Gordon K. "Sandy" Douglass (October 22, 1904 – February 12, 1992) was an American racer,

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

, and

builder Builder may refer to: Construction * Construction worker, who specializes in building work * Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood * General contractor, that specializes in building work ** Subcontractor * Real estate developer, who ...

of sailing dinghies. Two of his designs, the

Thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. T ...

and the Flying Scot, are among the most popular one design racing classes in the United States. The Flying Scot was inducted into the

American Sailboat Hall of Fame The American Sailboat Hall of Fame is a defunct hall of fame honoring 26 production sailboats built-in the United States. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Sail America, a trade association for the U.S. sailing industry, to recognize in ...

. As a small boat racer, Douglass was five times the North American champion in the 10 Square Meter International Sailing Canoe, five times the United States national champion in the Thistle, and seven times the Flying Scot North American champion.

Personal life

Douglass was born in 1904, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. His father, George P. Douglass, was a real estate manager who became manager of

The Dakota The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a Housing cooperative, cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street (Manhattan), 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was constru ...

, an apartment building in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, moving the family there in 1920. His father was a champion sailing canoe racer, and Douglass' sailing experience started in his youth. His family vacationed in the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (, ) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream fr ...

region of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

, eventually buying a small island there. Douglass went to prep school at Collegiate School in New York City, then to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, graduating in 1926. His athletic pursuits included college

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canoe paddling A canoe is a lightweight, narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ''canoe'' ca ...

ice boat An iceboat (occasionally spelled ice boat or traditionally called an ice yacht) is a recreational or competition sailing craft supported on metal runners for traveling over ice. One of the runners is steerable. Originally, such craft were boats ...

ing, and sailing canoe racing. He qualified for the

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national canoe paddling team, but was not allowed to go to the 1936 Olympics because he was American. Douglass befriended English boat designer and racer,

Uffa Fox Uffa Fox CBE (15 January 1898 – 26 October 1972) was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast, responsible for a number of innovations in boat design. Not afraid of courting controversy or causing offence, he is remembered for his ec ...

, whom he met through sailing canoe racing.

Career

After false starts at selling

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

s and painting portraits, Douglass took up

boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats (instead of the larger ships) — and their on-board systems. This includes at minimum the construction of a hull, with any necessary propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other ser ...

in 1938. At several shops in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, he built sailing canoes, International 14's,

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, and

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. After a wartime job as a lofter for a

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

company, Douglass designed the Thistle in 1945. Influenced by Uffa Fox's International 14 design, and built using the innovative molded

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

technique, the Thistle quickly caught on with dinghy racers. It was light, fast, and held to strict one design standards by the Thistle Class Association, founded by Douglass. In 1949, Douglass designed the Highlander, a racing dinghy still sailed in the US south and

midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. His goal was that it be stable and fast, and yet be family friendly, using a broader beam and harder bilges than in previous designs. He published plans in 1950, launched the first hull in 1951 and exhibited at the New York Boat Show in 1952. He raced his designs, both to promote them and the sport of dinghy sailing. His involvement with the Thistle and the Highlander ended in 1951 when he split with Ray McLeod, his business partner. Douglass then designed the Flying Scot in 1956 for construction in the then-new technique of glass-reinforced polyester. Larger and more stable than the Thistle, the Flying Scot also became popular. Its wide beam and the prohibition of hiking straps were an effort to make the boat more competitive for smaller-sized people like Douglass and his wife, Mary, who crewed for him for 30 years.Obituary, Mary T. Douglass, The Republican Newspaper (Oakland, Maryland), Accessed Nov. 19, 2007 His dinghy designs incorporated then-novel features that later became standard for other types of high-performance racing dinghies, including hiking straps and dual-lead lines to both sides of the boat.

Retirement

Douglass moved his business to

Oakland, Maryland Oakland is a town in Garrett County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. The population was 1,851 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is near Deep Creek Lake and the Wisp Ski Resort. History Oakland was formally incorpo ...

, in 1958. Douglass retired in 1971 and sold the company. The successor company, Flying Scot, Inc., still builds Flying Scots in Oakland. Douglas died in 1992. He and Mary (1907–2005) had one son, Alan. He wrote an autobiography, ''Sixty Years Behind the Mast: The Fox on the Water'', in 1986. Among his hobbies was barbershop singing. Douglass was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2020.

References

External links

1933 - The Year of the International Challenge Cup ~ from Gordon K. (Sandy) Douglas Sixty Years Behind the Mast - The Fox on the Water ~

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglass, Gordon K. 1904 births 1992 deaths American yacht designers Sportspeople from Newark, New Jersey People from Oakland, Maryland 20th-century American architects 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Newark, New Jersey