In response to suggestions on this forum we have put a page under "events and projects" for reference material related to the dinghy designs.  If any of the designers wish to have documents linked to from that page, please do let me know.

Very complete document Graeme, just one correction to my AD design, The photo of the half hull is of DD!!

 All the best, David.

Karl, could you please do us all a favour: keep a photographic record of the various stages of building, and when you have finished maybe it can be included with David T's plan package, which will make it so much better for whoever comes next.

(Dave W went one step further for the prototype build of his DD design. He kept photos and made a full length PowerPoint demonstration, photos and expanatory text. Quite impressive.)

Karl, some time ago you asked: can anyone tell me were do I find the plans of John Perry 's GP pram.

It appears that the Dinghy Design Competition has not yet been taken to its conclusion, which was, as you say, to make these plans available to members.

However, John is a member of the JRA and his email address can be found in the Directory in the Members' Area of the website.

The competition produced such a wonderful selection of dinghies that I think it is imperative that the efforts of the designers be placed on some permanent record.

To this end I am trying to promote the printing of a dinghy design supplement to the magazine – a sort of souvenir supplement which would go to each person who subscribes to the magazine.

(A magazine supplement would have to be restricted to 28 or 32 pages, which is a little restrictive, considering there were 10 official entries and another five concept designs which I think are also worth putting on the record. However, in the interest of economy, compromise is necessary.)

The first step in the process will be to create an electronic version, in which we can allow three pages of text and illuistrations for each design. This means about 50 pages total, including front and back. (It will have to be further edited down later, to 28 or 32 pages, if the paper magazine supplement idea is accepted).

The electronic version can reside in the document section of the JRA website for people’s future reference. Each of the three pages for each design will comprise, as far as possible, just the words of the designers themselves, gleaned from the material they presented with their designs, and supplemented in some cases by material they have posted on this thread of the forum – together with drawings and photographs from what is available. The electronic file is intended to give an overview, ie study material, for the complete suite of designs, in the words of the designers themselves.

It is not an easy job to collate 15 individual efforts, in 15 different styles and formats and degrees of completeness, and try to make a unified document from it. The most difficult part is deciding which bits to leave out. However Jan and I will be working together, the project is well under way and I think the result will be acceptable.

I do hope the committee decides to approve the second step, which would be the creation of a 32-page souvenir magazine supplement, to go to all subscribers to the magazine. It would be a fitting keepsake, and a tangible way of rewarding each of the designers who contributed to the competition.

Hello John, it is good to read your thoughtful and illuminating post on this forum, and congratulations on submitting the winning design.

The Editor of the JRA magazine has asked me to write a series of articles, one for each of the dinghy design entries. I have thought it best to make each of these articles comprise the words of the individual designers themselves, and I can do this by editing the designers’ comments which they each submitted with their entries, together with comments they themselves have posted on the forum.

The editor has suggested about 1,000 words and perhaps 5 or 6 illustrations. There is probably sufficient material already contributed by the designers to make this possible – the hard part will be deciding what to leave out, as each of these unique little vessels has many features of interest.

In my mind, the purpose of the series will be to document permanently this rich portfolio of dinghy designs, for members’ future reference and use, on behalf of the designers. I Intend to keep any comments to a minimum (perhaps just in order to point out obvious good features which the designers may have omitted to mention, or were too modest to do so). If any of the designers would like to make further comments on this forum, now is the time. Also, in some cases, further photographs and drawings will be welcome. Where we do not have a photograph of the dinghy, I guess we can resort to a photo of a model, as a scale model for each has been made.

If any of the designers would like to take on the job themselves, of writing up and illustrating their own design within about 1000 words, then by all means please do so. Otherwise I will do it, based on what the designers have already written.

I think Arne’s specially-designed dinghy junk rig is worth an article in itself, either written by Arne or based on a compilation of what was written in this forum. In addition, there were a number of designs which were mooted, gave rise to discussion, but were not officially entered. I think they too are worth documenting, and with the designers’ permission I intend to do so.

Thank you to each of the contributors.

PS: as the series, at one dinghy per magazine issue, would stretch out over a period of more than a couple of years, I personally think it would be more useful to print a magazine supplement dedicated to the dinghy designs - with a copy sent to each of the members who subscribe to the paper magazine - and a digital copy to the other members, and to be added to the digital magazine archive. That, of course, is a matter for the Editor and the committee to decide. I have no idea what other members think of that idea.