5 April 2016 - The National 18 Class Association exhibited the new Morrison designed National 18 (Ultra) for the second time at the RYA Suziki Dinghy Show in London in March 2016. After its first full year of racing, including successful outings in the SailJuice Winter Series, the boat is becoming very much part of the dinghy racing scene and continues to appeal to a wide range of sailors.
The boat exhibited at the Dinghy Show was sporting the "new rule" square top laminate mainsail, larger spinnaker, and twin spinnaker poles introduced by the Class Association - and enjoyed her naming ceremony on Saturday with a party in the strong traditions of the Class! The boat and her new rig attracted great interest; she was not only one of the largest boats at the show but also one of the most striking.
With the 2016 sailing season now getting underway the eleven new Morrison 18s delivered to date will be racing actively in a number of the big multi-class events this year. In addition, five new boats are currently nearing completion and a fleet of at least 16 will race for the 2016 National 18 Championship, being hosted by the Royal Findhorn Yacht Club, Scotland, from 31 July to 5 August, where they will sail alongside the previous Proctor design (Ultimates) and the original Uffa Fox design (Classics).
The Morrison designed National 18 has, as intended by the Class, created a performance three-person dinghy with one trapeze that is fast and capable of being handled by crews of varying ability, age, and experience; she is not an extreme boat and many people commented that she looks a "proper boat."
The National 18s are renowned for their companionship and great social scene both and on and off the water, as well as for outstanding high performance racing; there is still time to enjoy sailing with the National 18 fleet this summer if orders are placed with official builder White Formula by the end of April.
For further information about the National 18 Class please visit www.national18.com or email info@national18.com
For further information about White Formula UK please visit www.whiteformula.com or email info@whiteformula.com
ENDS
About The National 18 Class
The National 18' began in 1938 following a design competition organised by the then YRA (now RYA) and Yachting World magazine.
The original idea was that of Frank Knowling of Whitstable YC (later to be known as the father of the class) for an 18-foot sailing dinghy, suitable for day sailing, yet fast enough to be of interest to racing sailors and at a reasonable cost. (The first rather hopeful restriction of the original class rules was "Price not to exceed £125 complete with spars, all equipment and designer's fee but not including sails"). The plan was to produce an affordable national alternative to the many local one-designs of about this size to be found right round the coast of the British Isles. Many of these local estuary classes survive today, for example the Mermaid in Dublin, Thames Estuary OD, Chichester Harbour 18 etc.
The well-known designer Uffa Fox won the competition (over the Laurent Giles submitted version) with his 'Ace' design for a clinker-built wooden boat. National 18' number 1, 'Hurricane', was owned by Stanley Beale and sailed at Whitstable, with No.2 'Gust' and No.3 Foam''.
Initial enthusiasm was held back by the effects of World War II but a good deal of 18' building got underway soon afterwards, when mahogany was again available for boat-building and the class became active especially in the Thames Estuary area. By 1950, fleets had appeared at clubs dotted all around the British Isles and Ireland, the Class Association having been formed in 1947.
Although most boats were built to the 'Ace' design, the class had always been 'restricted' rather than 'one-design' and boats with a reduced number of wider planks were built when glued plywood construction was adopted and even one moulded carvel boat was built (252 'Sabon').
Several of the wooden 18's, now called 'Classics' are still in commission, and regularly race, principally at Bosham SC. They include No15 Tinkerbell, built in 1938 and still very competitive.
With the advent of GRP and the rising costs of hard woods, the Class asked Ian Proctor in the late '60's to design a fibreglass hull that would not outclass the existing boats. In this he was successful and it was some time before a Proctor hull won the championships. The first new Proctor, 'Genivieve' was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Dinghy Show of 1970 when a bare hull cost £153. Since then the Class has progressively reduced minimum hull and centreboard weight, and introduced a single trapeze. Also a restriction which requires all new hulls to come from the class mould so they are in effect one-design. Rigs have been optimised and more recently carbon spars introduced.
These changes produced a boat known in the Class as an 'Ultimate' which is fast and exciting to sail and which has provided close and competitive racing for fifteen or so years, both locally and at the annual National Championships. The Royal Cork Yacht Club has the largest fleet.
The class strives to be inclusive in providing heathy competition for all generations of 18s through handicaps and separate starts. Thus though the major trophies at National Championships are awarded in the Ultimate class, there are trophies also for the Pen-ultimates (heavy GRP) and the Classics.
In 2012 the class mould was declared unservicable, and there was much debate about what to do next. This culminated in a request to Phil Morrison to design a hull that was sleeker, lighter, faster and safer, and in so far as reasonably possible within the existing measurement restrictions.
The Morrison prototype was financed by supporters of the Class and built at The Boatyard at Bere in 2013. Named 'Odyssey' and trialled extensively, she ticked all the boxes, was a pleasure to sail and proved a great success. 2015 saw the first of the new boats roll off the production line at White Formula in Brightlingsea and compete at the 2015 Championship in Cork. The new boats also put in some excellent results in major mulit-class dinghy races such as the SailJuice Winter Series. As of 1 April 2016 a further five boats are under construction and all sixteen of the new boats will compete in the 2016 Championship in Findhorn, Scotland.
For more information please visit www.national18.com
About White Formula UK
White Formula UK is one of the UK's leading producers of Hi-Tech Fibre Glass, Kevlar and Carbon mouldings. They have over 40 years experience in moulding composite materials. Their mouldings have reached the depths of the oceans on military submarines and the limits of the skies on British made Helicopters.
The company has an extensive knowledge of the marine sector. It has an entire division dedicated to Boat Building, Research and Development, Modifications and Refurbishing.
White Formula manufacture boats on behalf of many well known companies in the UK. They also sell complete packages, some of which have been designed and developed by their in-house marine team. These classes include the Challenger, Brightlingsea One Design, SB20, SL16, SL5.2, Sprint 15, Dart 18, Spitfire, Shadow, Shockwave, Alto, Breeze 6.0, Vortex, Blaze, ISO and Buzz.
For more information please visit www.whiteformula.com
Fiona Brown Communications, c/o 3 Palmers Road, Emsworth, Hampshire PO10 7DL United Kingdom
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