Etchells

In 1965, Yachting Magazine launched a competition to select a new three man Olympic keelboat. E. W. "Skip" Etchells, a boat designer, builder and sailor, was interested in the competition, but refrained from producing a design until the trials were announced. However, once the details became available, he built the wooden Shillalah, taking her to Kiel, Germany, where the trials were to be held in the fall of 1966.[2][3]

Shillalah performed well at the trials, winning eight of the ten races. Nevertheless, the judges were unable to agree on a winner, and thus a second set of trials were held in Travemünde the following year. For these trials Etchells rebuilt the boat in fiberglass, using the original Shillalah as a plug. As with the first trials, Shillalah II (as the new boat was named) dominated the races, winning ten out of the thirteen that were held, and only just missing out on an eleventh.[2]

At the completion of the trials the judges chose the Soling over Shillalah II, in spite of her success in the races. However, the boat's performance had won converts, and shortly thereafter the boat entered production with orders for an initial 12 boats. With the formation of a new association the class became known as the E22, and 32 boats were built by Etchells' company by the end of 1969.[2]

The Etchells is a racing keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass. It has a fractional sloop rig, a spooned raked stem, a raised counter reverse transom, a skeg-mounted rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel. It displaces 3,325 lb (1,508 kg) and carries 2,175 lb (987 kg) of lead ballast.[1]

The boat has a draft of 4.50 ft (1.37 m) with the standard keel.[1]

Designed for racer and day sailing, the boat has a small cuddy cabin without bunks, designed for stowage only.[4]

For sailing the boat has a central control console that gathers many of the sail controls. These include the 8:1 mechanical advantage jib halyard, 4:1 Cunningham, 4:1 mainsheet, foreguy and the topping lift. Other controls are led to the cuddy cabin's aft bulkhead, including the 2:1 course jib sheet, 6:1 fine jib tuner, 2:1 barber hauler and the spinnaker halyard. There is also a 6:1 adjustable backstay and a mainsheet traveler.[4]

• John Bertrand
• Dennis Conner
• Gary Jobson
• Peter Coleman
• Russell Coutts
• Dave Curtis
• Poul Richard Høj Jensen
• Jud Smith

• Media related to Etchells at Wikimedia Commons