Skip Etchells

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Skip Etchells , actually Elwood Widmer Etchells (born July 5, 1911 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † December 20, 1998 in Easton , Maryland ), was an American yacht designer, boat builder and sailor.

Life path

After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in ship design, Skip Etchells worked at a Seattle naval shipyard during World War II on the design of destroyers and icebreakers . After the war, he got a job in New York with the yacht design office Sparkman & Stephens (S&S) before he founded his own shipyard "Old Greenwich Boat Co." (OG) in Old Greenwich, Connecticut .

Career in the star boat

Skip Etchells played an important role in the development of the modern Star Boat , which was designed in 1910. During his studies in Michigan he had varied the dimensions of the Starboot hull within the permitted tolerances for his thesis and carried out speed tests on three test models in the water tank to optimize the hull lines.

In 1942, Skip Etchells and his friend Bill Kelley built the first two Etchells Star Boats with the sail numbers 2125, Shillalah and No. 2127, Hell's Angel because of the hull shapes that were optimized in Michigan. They constructed these first two boats on Mercer Island in Seattle and then built them in the Madison Park Garage, where the Puget Sound star boat fleet had its winter storage.

During this time, when the star boats were still made of wood, they used the tolerated building tolerances, because only the maximum values ​​for z. B. Overall length (Lüa) 22 feet 7 inches (inches) and overall width (Büa) 5 feet 8 inches. The star boats from the workshop and later shipyard "Old Greenwich Boat Co." from Skip Etchells were significantly faster than the competition. For more than 30 years he built some of the fastest boats in the Starboat class.

Together with his wife Mary O'Toole Etchells , he took part very successfully in star boat regattas in the USA, Europe, the Caribbean and South America. Together they won the "Noroton Race Week" five times, three times the "1. District Atlantic Coast Title ”, the“ Bacardi Cup ”in 1950 off Cuba and in 1951 the Starboat World Championship off Gibson Island (Maryland) . Mary Etchells can therefore claim to be the only woman to ever win a World Star Boot Championship.

Keelboat Etchells

Skip Etchells designed the 3-man Etchells keelboat , which was named after him, in 1966 . As one of the most competitive boats in regatta sailing, the Etchells class is often a challenge for the best sailors in the world such as one of the most successful Ameríca's Cup sailors Dennis Conner from the USA, who was three times world champion in this boat class.

The international Etchells boat class, originally called “Etchells 22” or “E22” after the waterline length (LWL) of 22 feet, was designed because a new keelboat class was being sought for the Olympic Games. After two sighting regattas in 1966 and 1967 off Kiel and Travemünde , however, the decision was made to use the 3-man keelboat Soling . Nevertheless, the Etchells class developed into a very popular regatta yacht with over 1,500 units today, organized in an international class association with over 50 fleets around the world.

Skip Etchells died at the age of 87 at Memorial Hospital in Easton, Maryland.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica (English) Retrieved March 11, 2009
  2. ↑ History of the Star Class (English) Retrieved March 11, 2009
  3. ↑ International Star Class Yacht Racing Association: Mary Etchells, 1951 World Champion Crew ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) Retrieved March 12, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.starclass.org
  4. ↑ Skip Etchell's biography (English). Accessed March 11, 2009
  5. ↑ Fit old lady, history: "Etchells" lost the Olympic duel against the Soling in 1966 and is still alive. In: SegelReporter. March 19, 2013, accessed April 1, 2020 .
  6. ↑ SailboatData: Etchells Class , (English)
  7. ^ New York Times (Dec. 27, 1998): EW Etchells, 87, a Boat Builder Who Created His Own Design. Retrieved March 12, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Etchells, Skip
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Etchells, Elwood Widmer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sailor, boat builder and yacht designer
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1998
Place of death Easton (Maryland)