Description

Lead boat of the HMCo Newport 30 one-design class, launched, 1895-05-06. First trial sail by NGH, 1896-05-07. This class was a key new business direction for the HMCo as it was the first of many highly successful one-design class boats they became famous for. A one-design class is a series of boats that are essentially identical or nearly so. In this way, owners of the same class could race each other based on the skills of crew against crew and remove the variable of time allowances required when racing boats of different sizes. Although NGH did not invent the concept, It is fair to say that HMCo's success with one-design classes expanded yachting interest in this new way to compete. Another innovation with this class was the use of fin keels. Again, NGH did not invent the fin keel but his development of this advanced system of concentrating ballast low to allow light weight hull construction and large sail area was perhaps the most successful of previous efforts that begin in England in 1880 with a vessel named Evolution. NGH wrote that he came up with his ideas for the design of his first fin keel boat, Dilemma (1891), while sailing Gloriana. NGH's fin keel designs represent a progression of his thinking about balancing critical factors in design of sail boats always with an eye to concentrating the mass of displacement as low as possible. NGH wrote that the hull weight of the Newport 30 was approximately 2,000 LBS (1/5th of total displacement). His engineering training clearly played a role in getting the hull strength appropriate where it needed to be. He also wrote that boats that never reefed (reduced sail area) tended to win. He also remarked that boats with new suits of sails ususally won, which was very good for their sail making business. The Newport 30 was a class very much ahead of its time and a company success with 12 boats ordered -- even today it is a very modern looking and hydrodynamically efficient hull/keel/rudder form. This class represents an important progression in NGH's designing approach to make strong, light boats that will maximize speed for their specific size, shape and purpose.