Designet av Sparkman & Stephens
Seilplan - S&S design nr. 1899IW 31 er Sparkman &Stephens design nr. 1899 datert 1968. S&S var verdens fremste båtkonstruktører i store deler av det 20. århundre. Grunnleggeren av Nautor, Pekka Koskenkyla, beskriver det slik:
The most important factor for this initial success was not so much my honest looking face or the fantastic workforce we had, because we had nothing to show. It was the name and reputation of Sparkman&Stephens. It is difficult to understand now how superior in reputation they were compared to other yacht designers. There was only one best choice then. The name and reputation of S&S was built on the winning boats of their design in all ocean racing from the America's Cup, One Ton Cup, Admirals Cup, Cowes week etc. Most of the winners in these races were designed by S&S.[...]
Rod and Olin Stephens were a good team. Olin was the scientist, who rarely traveled from the office and his drawing board. Rod was the opposite. He was the practical man, who liked to travel and visit the yards that were building S&S designed boats around the world. He would go out with cus-tomers on sea trials. In short he would help the yard to build a high quality boat and he would help the client to sail it well. His expenses were very reasonable. I remember him charging $100 per day and part of the traveling expenses, which were reasonable, because when he came to Europe he could maybe see ten different individuals or companies, so each one paid only 10 per cent of his expenses. Rod was very much a hands on person. At the yard he wasted only little time in the office. He was crawling all over the boats looking at each detail with his yellow note pad. He would take first his notes from previous visit and like a schoolmaster make sure that the previous points were rectified and if not they would be included in the new list. His work for us was absolutely essential. Because of his long experience in both sailing and building he knew more than any other living soul about sailing boats and how to build them right. Especially in our case we could not have been able to obtain the high quality of which SWANs have always been known without his keen interest and frequent visits. Typical of him was that, when a boat was launched and the owner asked him to participate in the sea trials with the builder and often sailmaker present, he would want to start at the crack of dawn. This was usually hard for the owner, because he would have celebrated typically the night before with champagne and maybe some stronger liquids, but Rod did not care, because he went to the bed at 9 PM and only drank milk. Early next morning he would have himself hoisted at the top of the mast checking all the rigging and attachments, then down to the spreaders etc. The owner who was anxious to go sailing would impatiently wait for hours with his crew. At lunch time Rod would only have a sandwich and a glass of milk while the owner would have a big meal in the restaurant with his crew to kill boredom and time. It was a long time before Rod was down to keel bolts and the builder's rep., often myself, had to be with him, because he wanted to make sure that I understood what he meant with his list of comments in his yellow note pad. The sun would be on its way down before he was ready to do what everybody had been waiting for, i.e. cast off and hoist the sails. It would, however, not be a pleasant cruise, because he made every-body work hard by constant sail changes. All the sails had to be tested at different angles of wind. All the deck fittings and their right positions with each sail verified. Another few sheets of notes were written and if a representative of the sail maker was present the builder's rep. could have the heat turned off for a few moments. These sea trials were always a full day of hard work, but well worth of it, because only few potential problems went without notice. The work that Rod did was as important as the design, because the SWANs rarely had technical problems, much less so than many other boats. Obviously if something on the boat breaks down before the finish of the race it can not win, no matter how good the design and crew is. Rod's work helped our reputation as a builder of strong boats that win races. No other design office has had such a team. Olin would design and Rod would make sure it was built right and then even test it afterwards rather than just make the drawings and leave the rest to the builder. It was our luck that we had them rather than some other designer.(Kilde: www.classicswan.org)
The most important factor for this initial success was not so much my honest looking face or the fantastic workforce we had, because we had nothing to show. It was the name and reputation of Sparkman&Stephens. It is difficult to understand now how superior in reputation they were compared to other yacht designers. There was only one best choice then. The name and reputation of S&S was built on the winning boats of their design in all ocean racing from the America's Cup, One Ton Cup, Admirals Cup, Cowes week etc. Most of the winners in these races were designed by S&S.[...]
Rod and Olin Stephens were a good team. Olin was the scientist, who rarely traveled from the office and his drawing board. Rod was the opposite. He was the practical man, who liked to travel and visit the yards that were building S&S designed boats around the world. He would go out with cus-tomers on sea trials. In short he would help the yard to build a high quality boat and he would help the client to sail it well. His expenses were very reasonable. I remember him charging $100 per day and part of the traveling expenses, which were reasonable, because when he came to Europe he could maybe see ten different individuals or companies, so each one paid only 10 per cent of his expenses. Rod was very much a hands on person. At the yard he wasted only little time in the office. He was crawling all over the boats looking at each detail with his yellow note pad. He would take first his notes from previous visit and like a schoolmaster make sure that the previous points were rectified and if not they would be included in the new list. His work for us was absolutely essential. Because of his long experience in both sailing and building he knew more than any other living soul about sailing boats and how to build them right. Especially in our case we could not have been able to obtain the high quality of which SWANs have always been known without his keen interest and frequent visits. Typical of him was that, when a boat was launched and the owner asked him to participate in the sea trials with the builder and often sailmaker present, he would want to start at the crack of dawn. This was usually hard for the owner, because he would have celebrated typically the night before with champagne and maybe some stronger liquids, but Rod did not care, because he went to the bed at 9 PM and only drank milk. Early next morning he would have himself hoisted at the top of the mast checking all the rigging and attachments, then down to the spreaders etc. The owner who was anxious to go sailing would impatiently wait for hours with his crew. At lunch time Rod would only have a sandwich and a glass of milk while the owner would have a big meal in the restaurant with his crew to kill boredom and time. It was a long time before Rod was down to keel bolts and the builder's rep., often myself, had to be with him, because he wanted to make sure that I understood what he meant with his list of comments in his yellow note pad. The sun would be on its way down before he was ready to do what everybody had been waiting for, i.e. cast off and hoist the sails. It would, however, not be a pleasant cruise, because he made every-body work hard by constant sail changes. All the sails had to be tested at different angles of wind. All the deck fittings and their right positions with each sail verified. Another few sheets of notes were written and if a representative of the sail maker was present the builder's rep. could have the heat turned off for a few moments. These sea trials were always a full day of hard work, but well worth of it, because only few potential problems went without notice. The work that Rod did was as important as the design, because the SWANs rarely had technical problems, much less so than many other boats. Obviously if something on the boat breaks down before the finish of the race it can not win, no matter how good the design and crew is. Rod's work helped our reputation as a builder of strong boats that win races. No other design office has had such a team. Olin would design and Rod would make sure it was built right and then even test it afterwards rather than just make the drawings and leave the rest to the builder. It was our luck that we had them rather than some other designer.(Kilde: www.classicswan.org)
Rod Stephens inspiserer en IW 31
Olin Stephens ombord i en nyrestaurert IW 31
Olin Stephens er fortsatt aktiv i en alder av 90+ år.
Her fra et S&S-treff i Finland i 2005.
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