Ed. Note: As one of many who scours Craigslist for those hidden gems, I saw Co-Motion and was confused and unimpressed. Now that I know the story, I’m intrigued to the max and would love to see her. I would HIGHLY recommend getting and reading this book. Combined with Bill Buchan’s “Star Fever,” it should make us all proud of the sailing culture of the PNW and the do-it-yourself-with-the-help-of-friends attitude. KH
By Dean Peoples
There is an exhilarating feeling in a sailing vessel when it starts to surf…
Reaching down a wave, the boat seems to rock back, spray shoots out from midship, and the knotmeter says 16+…
Carl Sutter, one of the founders of PNW racing and owner of Fisheries Supply, did a presentation on the history of sailing in the PNW a couple years ago for the Renton Sailing Center. He mentioned that one of the first ultra-lights sailed in Puget Sound, Co-Motion, was built by my father Phil Peoples. He also mentioned that he had seen it listed on Craigslist in Tacoma.
Having helped build and race the boat, I was interested in seeing it, so I contacted the owner, Ian Gegg, who had bought it from my brother, Will Peoples, in 1990. When Phil built the 42-foot sloop Zephyr, he sold Co-Motion to Will in 1980. Will rigged it, re-powered it, and cruised the San Juans.
Ian installed a J-35 mast and sails, added some structural improvements, and named it Who-Ah, as in ‘wild ride’. I was amazed to find the boat in good sailing condition and still winning races!
Phil, with the help of his wife, Robbie, wrote a booklet about the boat covering the concept, construction, testing, and the 1972 Vic-Maui Race.
Below is an excerpt from the booklet The Sailboat “Co-Motion” (One of the First Ultra-Lights) by Philip L. Peoples.
INTRODUCTION
I started handicap-racing sailboats in 1959 when my brother Sam and I bought an “R” Class boat named Lady Van. It had been converted to “cruising accommodations” by the installation of bunks, head, sink, and inboard engine. According to Hans Otto Giese, one of Seattle’s sailing “gurus”, Lady Van was a “cruising racing-boat” while all the other competitors were “racing cruising-boats”. Hans Otto respected Lady Van because she was faster than his 6-Meter, Oslo, despite the speed inhibiting conversion features.
Lady Van was not a typical cruising-boat
—–she was a “lead-mine” with half her 12,000 pound gross weight in her lead keel. She was 39 feet long with 18 inches of freeboard. She was “pinched” at bow and stern to minimize wetter surface. Many cruising boat skippers disliked her because she had a low handicap rating and was very fast in light wind conditions (which prevailed in the Seattle area). I loved her.
Ten years later (1969), I started construction of an ultra-light sailboat that was the exact opposite of Lady Van. Co-Motion was 37 feet long, very light at 8,000 pounds, and with a deep fin keel and 2700 pounds of lead. She was slow in light wind conditions and had a high rating (the opposite of Lady Van. Nevertheless, many cruising boat skippers disliked her at any race because she was “fast in moderate to fresh winds and ugly”. I loved her.
CHAPTER 1—–THE CONCEPT
In the middle of the 20th century, around 1950, ocean-going sailboats were designed with a lot of ballast and strength to endure difficult up-wind passages in the open sea. Despite this design approach, most long distance ocean races were mainly “off the wind” (down wind) because sailboats move faster, are more comfortable, and there is generally an “off the wind” course” that will get you to the finish line soonest. The longest, biggest, and most expensive boats were first to finish the races principally because of their long waterlines (and higher hull speeds). Accordingly, sailboat handicap rules were developed in an attempt to equalize the competition and give the smaller boats a chance. Then the designers tried to find “loopholes” in the handicap rule to give a new design an advantage over existing designs.
Some fairly odd boats were designed in this process and sailboat racing tended to degenerate into design competitions to “beat the rule” rather than produce fast sea-worthy sailboats. A few exceptions to this trend included the 72-foot Windward Passage that revolutionized large boat design and the Cal 40 and Buchan 37 that revolutionized the medium size design. These boats had three factors in common: relatively light weight, “easy” lines, and stability through beam and draft.
My personal experiences started out with light weight inland scows in 1930, then keel boats in Puget Sound in 1955 such as the 24-foot Blanchard Knockabout, a 39-foot R-Boat, and a 37 foot Buchan in 1965. I noticed a trend with the Buchan 37 that lighter “cruising” boats with good stability were faster in almost all conditions. This connected with my experiences with very light inland lake scows which were extremely fast but had the disadvantage of capsizing unexpectedly.
I began to think about a new boat somewhere between a 38-foot “A” class scow and the Buchan 37 that would be very fast and would not capsize.
The “A” scow won the Inland Lake Yachting Association championship race on August 21, 1924 (with gaff-rigged mainsail) and was sailed by a family friend, Leonard Carpenter of Lake Minnetonka. In those days, the “A” scow was one of the fastest sailing vessels in the world, running and reaching in excess of 20 knots. What I had in mind was a sea-worthy 37-foot boat that was much lighter and flatter than the Buchan. Stability would be achieved with a deep fin keel, very low lead, and “hard” bilges. My objective was to design and build a fast safe sailboat without regard to the handicap rules.I was encouraged after reading “Fast Boats” by Teale (1961) and predicted that the new boat would achieve 18 knots under the same conditions that the Buchan would achieve 12 knots, Fig. 3. Fig. 4 compares sailboat performance parameters indicating that the new boat would be similar to the International 14 parameters in several respects but not quite meeting “planing requirements”. However, I felt that the new boat would surf downwind at about 20 knots for extended periods on the face of typical ocean waves (which advance at 20 to 40 knots).
As a consequence, I settled on a hull design concept outlined in Fig. 5 that should provide great boat speed under most conditions and light enough to be essentially unsinkable (gross weight slightly less than the displacement of hull and equipment).
To get an eBook or the printed booklet on the Co-Motion or the Zephyr email Dean Peoples at dpeopl@q.com.
For more info on Who-Ah, contact Ian Gegg at Islerinc@gmail.com.