The Anarchists Cyberchat with Steve Thompson

Thompson 35 "Rumors"

Steve, for those that don't know you, tell us a little about yourself - where you came from, your sailing history - your background in design, etc.

ST:
New Zealand born and bred. Lived most of my life around the competitive sailing scene. Been playing with model yachts and all that boy stuff since early childhood, NZ is a great place to try new things as we are mostly a pretty inventive society. I have been involved over the years in building a number of my own boats and have always been interested in the design and construction of racing yachts. I decided a few years ago that I needed a change from the engineering/construction industry and decided to take up yacht design as a full time occupation. It has been a steep learning curve but my engineering background has certainly helped there. I am very methodical in my approach to design and have very sophisticated design and VPP software that we have developed to assist us with our design process. I also do a lot of sailing and rig and sail development. I guess you could call me pedantic as I do not release anything that is not absolutely the best that can be done.

Your boats are probably considered a bit extreme with light displacements and HUGE amounts of sail area. How would you describe them?

ST:
Extreme is a funny term for a yacht. A boat that was considered extreme 10 years ago is probably a bit boring to sail now, certainly not extreme. I like to consider that we are ahead of our opposition in our approach and not scared to try something new with our approach to design and engineering. Our boats may be considered light but they all have a greater righting moment than a comparative yacht. The heavier you build the heavier you need to build, it's a catch 22. Good engineering can and does save a lot of money at times. We generally dont carry a lot more sail area uphill than most but certainly do downhill. It's a bit like "why does a dog lick its balls, because it can". We carry large sail area downhill because it makes the boats fun to sail and it is so easy to do so, our boats have no vices and are very easy to control.

In this country, you are best known for the Thompson 30 and most recently, the Thompson 35. Tell us what the 35 is, what your goals were when you designed it, and what should a customer expect when purchasing one?

Thompson 35 "Rumors"

ST:
Basically the design brief was for the smallest possible boat that could foot it with the 40's upwind. We realised that any boat I designed at that length would be sailing against the 40's and also knew that it is very hard to pass downwind if behind at the top mark. A lot of research was done on the opposition to arrive at the T35 length etc. We are pleased with the result as the boat is indeed as quick as predicted upwind and very fast downwind. There was also the requirement to be able to trailer the boat on a regular trailer. I think you Americans are quite mad the way you tow such big boats. These boats work out at around US$170.000 for a complete boat

The 1D 35 has been pretty successful. Philosophically, how is your 35 different, and candidly, why should someone buy your boat over the 1D 35?

ST:
Yes the ID35 has been a very successful boat in the US, more in my opinion to the marketing than the actual design. I am not being critical of the design here but people seem to buy anything that is available especially if it is pushed as a one design class. You often hear comments about a particular boat that its not such a great boat but because it's a one design its good to buy. I think that philosophy is wrong as a boat should always be fun and exciting to sail. The enduring one designs are always the boats that are good sailing boats. Take the Melges 24 and probably the Farr40 as good examples. Basically I design a boat that is good in all conditions, light and heavy air, up and down wind. I think this is where my T35 differs from the ID35.

Thompson 35 "Rumors"

When you survey the land of handicap racing in the USA, what do you see?

ST:
You do have a very good system of PHRF handicapping, my biggest complaint about it is that it not universal throughout the States. If you are going to use PHRF or performance based handicapping the method used seems very fair with the owners being able to submit arguments why their particular handicap should be adjusted. Of course as the designer of the highest rated boats in the US I do have some grizzlies, but that's another story. I like the format of the IRC system, it seems to be a very good basic rule that has not really been exploited, the pity of it is that the US always seems to want to go their own way. People have been searching for years for the ultimate handicap system, as far as I am concerned the IRC is the closest we have come so far. It is not type forming , which is very important for a universal rule.

There is an obvious growth in the "big boat" one-design arena. Is this the direction the future of big boat sailing will take?

Thompson 8 meter (T8 Racer)

ST:
We have seen a big growth in one design keel boat racing over the past few years. It does appear that it is the same guys just getting larger boats though and the smaller boats are just being bought second hand as the rich guys move on. In the US the progression was from the Mumm 36, Mumm30, ID35 to the Farr40, I understand there are a few new one design boats around the 40ft to surface yet. As a yacht designer I am more inclined to like the box rule. Hopefully something will come of that from the push in California. One design racing does tend to stifle design in some respects but it does offer great racing and tuning.

The recent collapse of the Admiral's Cup is nothing short of a sad commentary on the state of big boat sailing. Your take? And how would you propose the next one should be formatted?

ST:
This is a real hard one. It appears that we have no real consensus on the type of boats to use, maybe it should be more a rating regatta using IRC with rating band for a few years to regenerate interest. The one design aspect is hard to foster if we don't have enough boats of a similar kind universally.

There are a number of very skilled designers out there. Your entry into the arena is as a bit of a late comer. Are there designers whose work you greatly admire and whose boats you might perhaps emulate?

ST:
Most certainly so. I really admire a couple of NZ designers. The first being Jim Young, probably the most innovative designer NZ has ever had. Jim is now retired but has certainly not been scared to try new things. I understand that he was the first to use the cedar strip plank method of construction, well before the Gougon brothers. Also Laurie Davidson has taught us how to design efficient yachts that don't need a lot of sail area to drive them. NZ has certainly had their fair share of yacht designers over the years, I would think that for the size of the country we are well ahead of the world in designer numbers. A tribute to the New Zealanders creative and inventive talents.

Joe Six Pack PHRF is ready for a new boat. One design is a bit scary to him, and he doesn't want some older IMS thing. What should he do?

ST:

Thompson 35 "Rumors"

Give me a call.
Seriously though he should first work out what he wants to do with the boat. Where he is sailing, the type of boats he is sailing against, length and budget restraints. We do a lot of research for clients to make sure the boats fits the need. We also analyse a lot off the opposition boats so that we can be sure that what we are designing will do the job. With all this information the actual design process is pretty straightforward and the new owner gets exactly what he wants and needs.

One of the biggest problems facing PHRF is sheer incompetence and/or gross self-interest at the handicapping level. Believe me, a Thompson 35 rolls into San Diego, and those idiots give it a rating that it can never sail to (unless it's Dennis Conner's, then they give it the same rating as a J-24). Plain and simple, it discourages people from wanting to bring something like that into PHRF. What, in your estimation, can be done about it?

ST:
I agree that there are some real bumps in the PHRF curve, all depends on who knows who and who buys the most rum at times. I think a national body with standard ratings for all states. This is a hard one but all sailors pay into the national coffers so its shouldn't be hard to fund. Then a bit further down the track maybe have a look at the IRC. Its going to be hard though as you Americans cant seem to agree on anything, maybe the size and diversity of the States doesn't help in the end. We had an unusual experience of having to rate our new T830 sport boat to the IOC club rule in Europe. The rating wasn't that good but we managed to win the whole regatta as the boat was so fast on the water, beating all the big boats on line.

From plumb bows and light displacement, to sprits and asymmetrical spinnakers, to runnerless rigs and non-overlapping jibs, the new breed of boat is significantly different and better than the previous generation. What do you think the next developments will be?

ST:
We are working hard on refining sails and rigs. Have been for some time. Good rigs and sails allow us to create larger sail plans that are efficient in a broad range of wind. As the rigs and sails are developed we can then further develop hull shapes and foils to benefit form the rig development. I work very closely with spar and sail makers to achieve this. We have also seen a lot of so called development of increasing stability by canting keels and using water ballast. These systems do work but tend to be complex. I am always searching for the automatic solution so that Jo blogs sailor can just go sailing and have fun and win.

Thompson 8 meter (T8 Racer)

What are some current projects that you are working on?

ST:
We are presently putting our complete range of boats into production throughout the world. The T850 for instance is being built in NZ, Australia and Europe simultaneously. We also have a number of larger boats on the drawing board with a couple of sport cruisers being developed. I have a real interest in creating some very neat and fast cruising yachts that are fun and easy to sail. On the smaller scale I am developing a new 15ft two man dingy along the lines of the T590 sport boat. This is the real fun part of the business for me. We are also working on a few new sport yachts that are very exciting. A new 30 ft sport boat is just being completed in Australia in time for Hamilton Island in August.

We don't know what, if any, your America's Cup involvement is. What is your opinion of the current state of affairs, especially as it pertains to the new Big Money Players?

ST:
This is going to be an interesting one. I thing there will be a few unhappy not so rich men at the end of it. My thoughts are is that some of the wealthy players are only in this for one term, unless of course they win it. If NZ retain the cup it will progress as it is today. If it goes to the States I think some of the momentum will be lost as its not such a big thing there. However if it goes to Europe it will become huge. There is a lot of interest being generated over there at the moment by the Italian and German campaigns in particular.

What effect has winning an defending the America's Cup had on NZ and your business in particular?

ST:

I guess this cup has given us a better profile throughout the world, We do get a lot of inquires from around the world. It certainly has accelerate the growth of our business. On the negative side, boatbuilders and yacht component manufacturers are hard to come by and expensive as most are either overseas or being paid ludicrous money to do a job they got much less for a year or so back.

Thank you for your time. How do people contact you?

ST:
Have a look at our web site at www.tboat.com we like to think that it is one of the best around and try to keep it as informative as possible.

Steve Thompson Thompson Yacht Design
Phone 649 419 0922
Fax 649 419 0927
Email info@tboat.com
Web www.tboat.com