Uffa Fox: Yachting’s Eccentric Genius, by Malcolm Turner, SunRise Publishing, 124 City Rd., London EC1 2NX, U.K. 288 pp., illus., £15.99 in the U.K.; $24.99 in the U.S.
Available from The WoodenBoat Store (www.woodenboatstore.com)
Can you separate the art from the artist? This is a question that is fiercely debated when it comes to artists, musicians, writers, and even actors. Could it apply to yacht designers too? It’s an issue that was at the fore of my mind as I read the latest biography of the famous British yacht designer Uffa Fox by Malcolm Turner.
Back in 2011, I wrote a four-part series of articles about Fox for this very magazine (see WB Nos. 221–224). I had originally chosen the subject because I was in thrall to the great man: a working-class legend who transformed dinghy sailing through his visionary designs and fine craftsmanship. A fearless renegade who took on the establishment and poked fun at social norms. My kind of man.
But the more I read about him—and particularly his attitudes towards women—the more uncomfortable I felt. By the end of my research, I concluded he was an arrogant, self-obsessed misogynist who abused his wives and took his workers and creditors on a merry dance. Quite frankly, I was glad to be done with him.