Cruising yachts [Hardcover]

Jay R Benford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1983

200 page hardcover book, including 8 pages of color photos, with scores of the designer's drawings.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Jay Benford often characterizes the practice of yacht design as making people's dreams come true. With his far ranging imagination and versatile solutions to client requests, this makes for a wide variety of yachts. The selection in this volume ranges from a 14-footer designed for a singlehanded circumnavigation to a 131-foot luxury yacht. Not bound by any prejudices on materials, the designs here cover the whole range of wood, steel, ferro, aluminum and fiberglass.

Benford believes that a more knowledgeable client makes for a more interesting boat. In an effort to aid this, this volume also contains lines plans, construction plans, outfitting plans, and rigging plans and details. These will be of interest to yacht design students of all ages and of educational value to yacht design clients.

Commenting on his ingenious use of space, in a review of the 38' ketch featured in Chapter 9, CRUISING WORLD magazine said:

"The most impressive feature of the Benford 38, and indeed one of Benford's fortes, is its enormous and original interior and deck/cabin arrangement. Benford has the ability to combine this with a salty and charming appearance. It is hard to imagine any designer fitting more accommodations in a 30-foot waterline boat without transforming the design into a Greyhound bus."

One of the things that makes CRUISING YACHTS both fun to read and informative is the realization that Benford rally enjoys what he is doing. He is unique in this small field in that he has lived aboard his own boats, covering a couple decades of time. This gives him a special perspective and approach to yacht design. He has cruised extensively, often in the Pacific Northwest, testing theories and work underway. He loves a design challenge and his solutions are drawn on over 60 years of cruising and professional design experience starting in 1962. The results are practical and lovely cruising yachts.

For the yachtsman looking for ideas for his current or next yacht, this book will put his mind in high cruising gear. For the romantic who loves simply studying and dreaming about beautiful yachts, CRUISING YACHTS will provide endless pleasant armchair dream cruises. Open the book. Pick a yacht. Go cruising.

About the Author

Jay Benford was taken sailing before he could walk, by parents unconcerned about the impressions being made on the youth. He was several years old before he determined that this might not have been perfectly normal procedure on the part of his parents. By then, of course, it was too late for he had become hooked on cruising. His school teachers' pointed remarks about the lack of variety on his book reports (always nautical books) seem to have been of no concern to him. His two years at the University of Michigan led to a much better knowledge of the location of the nautical sections of the libraries than the locations of his classrooms....

He says the best parts of his education were his apprenticeship with John Atkin and the subsequent jobs with a number of boatbuilding firms. After seven years of working for others, he opened his own yacht design office full time in the spring of 1969. Shortly thereafter he got a series of instructive lessons from his accountant in the use of red ink....

He has lived aboard for a couple decades, living on both sail and power boats, and brings this experience to all his design work. His recent design work varies from small craft to freighter yachts to a 40 meter (131') ketch. When not off cruising, he can be found in his St. Michaels, Maryland, office working on one of his dozen or so current design projects.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Tiller (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961039604
• ISBN-13: 978-0961039608
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,885,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jay Benford was taken sailing before he could walk, by parents unconcerned about the impressions being made on the youth. He was several years old before he determined that this might not have been perfectly normal procedure on the part of his parents. By then, of course, it was too late for he had become hooked on cruising. His school teachers' pointed remarks about the lack of variety on his book reports (always nautical books) seem to have been of no concern to him. His two years at the University of Michigan led to a much better knowledge of the location of the nautical sections of the libraries than the locations of his classrooms....

He says the best parts of his education were his apprenticeship with John Atkin and the subsequent jobs with a number of boatbuilding firms. After seven years of working for others, he opened his own yacht design office full time in the spring of 1969. Shortly thereafter he got a series of instructive lessons from his accountant in the use of red ink....

He has lived aboard for well over a decade, living on both sail and power boats, and brings this experience to all his design work. His design work varies from small craft to freighter yachts to a 40 meter (131') ketch. When not off cruising, he can be found in his Easton, Maryland, office working on one of his current design projects.