OVER-ALL LENGTH: 17 FT. BEAM: 5 FT. 8 IN. SAIL AREA: 137 SO.

FT. WATER-LINE LENGTH: 10 FT. 3 IN. DRAFT TO BOTTOM OF RUDDER: 24 IN.
 
The National One-Design Racing Association was formed in 1937, shortly after the boat was designed. The designer, William F. Crosby, was Secretary-Treasurer of the Association for the first five years of its existence and was largely responsible for the rapid expansion of the class.

World War II caused the suspension of all racing from 1942 to 1946, but the Association was reactivated after the war and its racing activities were resumed. The present Commodore of the Association is John P. Makielski, of Edwardsburg, Mich. The Secretary-Treasurer is Peter Geis, Severna Park, Md.

The Association is divided into four areas: the Eastern Area, covering the East Coast of the United States; the Great Lakes Area, covering the Midwest; the Western Area, covering the West Coast; and the Plains Area, covering the southern part of the United States. Within these areas there are 32 active fleets with over 550 boats. In addition to these fleets, Fleet No. 33 was recently formed in Geneva, Switzerland, making the Association international in scope.

The race schedule for each year includes season-long races in each fleet to determine a fleet champion. Each fleet champion then meets other champions in his area to determine the area champion. Late in August, the National Championships are conducted. These are open to all members of the Association throughout the world.

Skippers who consistently finish at or near the top find that gadgets and expensive equipment are not determining factors. Instead, the men who put the most study and effort into sailing tactics and techniques, those who have the most knowledge of local winds and currents, are the ones that finish out front. The one-design hull theoretically gives the honors to the most skilled sailor, not the one who can afford the newest boat with the latest gadgets.

Sailing on Alamitos Bay, Long Beach, Calif. Skipper Sidevley of Boat 262. at left, was National Champ in 1949.
 
Naia, owned by Retiring Commodore Harold E. Saunders of the National One-Design Association, was 1949 Eastern Area Champ.

The National One-Design is one of the few small boats that have inboard rudders. This characteristic makes it a sensitive and responsive sailer. It can be handled by the younger skippers, as witnessed by 14-year-old Miss Jolly Mock, of South Bend, Ind., who took third in the 1951 National Championship against many a seasoned skipper.

It is best to race the National One-Design at a small angle of heel so one side of the V bottom is parallel with the surface of the water. The skipper and the one-man crew should sit far enough forward in the cockpit to keep the transom out of the water, but should not sit far enough forward to bury the nose. Because of its high mast and responsive rudder, the National sails well in light airs and is a safe boat in winds as high as 30 mph. There are very few small sailboats that are comfortable to sail in winds greater than this.

The National One-Design is one of the most economical boats of its size now available. Hoerneke, of Milwaukee, Wis., builds one for $795 without sails. Mr. Hoerneke is considered one of the best small-boat builders in the Midwest. A suit of racing sails will cost from $130 to $160.

Many skippers have bought fully equipped National One-Designs on the used-boat market for prices ranging from $200 to $500. With a little elbow grease and paint, they had first-class sailing boats.

If you are handy with tools and want to save a lot of money, you can purchase a National One-Design in kit form from the Maryland Marine Co., Middle River 20, Md. The kit includes assembled frames, cut-to-size keel and keelson, chines, stem, transom, knees, and centerboard trunk. The sides of the centerboard trunk are made of Western red cedar; the remainder of the kit is white oak. The kit is priced at $85.

For those of you who like to build boats from the ground up, blueprints are available at $10 per set. These can be obtained from Peter Geis, Secretary-Treasurer, National One-Design Racing Association, Severna Park, Md. A revised instruction booklet is now being prepared. When this is ready for issue, it is expected that the price for both the booklet and the blueprints will be $15.

Left: Gadfly, owned by John Makielski. 1952 Commodore of the Association. Right: Susy K. skippered by lack Makielski of the South Bend, Ind., Fleet.

Before it can engage in organized racing, each boat must be measured in accordance with the instructions on a measurement-data blank that can be obtained from the Secretary-Treasurer. When the blank is correctly filled out and returned to the Secretary-Treasurer with a $2 registration fee, the boat will be assigned a racing number.

Membership in the Association costs $1 per year. In addition to this, each numbered boat must be registered annually, which costs $2. If a boat is transferred from one owner to another, the purchaser must pay a $2 transfer-of-ownership fee.

A new racing fleet can be formed in your locality if you can get three or more measured and registered boats together. Each fleet is self-governed. Its officers are Fleet Captain, Vice-Captain, Secretary-Treasurer, and Measurer. The Measurer cannot be the owner of a National One-Design, nor can he be a professional builder of such boats.

If you can't get three boats together, you can still be a member of the Association and enjoy all the privileges of membership except that of voting.

As previously mentioned, it is not necessary to put large sums of money into fancy rigging and gadgets to have a winning boat. As an example of this, the 1951 Class Champion, John C. Christianson, of Milwaukee, won with a 1938 stock boat. Pete Geis took second place with a boat that he had just completed two weeks before, a boat that is considered the most up to date in the Association; so it can be seen that the older boats regularly finish as high in the fleets as do the new boats.

When racing, each boat must carry the following equipment: an anchor with 75 feet of anchor line, a paddle or an oar, one life preserver for each person aboard, and a bilge pump or a bailing can. Portable or fixed internal ballast is permitted if the skipper desires to carry it. If it is carried, however, it cannot be ditched during the race—a boat starting a race with ballast must finish with it.

Specifically prohibited when racing are solid masts, slotted booms, loose-footed or miter-cut mainsails, reaching poles, and special devices for raking or bending the mast. This is done to insure actual one-design racing where skill in handling a boat is the only thing that counts.

To permit progress, however, and to test new features under racing conditions, experimental installations on designated boats may be utilized by specific authorization of the Commodore of the Association. Boats that have been authorized to try out and develop such experimental installations may race with them provided the racing numbers on the sails are preceded by the letter X. Thus, boat number 700, if authorized to try out nonstandard equipment during a race, would temporarily become boat number X-700.

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