Making the Dart 18

The first pre-production boat was launched in the summer of 1975 in great secrecy from Restronguet Weir, the site of the original RSC clubhouse made available to the club by Kim’s mother. The boat was put in the water with covers on the hulls - the partners were paranoid that there were spies everywhere and that the revolutionary hull form would be copied! It was not far from the truth because, a year later, one of their distributors did just that and did considerable damage to the Dart’s progress in Germany.

The boat was thoroughly tested on Carrick Roads during the summer of 1975 sailing against a Hobie 16, the most popular catamaran in Europe at the time. It’s true to say that very little was changed on the prototype and the first production boat, Dart 1, was built in the autumn and was still sailing regularly with Ian at Restronguet in the early 2000’s. Dart 1 is now in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth.

Dart was a success from the beginning; it combined good looks with simplicity, had no dagger boards, no boom and simple rigging. It could be righted from capsize by one person and was light and fast; it catalysed the myriad catamaran classes which existed at the time and enabled those without a crew to sail on equal terms by leaving the jib ashore.

Two boats were shipped to Los Angles in March of 1976 and were pitted against a dozen other cats from around the world. It is interesting to note that Hobie Alter, the father of the Hobie range of cats, deemed it un-necessary to attend the trials even though the Hobie Cats were built ‘just down the road’. Hobie felt that these trials were an unnecessary diversion.  What he didn’t fully appreciate was that in Europe most inland countries only allowed National and International recognised classes to sail on inland waters.  To gain that recognition was very Important if Dart was to become a successful racing class.  Ian sailed the boat with Carol Rodgers an old friend from San Francisco, and Terry sailed the single handed version. The whole campaign was a great success as the exercise was planned to the last detail including the final text of the class rules; most classes were still writing theirs by copying Dart’s.  It took another 4 years of negotiations with the IYRU to finally gain International status - mainly because the partners were not prepared to relinquish the copyright and allow the authorities to licence other builders world-wide. The ownership of the rights still resides in Cornwall and although the boats are now built elsewhere the class retains a very strong Cornish connection.

By the time the first National Championships was staged at Restronguet SC in 1977 there were about 600 boats sailing in National fleets formed throughout Europe. The first European championship was held at Carnac in France in 1978 which attracted over 65 boats and France, through Lucien Gourmez, became one of the leading Dart fleets. The boat was now being exhibited at all the major boat shows in Europe and was attracting fleets in excess of 150 boats at various meetings on the continent.

The recession in the late 70s slowed things down for a while and Panthercraft slimmed down from 50 employees to 18 in the space of 3 months - the directors went back to making rigging and fitting out the boats. Ian went to Australia for a year to try to establish the class in a different region but that failed since the recession followed him out and he discovered that there is nothing worse than a ‘whingeing Pom’ except a ‘whingeing Pom’ who has seen it all before.  

The business picked up as did the British economy in the late 80s and Panthercraft flourished. They were now producing a 15ft version of the Dart called the Spark and a 20ft version the Stampede. After much soul searching Kim and Ian accepted an offer from the builders of the Laser dinghy, Performance Sailcraft of Banbury, for the purchase of Panthercraft; they decided that after 20 years of building small boats not many people came away with something to show for it and decided to take another tack.

The first World Championships was held in Abersoch, Wales in 1991 when 300 boats turned up and the longest starting line ever known was masterminded by Kim as race officer. It was all a great success really, though at the time it was a bit of a nightmare.

The class continues to thrive and at the most recent World Championships in Italy almost 100 boats from all over the world competed.  In recent years the production of the DART has come back to the UK and the licence reverted to Ian Fraser who has worked with Brian Phipps at Windsport to continue the success of the class, along with regional Dart Partners and Associations.