Woodwinds, a Modern Classic to fall in love (again) with sailing

Talking about Classic Boat, at times, can be reductive. Or rather, we can say that, such a broad definition (read it here), could risk enclosing hulls that are not very relevant together and, at the same time, let hulls that, instead, deserve more specific celebrations escape its meshes. For this reason, sometimes refining definitions becomes the right and good thing. So if, on the one hand, we have the Classic IOR, specifically aimed at the one-offs and microseries that made an era of racing great, on the other hand we now have the so-called “Modern Classic,” hulls that are quasi-contemporary, but handcrafted on criteria and designs from the past. To understand this, the recent Recruit by Frers can be an example. Better still, however, the Woodwinds (Landing School 26) that we will discuss in this article, a stunning 7.92-meter daysailer built in 1995 by The Landing School masters academy.

Woodwinds, a Modern Classic treat

To better understand what we are talking about and in what directions we are moving, it is a case of pointing the focus for a moment on the genesis of such a project, or of a Modern Classic, more generally. Not necessarily exact replicas, the hulls we refer to are, however, deeply children of an era, or a culture, that does not necessarily belong to their time, but whose criteria and processes they respect. Woodwinds is a good example of this. Designed by Ken Rusinek in the early 1990s, it is an LS-26, a model conceived for The Landing School, the U.S. academy (in Maine) dedicated to shipwrights and to training master craftsmen for shipbuilding. Consequently, then, it draws on the standards of traditional wooden construction, yet winks at its time, with processes in West system and living opera from the most contemporary appendages. A classic where tradition meets modernity (1990s).

• DO YOU HAVE A CLASSIC BOAT OR A MODERN CLASSIC? IN THE CLASSIC BOAT ARCHIVE YOU CAN CELEBRATE THEM, IT’S SO EASY: CLICK HERE AND ENTER THE BOAT.

Woodwinds

At 7.92 meters long overall (26 feet) and 6.10 meters at the waterline, at 2.29 meters beam the Woodwinds is little more than a daysailer, a weekender at her best, anyway, and in fact strong with a cabin interior with sleeping quarters for two, toilet and small galley. Now, however, her role is not precisely that of a cruising hull, far from it. She was born with two precise missions: on the one hand, to be school bench for future masters, and on the other, to be the ideal companion for Champagne Sailing. Because this is what our little LS-26 offers, a unique experience: you have a living hull as any wooden hull knows how to be, manageable even solo, maneuverable and fun, and with the water lines of an early 90s hull. It is a boat to fall in love with sailing all over again.

To learn more about it, we had Andrea D’Amato, owner of Woodwinds since 2021, tell us about it after buying it from a friend for the very reason mentioned above: he saw it and fell in love with it.

I originally had a B38, another daysailer, if you will, while the Woodwinds belonged to an acquaintance of mine, then on Long Island. Coincidence would have it, he wanted to buy my boat, fate, however, years later, would have it the other way around. It was a friend of mine who bought it and brought it to Italy, to Monfalcone, where he kept it for a couple of years until he decided to sell it and offered it to me. As soon as I saw it I fell in love with it and brought it, the next year, to Le Grazie.

It is a small hull, a real daysailer, but it is an incredible object. A little bit, it’s like a sailboat, it’s not fast under power and it suffers from excessive seas, but it’s manageable, even by itself. Under sail, with one hand, you sail even in 20/25 knots. And then it is of such a size that it is relatively sustainable, even in terms of maintenance. And the satisfaction it offers is priceless.

LS-26, a treat by Landing School

Built of wood, by hand, the LS-26 (of which Woodwind is a splendid specimen) is a fascinating hull in itself. On the one hand, first of all, it is the legacy and testament of a tradition and culture that does not want to die; on the other hand, in addition to being an excellent design, it is strong in all those small details, those little inaccuracies, those differences that, even if the child of a series, make a wooden hull unique and irreproducible. In terms of construction then, it is instead a pleasant marriage of cultures and eras.

Fundamentally, the design is intended to be a hull suitable for the sailor sailor but looking for a boat suitable for short trips, even solo, but offering top quality. The design, consequently, combines a classic aesthetic with performance, on the other hand, that is more contemporary, offering a balanced hull with a relatively narrow beam, moderate displacement, and appendages (rudder and keel) that are separate and hanging. In terms of stability, however, the focus is in the center of gravity, kept low in order to limit the beam but, still, offering substantial righting moment. Winking at the “modern,” also to train students in different techniques, the hull is made of West System, with wood then laminated in epoxy, thus offering the advantages of one with the reduced maintenance required by the other. On the other hand, the rigging is fractional, easy to handle and modest in area, an excellent marriage, however, when considering the reduced wetted surface area of the LS-26.

For those interested in delving further into the subject, these are the official channels of The Landing School, which is still active today on even more diverse fronts than they were in the 1980s and 1990s.

• DO YOU HAVE A CLASSIC BOAT OR A MODERN CLASSIC? IN THE CLASSIC BOAT ARCHIVE YOU CAN CELEBRATE THEM, IT’S SO EASY: CLICK HERE AND ENTER THE BOAT.