Squib sailboat
Encyclopedia
A Squib is a type of small racing keelboat
designed in 1967 by Oliver Lee as a successor to the Ajax 23
. It is a strict "one-design
" class of boat, having a length of 5.79m, beam of 1.87m, a sail area of 15.8 sq m (without spinnaker
) and a weight of 680kg (including sails and fittings). The usual crew is two people and the boat can be cruised or raced with a Portsmouth yardstick
of 115. The Squib has been adopted by the RYA as the National Keelboat and is big enough to race at sea and small enough to be trailed easily behind a family car.
" from which copies of the boat could be built using glass-reinforced plastic
construction. The first to be built was launched in June 1968, with sail number 11. Much later the plug was turned into a functioning boat and still sails. During 1968, a further five Squibs were built, and the first fleet began racing at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
at Burnham-on-Crouch
. Over the following few years numbers grew at Burnham and new fleets were formed at Waldringfield
, Brixham
, Abersoch
and Aldeburgh
. The Squib was granted national status by the Royal Yachting Association
in 1972, when numbers exceeded 300.
In 1974, with sail numbers approaching 400, some of Britain's yachting journalists were invited to Burnham-on-Crouch
to race Squibs, in an event called the "Squib Symposium". This resulted in raising the Squib's profile with the yachting press. Around this time, the Design Centre (now retitled as the Design Council
) decided to put the Squib on its index of selected designs.
The moulds are now owned by the National Squib Owners Association and a new deck and a new hull mould were commissioned in 2009. Strict control is kept over Squib build to ensure that older boats do not become uncompetitive as has happened in some other classes. However, there were keel mould changes around Squib number 230 and again at 465.
Older Squibs are still prized. In 1996, the National Championship winning boat was a Barker Brewer build (771 Arctic Fox.) In 1999 and 2008, Parker built Squibs won. All the other Championships since 1996 were won by older boats, nine of them by boats built before 1972.
By 2010 over 810 Squibs have been built and the National Squib Owners Association has over 640 members.
The Squib is not only raced. Cruising is a major feature of the life of the Squib Fleet at Newhaven and Seaford YC and a version of the Squib cruised from Glasgow to Invernesss – and one crossed the Atlantic.
The Squib is a favourite boat for people with disabilities and, for example, the East Anglia Sailing Trust, an organisation aimed at providing sailing opportunities for disabled people, uses a fleet of Squibs. In 2009, the Special Olympics
(for people with learning disabilities) were held in Leicester. The sailing events were at Rutland and the Squib was selected as the competition boat.
The class is beginning to have international pretensions. In the early days a couple of Squibs went to Tortola
, in the British Virgin Islands
as day charter boats and a fleet grew there but none of the boats now remain in use. Other early Squibs went to South Africa
, Greece
, Germany
and Australia
. Six brand new Squibs recently went to Germany and there is talk of the class featuring in Kiel Woche and of racing on the IJsselmeer
in the Netherlands
.
to Plymouth
, as well as in Ireland (four times) and in Wales (eight times). The first 100 boat Nationals fleet was at Howth near Dublin in 1996 and attendance at the Nationals is regularly over 80 boats. In 2009, in Weymouth, 108 Squibs competed in the National Championship.
In 1995 Rutland Sailing Club instituted an Inland Championship which has proved so popular that it has been held on Rutland Water
every year since with the entry limited to 55. Squibs are one of the largest fleets at Cowes Week
. In 2008, there were 40 Squibs racing, appropriately in the Squib’s 40th year.
Counting regional championships, invitational events and regattas, Squibs compete in 25 open events each year - all over the British Isles and increasingly on the Continent. In 2009, a fleet of 20 Squibs competed in the Régates Royales in Cannes
.
Ranked by attendance at National Championships, the Squib is consistently one of the top ten classes. In 2007, only five other classes had larger numbers than the Squib and four of these were children’s boats.
Squibs race as a class in Aldeburgh Week, Medway Week, Menai Strait Fortnight, Oulton Week and Tay Week.
Keelboat
Keelboat has two distinct meanings related to two different types of boats: one a riverine cargo-capable working boat, and the other a classification for small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yachts.-Historical keel-boats:...
designed in 1967 by Oliver Lee as a successor to the Ajax 23
Ajax 23
The Ajax 23 is a keelboat designed by Oliver Lee in 1967. It is a 23ft boat sailed by 3 people. The Ajax 23 is built out of GRP and built by Halmatic. Roughly 45 boats are in existence with 1 in Sydney another in Ireland and the rest split between sailing on the River Orwell at Woolverstone near...
. It is a strict "one-design
One-design
One-Design is a racing method where all vehicles or boats have identical or very similar designs or models. It is also known as Spec series. It is heavily used in sailboat racing. All competitors in a race are then judged based on a single start time...
" class of boat, having a length of 5.79m, beam of 1.87m, a sail area of 15.8 sq m (without spinnaker
Spinnaker
A spinnaker is a special type of sail that is designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, i.e. with the wind 90°–180° off the bow. The spinnaker fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat when it is deployed, called flying. It is constructed of...
) and a weight of 680kg (including sails and fittings). The usual crew is two people and the boat can be cruised or raced with a Portsmouth yardstick
Portsmouth yardstick
The Portsmouth Yardstick or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a system of handicapping used primarily in small-boat yacht racing.The handicap is applied to the time taken to sail any course, and the corrected time can be used to compare widely different sailboats on even terms. Portsmouth Numbers are...
of 115. The Squib has been adopted by the RYA as the National Keelboat and is big enough to race at sea and small enough to be trailed easily behind a family car.
Early history
Oliver Lee built the prototype Squib in 1967, using cold moulded wood. Following a succession of trials, the prototype was used as a "plugFiberglass molding
Fiberglass molding is a process in which fiberglass reinforced resin plastics are formed into useful shapes.-Mold Making:The fiberglass mold process begins with an object known as the plug or buck. This is an exact representation of the object to be made, and can be made from a variety of different...
" from which copies of the boat could be built using glass-reinforced plastic
Glass-reinforced plastic
Fiberglass , is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced by fine fibers of glass. It is also known as GFK ....
construction. The first to be built was launched in June 1968, with sail number 11. Much later the plug was turned into a functioning boat and still sails. During 1968, a further five Squibs were built, and the first fleet began racing at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club was founded at Erith, Kent in 1872. Over the years, it has operated from a number of locations but now exists with a northern and southern branch at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, and at Cowes, Isle of Wight respectively....
at Burnham-on-Crouch
Burnham-on-Crouch
Burnham-on-Crouch is a town in the Maldon district of Essex in the East of England. It lies on the north bank of the River Crouch.-History:Historically, it has benefited from its location on the coast - first as a ferry port, later as a fishing port known for its oyster beds, and most recently as a...
. Over the following few years numbers grew at Burnham and new fleets were formed at Waldringfield
Waldringfield
Waldringfield is a village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is situated on the bank of the River Deben within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, four miles south of the town of Woodbridge and eight miles east of...
, Brixham
Brixham
Brixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and tourism are its major industries. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of...
, Abersoch
Abersoch
Abersoch is a large village in the community of Llanengan in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a popular coastal seaside resort with approximately 1,000 inhabitants, on the east-facing south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula at the southern terminus of the A499. It is about south-west of Pwllheli and south-west of...
and Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
. The Squib was granted national status by the Royal Yachting Association
Royal Yachting Association
The Royal Yachting Association is the national governing body for certain watersports in the United Kingdom. Activities it covers include:* Sailing* Windsurfing* Motor cruising* Sportsboats* Personal watercraft* Powerboat racing...
in 1972, when numbers exceeded 300.
In 1974, with sail numbers approaching 400, some of Britain's yachting journalists were invited to Burnham-on-Crouch
Burnham-on-Crouch
Burnham-on-Crouch is a town in the Maldon district of Essex in the East of England. It lies on the north bank of the River Crouch.-History:Historically, it has benefited from its location on the coast - first as a ferry port, later as a fishing port known for its oyster beds, and most recently as a...
to race Squibs, in an event called the "Squib Symposium". This resulted in raising the Squib's profile with the yachting press. Around this time, the Design Centre (now retitled as the Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...
) decided to put the Squib on its index of selected designs.
Squib builders
Boats from number 11 to 157 were built by Oliver Lee in Burnham. From 158 to 724, Squibs were built under licence by Hunter Boats. Numbers 725 to 767 were built by Oliver Lee Racing Yachts (led by John Chardin and Peter Barker). After the death of Oliver Lee, in 1994, the licence moved to Barker Brewer Boats who built 768 to 782. In 1997 the licence was acquired by Bruce Parker Sailboats who, by Spring 2009, had built 100 Squibs, their first being 783. They are currently the only official builder of Squibs.The moulds are now owned by the National Squib Owners Association and a new deck and a new hull mould were commissioned in 2009. Strict control is kept over Squib build to ensure that older boats do not become uncompetitive as has happened in some other classes. However, there were keel mould changes around Squib number 230 and again at 465.
Older Squibs are still prized. In 1996, the National Championship winning boat was a Barker Brewer build (771 Arctic Fox.) In 1999 and 2008, Parker built Squibs won. All the other Championships since 1996 were won by older boats, nine of them by boats built before 1972.
By 2010 over 810 Squibs have been built and the National Squib Owners Association has over 640 members.
The squib today
By 2010, there are 27 local fleets in the British Isles, 10 of which have over 20 boats. In 2008, the 40th Anniversary Regatta, with 45 entries, was held at Burnham-on-Crouch.The Squib is not only raced. Cruising is a major feature of the life of the Squib Fleet at Newhaven and Seaford YC and a version of the Squib cruised from Glasgow to Invernesss – and one crossed the Atlantic.
The Squib is a favourite boat for people with disabilities and, for example, the East Anglia Sailing Trust, an organisation aimed at providing sailing opportunities for disabled people, uses a fleet of Squibs. In 2009, the Special Olympics
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....
(for people with learning disabilities) were held in Leicester. The sailing events were at Rutland and the Squib was selected as the competition boat.
The class is beginning to have international pretensions. In the early days a couple of Squibs went to Tortola
Tortola
Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. Local tradition recounts that Christopher Columbus named it Tortola, meaning "land of the Turtle Dove". Columbus named the island Santa Ana...
, in the British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
as day charter boats and a fleet grew there but none of the boats now remain in use. Other early Squibs went to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Six brand new Squibs recently went to Germany and there is talk of the class featuring in Kiel Woche and of racing on the IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe....
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Racing
The first National Championship was held at Burnham, in 1972, with 29 competitors, and the event has been held at a different venue every year since then. The Nationals move around the British Isles and have been held from DundeeDundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
to Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, as well as in Ireland (four times) and in Wales (eight times). The first 100 boat Nationals fleet was at Howth near Dublin in 1996 and attendance at the Nationals is regularly over 80 boats. In 2009, in Weymouth, 108 Squibs competed in the National Championship.
In 1995 Rutland Sailing Club instituted an Inland Championship which has proved so popular that it has been held on Rutland Water
Rutland Water
Rutland Water is Anglian Water's drinking water reservoir in the county of Rutland, England, just east of the county town Oakham. It was known as Empingham Reservoir during its construction and until its official opening in 1976. The centre of its dam is at British national grid reference...
every year since with the entry limited to 55. Squibs are one of the largest fleets at Cowes Week
Cowes Week
Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily races, up to 1,000 boats, and 8,500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world...
. In 2008, there were 40 Squibs racing, appropriately in the Squib’s 40th year.
Counting regional championships, invitational events and regattas, Squibs compete in 25 open events each year - all over the British Isles and increasingly on the Continent. In 2009, a fleet of 20 Squibs competed in the Régates Royales in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
.
Ranked by attendance at National Championships, the Squib is consistently one of the top ten classes. In 2007, only five other classes had larger numbers than the Squib and four of these were children’s boats.
Squibs race as a class in Aldeburgh Week, Medway Week, Menai Strait Fortnight, Oulton Week and Tay Week.