take the measure of many larger boats of prominent 

 racing classes. She is a planing boat. With all this she has amazing stabil- 

 ity." 



The Enterprise is said to fill the gap between the G.P. 14 and the 

 ii'3'' Heron, both designed also by Holt. Several American companies are 

 reported to be handling the boat, including the P. Evanson Boat Company 

 (4110 Freeland Ave., Philadelphia 28, Pa.), John Wright, Jr. (308 W. 

 Queen Lane, Philadelphia 44, Pa.), Hugh Doherty's King Harbor Boats 

 (901 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, Calif.); and the Gallant Distributing Com- 

 pany, Inc. ( Newmarket, N.H. ) . Write one of them or A. R. Lanning ( 12-22 

 Bouverie St., London, England). Price, new, is about $880 complete with 

 Dacron main and jib. Used boats are sold at from $650 to $750. 



VITAL statistics: L.O. A. i3'3%"; beam 5'3"; draft without cen- 

 terboard /', with C.B. down 3^3"; sail area 113 sq. ft. (no spinnaker); 

 weight 200 to 230 lbs.; trailable. 



EXPLORER 



The 17-foot centerboard sloop Explorer was designed by Robert Baker 

 and has had its principal development in New England, though some boat 

 owners are scattered along the Atlantic Coast. Some are in the Midwest 

 and even in Texas. While reports vary as to the number of boats now in 

 existence, it seems probable that there are about 350 at the time of writing. 

 The boat has a planing hull, a self-bailing cockpit (if desired), a cuddy 

 which can double as a cabin with some help from the cockpit, roller reefing, 

 and a "Kickerpit" motor-well for an outboard. For those who want to use 



racing classes 71 



