Mirror on the one show!

Originally posted by craiggo

   Chris 249,

Yes but no but. Peter did indeed come up with Hurricane, which was a 20ft version of his tunnel scow Moth that had sold well down in Oz. The nickname for the tunnel scows of the day were 'kitchen doors' - for in plan form the boat was a simple rectangle in shape. Without the confines of the Moth rules (simple thought they be) Peter was able to experiment with a greater tunnel effect, to the point that at the bows the boat looked like it would all but become a cat! Certainly the rig was cat inspired, with an over-rotating cat section mast rigged with double diamonds ("a double diamond works wonders"...... you'd have to be an old fart to remember that advert). Jack Chippendale built it but was not very complimentary about it..... good old Jack with his eye for a hull form.

BUT.... that is not the end of the story, for once Peter had got it right with Fireball, before he downsized to the Bullet, he tried an upscale version. No tunnel hull nor kitchen door, a straight forward 'Big Ball' - called it Calypso. The idea at the time was that there would be a family of Fireballs, like the three bears, big, middle and small. At least one boat was built  - and, AFAIK, another appeared a few years back in a yard sale of old boats.

It is all history now but at the time, it looked like Peter could have been on to something....but sadly it was not to be.

Cheers

D