58 Breeze Magazine Laurie Davidson had a fascination for the America’s Cup and, long before he became involved, studied the 12-Metre Rule. Here he poses with a half model he built of Herreshoff’s 1905 defender, Reliance. – Ivor Wilkins photo.
Take a Bow: Laurie Davidson’s design journey from ferro-cement to carbon-fibre Cup winners By Ivor Wilkins Work as an accountant with a sideline in ferro-cement boats would seem an unlikely platform for yacht design stardom, yet that was how Laurie Davidson began an extraordinary international professional design career that included crushing victories in back-to-back America’s Cup regattas, first as a challenger and then as defender. Davidson, who died in early October aged 94, played lead roles in the design teams behind NZL32, which won the 1995 America’s Cup match by 5-0, and in NZL60, which did the same in the 2000 Cup defence against Luna Rossa. He was always amused by his more lowly design origins. Of course, Davidson did not make the leap from ferro-cement utility to carbon fibre star wars in a single bound. In between, he demonstrated his versatility and skill in a wide range of projects, from dinghies to Ton Cup yachts, round-the-world racers, handsome cruisers and grand prix campaigners. Before entering the ranks of professional yacht design, Davidson demonstrated a keen talent for unpicking a rule and coming up with a new and faster interpretation. In 1948, he caused an uproar in Auckland’s highly competitive M-Class fleet with a new design called Myth. With its straight stem, acutely angled forefoot and lightweight construction, Myth proved very quick. Under grave threat from this precocious newcomer, the class hit back. Some of the more vehement opponents even suggested purchasing Myth and burning it – like a witch at the stake. Instead, Myth survived and, following a rebuild to remedy a breach of class rules, a rush of new Davidson boats followed. It took more than 30 years before a non-Davidson boat won the M-Class championship again. The Myth story not only underlined Davidson’s design talent, but also
his considerable sailing prowess. The Myth legend was so strong, some thought it would flourish in anybody’s hands, but when Davidson finally sold the boat, its star never shone as brightly again. He also competed at a high level in the Flying Dutchman class and was going well in the Olympic trials for the 1964 Tokyo Games when a north easterly squall capsized most of the fleet. Davidson’s boat was damaged and could not complete the trials, which were won by Helmer Pedersen and Earle Wells, who went on to win gold. By strange coincidence, Wells died within a week of Davidson’s death. For most of the 1960s, Davidson worked as an accountant for Certified Concrete Ltd. When the company wanted to capitalise on the trend towards ferro-concrete boats, they looked to Davidson for the design. During a research visit to the US, Davidson visited Olin Stephens. An early devotee of computers, Stephens was using an Olivetti system with Fortran punch cards for his calculations. By coincidence, Certified Concrete used the same system, so Davidson purchased Stephens’ design package. Later, when he left Certified Concrete to set up his own professional yacht design studio, Davidson purchased one of the Olivetti machines for his own use.This early adoption of computer technology belies a popular image of Davidson as a Luddite – an image he did nothing to discourage. During his time at Team New Zealand (1995 to 2000), he took pride in a cartoon which portrayed him sitting on top of a desktop computer while he pencilled lines by hand on a traditional drawing board. The caption read ‘Computer Aided Design’. But, both Brett Bakewell-White and Kevin Dibley, who worked closely with Davidson for nine and 30 years respectively, testified he fully understood the value of computer assistance, but preferred getting
