Keith Muscott's musings on the potential of a Flying Dutchman as a possible cruising dinghy are absolutely on the right tack. Dutchmen are powerful, stable and forgiving boats and the majority of wooden hulls have a raised floor from the mast to the aft end of the centreboard case, making an ideal dry sleeping platform with lots of centrally-located stowage possibilities.

Having crewed in a Dutchman for a racing season at Hamble I can only hope Keith will at least sail his ultimate purchase with full racing rig before starting the conversion to yawl. There are similarities between a FD and a Rolls Royce – the loudest noise in a planing Dutchman is the beating of the crew's heart! He will have the possibility of the distinction of being the only DCA member capable of arriving at a Rally in a monohull at 20 knots under sail! However, to achieve this he may need the services of the usual fully-trained gorilla, approx. 6 ft 6 inches in height and weighing in at around 14 stone who is also a dab hand on the trapeze... I'm afraid I failed on the first three requirements but we did go very fast in light airs.

Construction Considerations

One of the reasons that FDs have such a sensational performance is the lightness of the hull, which at about 350 lbs for an almost 20 ft boat means the stresses and strains of competitive racing can have serious effects. By comparison a National 18, almost 2 ft shorter, weighs 550 lbs with a 75 lb plate. (Mid- to late-60s vintage comparison).

Top FD skippers used to change their boats quite frequently when their hulls went 'soft' and flexible. For cruising, the flat underwater sections would have to be protected with at least a pair of bilge rubbers each side to prevent damage. The hulls are so lightly constructed it is unlikely that the mast step (normally about 7 ft aft of the stem) could be re-engineered to a new position forward without a complete rebuild.

Rig Modifications

If the rig were lowered considerably – by fitting a gaff mainsail perhaps – and the original sail area of 190 sq ft were reduced by 50 or 60 sq ft the boat would probably be quite docile and still acceptably fast.

Keeping the existing mast step position and fitting a mizzen would necessitate reducing the foot of the mainsail quite dramatically and fitting a headsail rig with no overlap at all. The regular FD genoa at 90 sq ft has a 100% overlap of the mast. Maybe a cutter configuration would fit the bill. This would probably be the only way to maintain balance without creating massive and uncontrollable weather helm. Do the sums first!

My former National 18 Surprise, now a lugsail yawl, has a 17 sq ft mizzen. We had to locate the main (fore) mast, which carries a single fully-battened lugsail of 183 sq ft, just 20 inches aft of the stem to maintain the helm balance. Incidentally, 17 sq ft is quite sufficient to hold Surprise head to wind in all conditions.

What to Look For

When looking at old boats Keith should check the sheerline for any signs of hogging – being such long boats with very low freeboard, if a Dutchman has been kept for any length of time without having the transom correctly supported, the boat can sag aft of the trolley or trailer roller. At Hamble the boats were uniformly kept with bows chocked up and transoms down in the dinghy park.

A gaff cutter yawl rig on a Dutchman would be an unusual and delightful prospect.

I really hope Keith pursues this idea so that we can recruit him to join myself, recent new member Andrew Dawson and the few others who insist on cruising in racing dinghies as part of the seldom acknowledged but terrifying extreme wing of the DCA, mentioned only sotto voce and known as the FDCA. The F stands for Fast of course (or possibly Fanatical or even Foolhardy).

Editor's note: Arriving at a DCA rally at 20 knots is one thing, Roy, but what about stopping? I did have a moment of giddiness when you reminded me that the FD's genoa tots up to 90 square feet, a mere 15 square feet MORE than a standard Laser una sail. However, the full sail area of 190 sq. ft is only 12 sq. ft more than my old Mirror 16's, so the FD is probably a bit of a pussycat, really... There again, the spinnaker is 190 sq. ft: that could be a bit of a handful, solo. KM