Dick Carter, the man who revolutionized sailing in the late 1960s

The IOR, the Golden Age of Sailing, a world populated by sacred monsters and hulls that are nothing short of legendary.
We’ve talked about it in no small part, going from the racing boats that made it great, to the designers behind them; from the great production hulls that came out of them, to the history of the shipyards that gave birth to them. To really talk about IOR, however, one has to step back, not too far back, but far enough so that the IOR still does not exist, at the time of the last RORC, The second half of the 1960s: the reign of Dick Carter.

Cult signed Dick Carter | Part 1.

Dick Carter was not born as a naval architect; in fact, far be it from him to become such a designer.
It will be chance, or fate if you prefer, that will bring him there.
An American, Carter discovered sailing in his youth, on Cape Cod (Massachusetts), and then pursued it during his undergraduate studies at Yale and beyond, always on boats renamed “Rabbit” and always in parallel with his work as an industrial engineer (except for an interlude at Hood‘s sailmaker, where he would, however, work in marketing).
In 1962, meanwhile, he purchased a Medalist, a design by Bill Tripp (renamed Rabbit), with which he began offshore racing in the U.S. Northwest, creating a network of acquaintances and friendships destined to lead him to a breakthrough.
These include hydrographic engineer Bertrand Imbert, who, after racing with Carter in a Fastnet (1963), proposes that they design a boat together for the ’65 edition. Bertrand, would change his mind not a short time later but, a Carter, now exalted by the idea, would go ahead on his own giving birth to the miracle: the Rabbit, a hull that will be a game changer..

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Dick Carter – Albori

Famous is the phrase “floats like a real boat,” attributed to Carter, who witnessed the launching of the Rabbit.
Phrase accompanied by no small amount of astonishment on the part of Frans Maas, builder of the hull.
After all, Carter had never before designed a boat and, in truth, had never even considered the option.
But with the Rabbit (10.2 x 3.15 m) he would do the masterpiece, changing design forever.
The crux of the matter was relatively simple: Carter was able to understand the goodness of a whole series of little-used design elements and, even more brilliantly, he grasped their positive components, knowing how to marry them together and, at the same time, designing water lines capable of taking advantage of the rating, thus resulting in a hull with volumes and lines never seen before.

Huge beam amidships, champagne glass section, reduced wetted surface area and separate appendages were, in fact, the real revelation underlying the Rabbit.
Above them all, however, was the special attention given to the drift fin, capable of exploiting the advantages in rating given by a limited draft, while obviating the limitations upwind via a trim tab aft of it.
Another great choice, the separate rudder, hanging and much further aft of the fin, to improve steering in carrying gaits.
The design philosophy, in fact, was simplifiable in the concept that it is not so much the gyre capacity that emphasizes the qualities of a hull, but its ability to go fast.
And Carter, in this sense, opted here in pursuit of this goal, designing a hull that was less gilthead, perhaps, but much faster over the long course.
A key component, in his view, for good offshore racing performance.
Rabbit, on her debut, would prove the theory at its best, winning the very Fastnet Race for which she was designed and resulting in a key breakthrough for naval design.

Designer by accident and IOR architect

Even before the ’65 Fastnet, however, the first commission surprisingly arrives.
Eddie Stettinius, impressed by the design of the little Rabbit, asks Carter for a similar cruiser-racer.
Thus was born Tina, specifically designed for the then “fledgling” One Ton Cup (actually the OTC already existed, but in ’65 it took on forms more similar to how it would later be under the IOR).
Tina (11.3 x 3.3 m), conceived for the OTC, will be a child of the lessons of the Rabbit, but will have to submit to the fixed One Ton rating from which its predecessor was instead freed.
In addition, unlike the Rabbit, it will also have to perform better in terms of angle (upwind), so as not to suffer in the triangle trials provided by the championship.
These parameters took shape in a hull similar to the Rabbit in concept, but with a deeper and finer, slimmer drift fin to improve performance upwind and be agile even in stronger winds, resulting in an overall more all-round hull.
The formula, for the second time in a row, paid off and Carter signed a second success: Tina won the One Ton Cup and Maas, again Carter’s yard of choice, would produce three twins: Esprit de Rueil, Joran and Esprit.

Also in 1966, at the invitation of Olin Stephens, Carter would join the board of theOffshore Rules Coordinating Committee.
The result will be his direct participation in the creation of a new international rule, theInternational Offshore Rule.
It is the birth of the IOR.

The statement

With two successes on two projects, Carter was a small revolution.
But two projects do not necessarily make a designer.
In parallel with Offshore Rules Coordinating Committee participation , however, 1966 also brought the third committee, the one that would establish Carter among the big boys in the game.
It is another One Tonner, Optimist, designed for Hans Beilken.
This time, the design is even closer to that of its predecessor, proving the goodness of the first One Tonner designed, but with small substantial differences that will prove crucial: Optimist will be just longer at the waterline (12.7 cm, to be precise) than Tina and, most importantly, will not have a hanging rudder.
In fact, to decrease instability in high winds in carrying gaits, Carter here resorts to aviation-derived solutions: basically, he reduces the problem of flow interruptions on the blade (due to sudden changes of direction under spinnaker and in choppy seas) by designing a leading edge to anticipate the blade itself, a skeg.
This is the main novelty on Optimist, which will be much more precise and maneuverable in carrying swells and, consequently, fast.

Needless to say, Optimist will also win the One Ton Cup (1967), with Tina earning second place, after winning the previous year.
Optimist would then win again in 1968 as well.
Three designs, three brilliant concepts.
Numbers enough to make Carter officially enter the design roll.
Suddenly, ship design becomes a career opportunity. This will be followed in the years just after by other great masterpieces such as Rabbit II, Noryema e Red Rooster, to name a few.
Then maxis, hulls for Bulgari and the 1970s which , however, we will explore in the next article.

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