A controversial introduction
It was the cost of the 22-footers that produced pressure for a more affordable class and this, in 1904, led to the ‘17ft Restricted Class’. Its adoption was surrounded by controversy. Percy Crossley, son of founder member Louis Crossley, the Halifax carpet manufacturer, had trained as a naval architect with Linton Hope in Southampton. He favoured a flat-bottomed ‘skimming dish’ design, but his older cousin Herbert Crossley, who had designed many earlier Windermere yachts, opposed this and in the end carried the day. To prevent ‘skimming-dish’ designs the class rules specified a one-in-four angle between the overhang and the waterline (amended in 1906 to one-in-five and still current).

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Despite this setback, Percy (PC) Crossley took to designing the new class with a will, being responsible for 43 of them over the next 60 years. Herbert, however, designed No 1, Naiad, and No 5, Nomad, before his premature death in 1907.

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Initially the ‘Smaller Class’, as it was referred to, had an uphill struggle for recognition. The 17ft boats suffered second-class treatment, not permitted to race in the regatta season, nor to obstruct ‘First Class’ yachts, and club funds could not be used for prizes. Ignored by the club’s Sailing Committee, they had to set up their own, and raise their own subscription.

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But even before the First World War, the 22ft class had dwindled and it was decided that there were too few left to race. After the war, an attempt was made to start up a 19ft class, on the grounds that the 17-footers were not sufficiently prestigious to properly represent the club. However, the larger boats were never popular, and even despite a four-year ban (1923-26) on building 17-footers, only six of the 19ft boats were ever built.

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Thus by the early 1930s the 17ft class had become the undisputed premier class of the club, and has remained so ever since. Most of the boats were built by the local firm of Shepherd’s, the vast majority by local designers, mostly PC Crossley, but a few ‘guest’ designers feature in the lists. Afred Mylne and Arthur Robb each designed three; Uffa Fox designed one; David Boyd contributed five – one of which was recently used as the basis for the popular Rustler 24. Sailfish, 1967, was based on a design study by Olin Stephens. She was the last of what came to be the ‘Classic’ 17s to be built.

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Following World War II the 17-footers languished, with new-builds drying up in 1967 for 15 years, though with 20 boats, the fleet was still a viable size.

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The Howlett years
The revival, when it came, began in 1982 with a GRP hull, the only one ever built, called Tripple, based on Ripple II. Then, in 1982/3, Ian Howlett was commissioned to design a new 17, using cedar strip construction. His initial sketch, showing a separated keel and rudder, led the the class committee, “wisely”, he says, to tighten the rule to prevent such configurations.

“Designing full keel racing yachts is quite outside the experience of most designers today,” admits Ian, “and it was with some trepidation that I awaited reports of the performance of the first of my designs, Freedom, for David McCann in 1982. Fortunately it did not disappoint.”

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Twelve Howlett-designed boats have entered the fleet, with another one, Chris Ducker’s Flying Duckman, currently in build at Demon Yachts in Suffolk. His designs have developed steadily over the years, with bows have becoming fuller and of lower slope, and in recent times with owners specifying keels of minimum weight. His epoxy glass-skinned cedar-cored boats seem completely inert and, he says, should last indefinitely with minimal maintenance.

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The Rule has again recently been tightened to prevent yachts more extreme than his last two hulls – Falcon II, 1993, and Fathom, 2008 – but, says Ian: “Despite these constraints the Rule is far from played out.”

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One unwished-for effect of the Howlett boats was an initial decline in the racing fleet as owners of older boats became discouraged. The solution was to split the fleet by introducing a Classic class, for boats built before 1981. The two fleets race together on equal terms, but with the Classics also competing for their own points and prizes. About half the 80 W17s built are still in some sort of existence, with 25 currently capable of racing.

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When I joined them for a Saturday race in June, a dozen boats took part, with more classics than moderns, and the places going mainly to the classics. Class captain Robert Hughes, who sails the 1962 Capella, confirms that that is often the case. “The classics have now been strengthened and re-rigged. They’re very competitive.” During the race, a gaff-rigged boat briefly joined the fleet – the oldest 17 afloat, Merlin, designed by Percy Crossley and built by Shepherds in 1908. Says Ian Howlett: “The last few years have seen more breeze on the lake and in strong breezes it is not unusual for older boats with heavier keels to show the ‘modern’ boats the way round the course – which is all very healthy for such a class. The RWYC 17ft is a yacht that fits the lake and the local conditions perfectly.” 

 

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