History of the Flying Dutchman Class
THE BEGINNING:
It was in the late 40's that the IYRU instigated a new modern 2-man international dinghy, the Tornado. The Royal Loosdrecht Yacht Club, Conrad Gulcher's club, obtained half a dozen Tornados and found them very uninspiring. Conrad had always been very interested in dinghy sailing and had collected any documentation connected with it. Pre-war he had enjoyed some international sailing in Germany and the UK and he had made many friends in the dinghy sailing scene. He imagined that with modern construction methods, moulded ply, a better boat could be constructed. The Flying Dutchman was the result.
Click for a list of the specifications of the Flying Dutchman Dinghy.
In the summer of 1952 the name was born, suggested by Sir Peter Scott, the then president of the IYRU. The International trials were held on the Loodrecht lakes and on the open water of the Zuiderzee at Muiden. 17 boats participated, some especially designed like the Osprey and Typhoon, others were existing classes including Hornet, Caneton, Thistle, Sharpie, Rennjolle etc. The results were clear and the FD was adopted however with the limitation "for continental lakes only" and another set of trials was set up for 1953 at La Baule on the open sea. After it's performance there it was granted full status.
In 1957 the FD was selected to replace the Sharpie at the 1960 Olympic Games in Naples, and deselected in 1992 in lieu of the 49'er.
THE BOAT:
The FD has a fine, almost delicate entry that widens into a broad beam very far forward and has a smooth flatrun aft. It has always depended on one go-fast item for success: a great crew on the wire (Paul Elvstrom has even crewed for a year on an FD) It also requires the touch of a top helmsman and some of the greatest have driven one: Buddy Melges, Dennis Conner, Ian Proctor, Mark Bethwaite, the Diesch pothers, Paul Elvestrom, Hans Fogh, Ben Lexcen, Cam Lewis, Peder Lunde, Stewart Morris, Keith Musto, Andre Nelis, Yves and Marc Pajot, Rodney Pattison, Ralph Roberts, Bruno Trouble, Ted Turner, Mike Macnamara, John Loveday, Jo Richards, Roger Yeoman, Will Henderson, Peter White, Pat Blake, Jon Turner, Carl Buchan, Jonathan McKee, Tom Allen, Lin Robson and David Wilkins to name but a few.
The most distinctive aspect of an FD has to be its huge genoa (front sail) The genoa on a Flying Dutchman is massive, overlapping the mast and at 150% it defines the FD. The boat will plane with only the use of the genoa, and is responsible for it's upwind performance. The outline is so distinctive it is the logo for a large manufacturer of marine gear, Musto. (Musto was once Musto and Hyde, two great FD sailors)
The FD rules were tailored to have one design speed factors i.e. hull shape and weight, foil shapes and sails restricted, and the rest left open to encourage development. As new ideas have evolved they have often been taken up by other classes e.g. trapeze, spinnaker chute, double floor construction, windows in sails and numerous developments in fittings and even personal sail numbers. The one design was guaranteed by the very simple, and consequently cheap and easily repeatable measurement system defined by Uffa van Essen and born of his experiences as professional KNWV measurer.
Without question, the most famous region IX sailors has to be Carl Buchan and Jonathan McKee, who won the World Championships and and gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Also famous in the class are the Leavins from Seattle.
Like many classes over the last few years there has been a decline in the active Flying Dutchman sailors, but this has been reversed and the class is growing again and will remain the ultimate test of all the skills of dinghy sailing.
Below is a cool flyer aquired from an old-school FD sailor:
