Captain John Holden Illingworth (1903 – 7 March 1980) was an English

naval engineer A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

who achieved fame as a yacht racer and

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

designer. Described on his death as "the father of post-war offshore sailing racing", he held most of the senior positions in British yachting and pioneered several innovations in the sport.

Career

In pre-war England Illingworth was a Royal Navy officer serving in

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s. In his leisure time, he designed sailing boats and raced offshore. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the Navy. In 1945, after the end of the war, Illingworth was in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, organising repairs in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

for the

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. It was formed from aircraft carriers, other surface warships, submarines and supply vessels of the RN and British Commonwealth ...

. He was invited to join other yachtsmen in a cruise to

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

in Tasmania, which he promptly suggested should be a race. Illingworth skippered his newly acquired yacht ''Rani'' to win both on elapsed time and on handicap. The Sydney to Hobart Race has since become one of the great offshore yacht races. Back in England, Illingworth stayed with the navy, commanding a naval air station. He became Commodore of the

Royal Ocean Racing Club The Royal Ocean Racing Club is a club in London with a further clubhouse and office in Cowes, Isle of Wight. It was established in 1925 as the Ocean Racing Club, as a result of a race to the Fastnet Rock from Cowes, finishing in Plymouth. It re ...

, and in 1947 he launched the boat which made his name: ''Myth of Malham''.

Myth of Malham

''Myth of Malham'' was a sloop built at

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, designed by

Laurent Giles John Laurent Giles (1901–1969) was an English naval architect who was particularly famous for his sailing yachts. He and his company, Laurent Giles & Partners Ltd, have designed more than 1400 boats from cruisers and racing yachts to megayachts. ...

to Illingworth's specifications. In a radical departure from the norms of the time, ''Myth of Malham'' was of light displacement, with short overhangs in contrast to the elongated overhangs of other yachts. Other innovations included a

masthead rig A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, a ...

, in which the

forestay On a sailing vessel, a forestay, sometimes just called a stay, is a piece of standing rigging which keeps a mast from falling backwards. It is attached either at the very top of the mast, or in fractional rigs between about 1/8 and 1/4 from the t ...

is carried all the way to the head of the mast, rather than terminating lower down the mast as on the

fractional rig A fractional rig on a sailing vessel consists of a foresail, such as a jib or genoa sail, that does not reach all the way to the top of the mast. The forestay is a wire that secures the mast to the front of the boat. With a fractional rig, t ...

s which were the norm at the time. The rating rules at the time attached less significance to the area of

headsail A sail plan is a drawing of a sailing craft, viewed from the side, depicting its sails, the spars that carry them and some of the rigging that supports the rig. By extension, "sail plan" describes the arrangement of sails on a craft. A sailing c ...

s than of the

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

, so the masthead rig effectively gave the boat "free" sail area. ''Myth of Malham'' won the

Fastnet Race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France. The race is named after th ...

in 1947 and 1949, and in 1957 was part of the winning team for the first

Admiral's Cup The Admiral's Cup is an international yachting regatta. For many years it was known as the unofficial world championship of offshore racing. The Admiral's Cup regatta was started in 1957 and was normally a biennial event (occurring in odd-number ...

. "Gipsy Moth IV" was a 54-foot ketch he designed, in 1964, for Sir Frances Chichester. Its purpose was for a singled-handed circumnavigation. As described in Chichester's book ''Gipsy Moth Circles The World'' (Coward-McCann, Inc NY), she was an ill-mannered lady.

Junior Offshore Group

Illingworth believed that offshore racing could be conducted safely in boats which were much smaller, lighter and simpler than was the norm at the time. Shortly after the launch of ''Myth of Malham'', he worked with Laurent Giles to create the RNSA 24 class of yachts, at

LOA , also called loa, are spirits in the African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou and Dominican Vudú. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their iden ...

and LWL, with a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of . In 1950, he was a founding member and elected the first president of the Junior Offshore Group, an offshore racing club catering for smaller yachts than the

allowed at the time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illingworth, John 1903 births 1980 deaths British yacht designers English male sailors (sport) Royal Navy officers of World War II 20th-century English sportsmen