Nigel Sharp
THE FIRST JINDARRA (left), ANNA (center), and SWIFTSURE SAGA (right) are among a fleet of wooden-hulled H28s that continue to race regularly as a one-design class out of the South of Perth Yacht Club in Western Australia. About 40 of the boats have been built in the state since the 1940s, following plans by L. Francis Herreshoff.
Western Australia is the home of a modest fleet of wooden-hulled sailboats that has its roots in the World War II pages of an American sailing magazine. Based at the South of Perth Yacht Club on the Swan River since the early 1960s, this fleet is not, unfortunately, as big as it was in its heyday, but the camaraderie remains strong among the enthusiastic owners and crews who race the boats twice a week and occasionally cruise on them.
In its December 1942 edition, The Rudder announced that it was “pleased to introduce as the latest ‘How To’,” a 28′ auxiliary cruising ketch designed by L. Francis Herreshoff. This was the H28. “For some time past,” editor Boris Lauer-Leonardi wrote, “readers have been urging us to turn out a small round bottom auxiliary suitable for general coastwise cruising, yet able enough to take dirty weather she might encounter in some of her longer hops in open water.” Throughout 1943 and into January 1944, The Rudder included a series of detailed instructions to allow and encourage amateurs to build H28s. “It is thought a small transom is such a saving in expense and workmanship that the designer has adopted it, for particularly the amateur would have great difficulty with the sharp bends of a quickly tucked up stern,” Lauer-Leonardi wrote as one example of the consideration that was given to potential amateur builders.