Uffa Fox

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2-man keelboat Flying Fifteen

Uffa Fox CBE (born January 15, 1898 in Cowes ; † October 26, 1972 ibid) was a British sailor , yacht designer and boat builder .

Life

Uffa Fox was born on the Isle of Wight and grew up in the town of East Cowes on the island in the English Channel . After finishing school, he began training at SE Saunders' boat building company in East Cowes. The training lasted seven years and included boat and shipbuilding, as well as the design of yachts . The company was also involved in building flying boats like the Maple Leaf IV , which reached speeds of over 50 knots .

At the age of 21 he founded his own boat building company. He used a disused chain ferry , called a floating bridge , which connected East Cowes with Cowes across the Medina River. The area in the middle, where the vehicles previously stood, was covered and included the workshop. The bow at one end formed the gangway to land and the other end became a slip to lower the boats into the water. The former passenger quarters have been converted into a design office and living quarters. Fox also lived in Puckaster on the Isle of Wight for a while.

Inventions / constructions

A contender glides across the water. Note the typical lifting of the bow while the stern flies over the water.

Uffa Fox invented many developments in dinghy sailing that have helped make this sport popular and modern.

Glidable dinghy

He was the inventor of the modern gliding dinghy. This means that the dinghy is suitable, thanks to its hull construction, to rise out of the water against the water resistance by means of a strong drive (strong wind in the sail) and to glide on the water. The majority of the vehicle's mass is therefore above the waterline. As the hull rises out of the water, the bow wave drag is reduced. Finally, as the speed continues to increase, the tail begins to slide on the wave. Due to the much lower water resistance, significantly higher speeds are achieved.

Uffa Fox had worked a lot with high-speed vehicles. He believed that if a dinghy hull was the right shape and your crew could hold it in an upright position, it should be able to slide over the surface. In 1928, Uffa Fox succeeded for the first time with the International Fourteen Foot Dinghy Avenger , which he designed , to leave the cumbersome displacement drive behind and to sail much higher speeds by gliding. That year he achieved 52 first places, 2 second and 3 third places including winning the Prince of Wales Cup in 57 regattas.

The design requirements for construction Class International 14 allow technological advances, so newer boats due to advancements are usually more competitive than older ones. He then received many construction contracts and his design was in great demand for many years. After the success of the Fourteens , he transferred the concept to other boat classes. He designed and built two sailing canoes with Roger De Quincy and also brought them to America. Here he won many trophies including the International Canoe Trophy .

Archipelago cruiser

22m² skerry cruiser Vigilant , 1930

Uffa Fox kept coming up with new designs and was always ready to try them out under real conditions. A typical example in 1930 was the Vigilant , a filigree, light racing yacht of the 22 square meter archipelago cruiser class with such low displacement that the Q class refused to regattas on the Solent , although its design and construction were strong enough to withstand strong winds Summer sailing to Sweden and back. Fox becomes the ambassador of the boat class, which at that time was also popular in German and American waters.

Trapeze in sailing

International 14-foot dinghy, Kiel, 2007. Forearm and helmsman in double trapeze.

He also influenced the introduction of the trapeze into sailing. When Prince of Wales Cup 1938, the keystone development was first used, and thus ushered that would change the dinghy Sport prevail. However, the invention of the trapeze was so revolutionary at the time that the IYRU World Association initially banned this development and only lifted this ban again in the 1960s.

Before World War II , Uffa Fox was well established as a yacht designer in the world of dinghy sailors, in which his designs dominated the National Twelves , Fourteens and Eighteens classes .

Parachute lifeboat

A parachute lifeboat constructed by Uffa Fox, here rigged and ready for sailing in front of a Vickers Warwick aircraft
Royal Air Force Air / Sea Search and Rescue aircraft type Avro Shackleton with an Airborne Lifeboat mounted under the fuselage.

In 1943, he developed the idea of a parachute - Lifeboat (English Airborne Lifeboat.), A boat which was transported by an aircraft and was dropped by a parachute to survivors take a plane crash over sea and rescue, slightly built, with the form similar to a wing, adapted to the shape of the aircraft. The lifeboat was equipped with sails, an engine, survival equipment, and instructions on how to sail. The 27-foot long lifeboats were mostly dropped from Vickers Warwick planes. The Airborne Lifeboats were adapted for various types of aircraft and also adopted and used by the US armed forces. Many aircraft crews owe their lives to his invention. Years later he was brought on by Eamon Andrews on the television show "This is Your Life", in which many pilots were given the opportunity to thank him for the rescue.

Flying Fifteen

In 1947 Fox achieved his greatest success with the Flying Fifteen , the prototype of the gliding 2-man keelboat , which has been widely imitated to this day . The 6 x 1.50 meter boat, weighing 450 kilos, reconciles capsizing protection with exhilarating sailing performance. Astonishing speeds can be reached during trial runs in the sheltered waters of the Solent . The Flying Fifteen will be built 3700 times. The most famous Flying Fifteen is the Coweslip (sail number: K 192). It was a wedding present for Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II in 1949. Prince Philip and Uffa Fox met and became friends. They often sailed together on Coweslip . They had a lot of success in sailing competitions together including winning the Britannia Cup in 1952. During Cowes Week 1962, Coweslip almost sank when a gust of wind hit it and both sailors Uffa Fox and Prince Philip went overboard. The boat is currently on permanent loan from the Classic Boat Museum on the Isle of Wight. Both also sailed on Fox's Fresh Breeze kite or Prince Philip's royal kite Bluebottle .

In addition to the very successful regatta sailing and cruising sailing, he ran a successful yacht construction office and boat building workshop. He designed and built many important classes of boats.

Boat designs

one-man Olympic boat class Firefly 1948, designed in 1946
  • International 14 , 14 feet - dinghy
  • 22m² skerry cruiser Vigilant , 1930
  • Foxcub 18, 1972, 18-foot dinghy cruiser
  • Super Foxcub
  • Flying Fifteen , 1947, 20-foot keelboat
  • Duckling, 1952, 9-foot dinghy
  • Flying Ten
  • National 12, 1936, 12-foot sailing dinghy
  • National 18, 18-foot dinghy
  • Swordfish 15, 1946, 15-foot dinghy,
  • Albacore, 1954, 15-foot sailing dinghy
  • Atalanta 26, 1955, 26 foot keel cruiser
  • Atalanta 31 (UK), 1956, 31 foot keel cruiser
  • Firefly , 12-foot dinghy, 1946, Olympic one-man boat class 1948 in Torquay (Great Britain), originally designed by Fox as a wooden two-man dinghy without spinnaker and trapeze
  • Javelin, 1960, 14-foot dinghy, built by the O'Day Company (USA) until 1984
  • Pegasus dinghy, 1958
  • Jollyboat, 1953, dinghy built by Fairey Marine (UK) until 1971
  • Day Sailer (O'Day Day Sailer), joint design with George O'Day, 1956, built by the O'Day Company (USA)
  • In addition to the dinghies, Uffa Fox also designed keel boats, which are characterized by their special lightweight construction : Huff of Arklow for Douglas Heard, a 30-foot yacht ( waterline LWL) and Flying Fox for Fred Brownlee, a 35-foot yacht (waterline).
  • One of his last constructions is the six-meter-long rowboat Britannia , with which extreme rower John Fairfax crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 180 days on his first solo expedition in 1969. The Britannia was described as a Rolls-Royce of rowboats, built at the Clare Lallow shipyard in Cowes from mahogany , self- righting and partly with deck . Fox then also constructed the Britannia II rowboat , with which Fairfax and Sylvia Cook crossed the Pacific Ocean from 1971 to 1972.

Non-fiction author

The pioneer of lightweight construction in boat building was a pioneering modern concept. Fox is enthusiastic about making a lot out of a light and skilfully proportioned boat and the right sails. He published his findings, ideas and successes in the thirties in a series of books read around the world. The books published by Peter Davies Verlag in London are a valuable panorama of sailing, boat and yacht building in the 1930s - from sailing canoes to J-Class yachts for the America's Cup .

character

Uffa Fox is very independent and actually does what he wants, which he can afford due to his sailing talent and ability. This is best described by an escapade during a supervision of a scout group of Sea Scouts . Fox, for example, closely links his thirst for freedom with his sailing interests. While the parents of the 14 to 17 year old boy scouts envision their children at a weekend camp in local waters, Fox sails with the group in open 25-foot boats as an excursion across the English Channel and up the Seine to Paris .

family

Tombstone of Uffa Fox in Whippingham, Isle of Wight. On the left, the stone shows a parachute lifeboat he constructed

Uffa Fox was married three times. His first wife, Alma, who played a huge role in his early career including the preparation of his five books before WWII. In 1941 he married Cherry and later in 1956 the French woman Yvonne Bernard, who did not speak a word of English.

Uffa Fox died in October 1972. Trinity Church in Cowes was full when his close friend Sir Max Aitken held the funeral service. The memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London was also crowded with the attendance of Prince Philip , the Duke of Edinburgh. Uffa Fox was buried in St. Mildred's Churchyard in Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.

Web links

Commons : Uffa Fox  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tony Dixon: UFFA FOX (1898 to 1972). In: Uffa Fox On-Line. Retrieved January 16, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Uffa Fox biography , Uffa Fox official website
  3. ↑ Tony Dixon: UFFA FOX (1898 to 1972). In: Uffa Fox On-Line. Retrieved January 16, 2020 .
  4. ^ History. In: International 14th International 14 Class Association, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Erdmann Braschos: Uffa Fox: Genius in the sliding state. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 18, 2008, accessed January 20, 2020 .
  6. ^ AJ Kaltenbach: A-3 Lifeboat added to the Korean War exhibit area. In: National Museum of the US Air Force. May 11, 2010, accessed January 23, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Tony Dixon: UFFA FOX (1898 to 1972). In: Uffa Fox On-Line. Retrieved January 16, 2020 .
  8. ↑ alamy.de: Prince Philip and Uffa Fox during Cowes Week 1968 on Coweslip
  9. ↑ Royal Yacht Britannia: Our fleet: Coweslip , (English), accessed January 15, 2020
  10. ↑ Coweslip , description on the museum site. Accessed April 8, 2019
  11. ↑ Fiona Brown: Cowes Week 2011 - Prince Philip's Dragon 'Bluebottle' on display. In: sail-world.com. July 20, 2011, accessed January 18, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Getty Images: Uffa Fox sails on the Dragon Bluebottle during Cowes Week with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles , 1958 , accessed February 6, 2020
  13. ↑ Getty Images: Uffa Fox and Prince Charles - Royal Cowes Regatta 1967 on board the Labrador
  14. ↑ sailboat.data: Portrait Uffa Fox , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  15. ↑ sailboat.data: Foxcub 18 - data sheet, photo, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  16. ↑ sailboat.data: Flying Fifteen - data sheet, photo , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  17. ↑ sailboat.data: Duckling - Datasheet, Riss , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  18. ↑ sailboat.data: Swordfish 15 - data sheet, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  19. ↑ sailboat.data: Albacore - data sheet, photo, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  20. ↑ sailboat.data: Atalanta 26 - data sheet, photo, crack, 3-D view , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  21. ↑ sailboat.data: Atalanta 31 (UK) - data sheet, photo , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  22. ↑ sailboat.data: Firefly - data sheet, photo, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  23. ↑ sailboat-data: Javelin 14 (Fox) - data sheet, photo, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  24. ↑ sailboat-data: Pegasus 14 - data sheet , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  25. ↑ sailboat.data: Jollyboat - data sheet, photo, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  26. ↑ sailboatdata.com: Day Sailer - data sheet, photo, crack , (English), accessed on January 21, 2020
  27. ↑ Elaine Bunting: Huff of Arklow sails again after a remarkable restoration. In: Yachting World. December 1, 2014, accessed January 20, 2020 .
  28. ^ Martin Childs: John Fairfax: Adventurer who became the first man to row solo across the Atlantic ocean. In: Independent. February 25, 2012, accessed January 20, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Boatyard Clare Lallow: History , accessed February 6, 2020
  30. ↑ Erdmann Braschos: Uffa Fox: Genius in the sliding state. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 18, 2008, accessed January 20, 2020 .
  31. ↑ St. Mildred's Churchyard, Whippingham , accessed January 23, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Fox, Uffa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mills, Clark Wilbur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British yacht designer and shipyard owner
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Cowes , Isle of Wight
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1972
Place of death Cowes , Isle of Wight