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Bill Lapworth
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Bill Lapworth
Charles William Lapworth (12 December 1919 – 3 April 2006) was an American naval architect who designed a large number of sailboats, many of them for Cal Yachts. He was active as a designer from the early 1950s until the 1980s. Described as "one of the foremost West Coast naval architects in the post-World War II period", he has been nominated to the US National Sailing Hall of Fame.
Born on 12 December 1919 in Detroit, Michigan. He went to the University of Michigan, completing a degree in marine engineering and naval architecture. He went on to serve in the US Navy in World War II as an officer in the bureau of ships at Quincy, Massachusetts. He later served at naval repair base at San Diego.
After the war Lapworth moved to California and became partners in a yacht design business with Merle Davis in Los Angeles. In less than a year Davis had died, leaving Lapworth to run the business alone. He earned some income by doing marine surveyor work.
He soon progressed to sailboat design work, drawing new rigs to update some west coast racing sailboats. He designed new rigs for the 82 ft (25 m) sloop Patolita, later renamed Sirius II. He also designed the conversion of the 98 ft (30 m) schooner Morningstar to a ketch rig and the 77 ft (23 m) schooner Queen Mab, which was converted to a staysail schooner.
Lapworth also competed as a racing sailor, sailing International 14s. He completed in the class championships in Rochester, New York in 1948 and in Montreal, Quebec in Canada in 1949.
He created a series of custom boat designs for light displacement racers that quickly developed a reputation for winning races, or at least placing highly in them. His early boats included Flying Scotsman and Nalu II, a 46 ft (14 m) boat that won the Transpacific Yacht Race Class C four times and overall once, in 1958. He designed the second-place overall Transpacific winner in 1961, named Ichiban, a 50 ft (15 m) sloop. By 1958, 70 of his wooden Lapworth 36 design had been produced, but the age of wooden sailboats was at its end.
The new material to construct boats from was now fiberglass and Lapworth started drawing boats taking advantage of its strength and lightness. His skills attracted the attention of Jack Jensen of Jensen Marine, who walked into Lapworth's office and asked him to design a new line of fiberglass sailboats. The deal was closed with just a handshake and became one of the longest and most successful commercial sailboat building relationships, lasting until after Jensen died in 1980.
Lapworth's first design was a 24.39 ft (7.43 m) sloop. Jensen had intended to call it the Lapworth 24, but Lapworth had previously designed a boat with that designation for another customer and so they decided to call it the Cal 24 (for California) and the line became the Cal Yachts brand of Jensen Marine. The most successful was the Cal 20, of which more than 1,900 were built.
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Bill Lapworth
Charles William Lapworth (12 December 1919 – 3 April 2006) was an American naval architect who designed a large number of sailboats, many of them for Cal Yachts. He was active as a designer from the early 1950s until the 1980s. Described as "one of the foremost West Coast naval architects in the post-World War II period", he has been nominated to the US National Sailing Hall of Fame.
Born on 12 December 1919 in Detroit, Michigan. He went to the University of Michigan, completing a degree in marine engineering and naval architecture. He went on to serve in the US Navy in World War II as an officer in the bureau of ships at Quincy, Massachusetts. He later served at naval repair base at San Diego.
After the war Lapworth moved to California and became partners in a yacht design business with Merle Davis in Los Angeles. In less than a year Davis had died, leaving Lapworth to run the business alone. He earned some income by doing marine surveyor work.
He soon progressed to sailboat design work, drawing new rigs to update some west coast racing sailboats. He designed new rigs for the 82 ft (25 m) sloop Patolita, later renamed Sirius II. He also designed the conversion of the 98 ft (30 m) schooner Morningstar to a ketch rig and the 77 ft (23 m) schooner Queen Mab, which was converted to a staysail schooner.
Lapworth also competed as a racing sailor, sailing International 14s. He completed in the class championships in Rochester, New York in 1948 and in Montreal, Quebec in Canada in 1949.
He created a series of custom boat designs for light displacement racers that quickly developed a reputation for winning races, or at least placing highly in them. His early boats included Flying Scotsman and Nalu II, a 46 ft (14 m) boat that won the Transpacific Yacht Race Class C four times and overall once, in 1958. He designed the second-place overall Transpacific winner in 1961, named Ichiban, a 50 ft (15 m) sloop. By 1958, 70 of his wooden Lapworth 36 design had been produced, but the age of wooden sailboats was at its end.
The new material to construct boats from was now fiberglass and Lapworth started drawing boats taking advantage of its strength and lightness. His skills attracted the attention of Jack Jensen of Jensen Marine, who walked into Lapworth's office and asked him to design a new line of fiberglass sailboats. The deal was closed with just a handshake and became one of the longest and most successful commercial sailboat building relationships, lasting until after Jensen died in 1980.
Lapworth's first design was a 24.39 ft (7.43 m) sloop. Jensen had intended to call it the Lapworth 24, but Lapworth had previously designed a boat with that designation for another customer and so they decided to call it the Cal 24 (for California) and the line became the Cal Yachts brand of Jensen Marine. The most successful was the Cal 20, of which more than 1,900 were built.