INTERNATIONAL 14 



Considered the "daddy" of modern planing sailboats, the International 

 14 with its straight up-and-down bow and sloop rig is still one of the most 

 popular and sporty planing boats in the world. There are now about two 

 thousand of these "overgrown dinghies" with the large sail area, including 

 seven hundred in the United States. Planing sailboats developed since 

 World War II, such as the Thistle, the Jollyboat, the Raven, the Flying 

 Dutchman, the 5-0-5, and many others are all based upon principals initially 

 evolved in the International 14 class. This is a development class, and, 

 within certain restrictions, improved designs continue to appear. Thus, di- 

 mensions given herein are approximate; designers are various and include 

 UflFa Fox, Austin Farrar, Ian Proctor, Charles Bourke, and Bruce Kirby. 



In the early 1900s a multiplicity of similar classes began to appear in Eng- 

 land and Canada, calling for efforts to agree on a class which would con- 

 centrate racing talent and competitive activities. Matters were brought to a 

 head in 1923 when the British Yacht Racing Association called a meeting 

 and formed a committee composed of representatives from the various 

 areas of 14-foot sailing. Under Chairman Sir John Field Beale, this com- 

 mittee laid the foundation for the present International 14. There were still 

 "growing pains"; cat rigs gave way to sloops, gaff rigs to Marconis; the 

 built-in buoyancy tank arrived. 



Three breakthroughs came in 1927: the Prince of Wales donated his fa- 

 mous cup to the Fourteens; Uffa Fox sailed his Avenger one hundred miles 

 across the English Channel and back; and the International Yacht Racing 

 Union granted the class international status. Placing restrictions only on 

 such factors as sail area, mast height, weight, length, etc., the rules were in- 

 tended to perpetuate an entirely undecked boat of the greatest speed and 

 sail area which two skilled people could manage. The International 14 at- 

 tracted some of the best designers of the era and had great influence in 

 changing the face of small-boat racing by showing the speed possibilities of 

 the planing hull. 



By 1935, under the leadership of George Ford, the class began to develop 

 rapidly in the United States. Gordon ("Sandy") Douglass, a leader in rac- 

 ing-class development, produced a U. S. One-Design International 14, hun- 

 dreds of which were built and raced in North America during the 1940s 

 and 1950s. At present the principal North American areas in which the boats 

 are sailed are Boston, Massachusetts; Essex, Connecticut; Barnegat Bay, 

 New Jersey; Chesapeake Bay; the St. Lawrence River Valley; Michigan; 

 Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. 



Among the present North American builders are Grampian Marine ( P. O. 



110 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



