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BLUE LIGHTNING is a sleek and sophisticated 22ft trailer-sailer with exceptional performance and comfortable accommodation
BLUE LIGHTNING is one of a series of sports trailer-sailer designs ranging from 5.5 metres to 7 metres LOA. My design portfolio also includes high performance sailing dinghies. Follow the links to any of these designs: |
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TRAILER-SAILER DESIGNS
My designs all have the following features: full size berths, full sitting headroom, galley space, large self-draining cockpit, 'inboard' well for outboard motor, ballasted centreboard fully enclosed in hull when raised, true trailerability, and last but not least - excellent sailing performance.
BLUE LIGHTNING is designed for coastal and estuary cruising, where her fully retractable centreboard is a great benefit in shallow waters. She draws only 22cm with the board up.
She is constructed using Epoxy/wood/glass composite techniques, giving a stiff, light and very low maintenance boat.
Blue Lightning is capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots (yes, we've been there!), yet has 3 comfortable berths, cooking facilities, an icebox, a toilet, electrics, and bags of stowage space. She is the culmination of over 20 years of thought into what makes the perfect trailer-sailer. There is nothing like her in production today (except BLUESTORM!).
BLUE SKIES is the smaller version. The design achieved 3rd place in the Practical Boat Owner Magazine trailer-sailer design competition. (see December 1999 PBO for 2 page description of the design).
Plans for 'BLUE SKIES' have been sold to Neil Ringe in Australia. He is starting to build about now (January 2002). Details will follow as he progresses with the boat.
BLUESTORM is a slightly larger version, at 7metres LOA. With her vertical stem, she uses her full length when sailing, and should be a match for sportsboats like the Hunter 707, even though she has only 70% of the sail area. Unlike the 707, she can be towed behind a Volkswagen Golf!
She is an exciting development of the original Blue Lightning concept. A German company will build several (or many?) boats to this design. The first boat, named 'Antje' was launched in early 2004, and performs to our expectations
BLUEEYES is a new design which should be completed in 2007. I plan to build one for myself. It is small and thus manoeuverable by an 'older person' both onshore and afloat (I'm not there yet, but will be in a shorter number of years than I care to state!). The boat's performance will however be very sprightly, and a choice of rigs will be available from 'blindingly fast' to 'gentle cruising'. The hull is a very easily driven dinghy shape, with a large cockpit, but 2 comfortable berths are squeezed in too.
RACING DINGHY DESIGNS
My design career started with racing dinghies: mainly National Merlin/Rockets (about 110 of them were built), but also National Twelves, International 14s, and the Harrier single-hander. 2003 brought four new dinghy commissions:
Heatwave, a 4.25m singlehander, and Highlight, a 5.5m fast dayboat. Also, amateur builders in the USA and France will see the first 21st century Merlin designs on the water. One is designed for heavier crews (190kg) and the other for lighter weights (140kg).
In 2004 I have already had two new commissions - the Huffler utility pram dinghy, and Haze4000, a ballasted singlehander dinghy.
LATEST NEWS:
- August 2007. A set of BLUE LIGHTNING plans has gone to the north eastern seaboard of the USA, and the first set of BLUEEYES-20 plans has been sent to Izivunguvungu Sailing School, South Africa.
- July 2007. A BLUE SKIES (multichine version) is being built in Scotland - in the open.
- March 2007. Plans for HAZARDOUS170 and HAZE4000 dinghies have been sold to Italy and Brazil respectively.
- February 2007. The German magazine 'Yacht' has published a very positive boat test review of BLUESTORM.
- December 2006. After more than 2 years work, my BOATBUILDING SHED is nearing completion. In it I plan to build a small 2 berth design (BlueEyes) to replace my much loved but ageing 'Lively'.
- July 2006. Mike Hardie's HIGHLIGHT is launched. It took Mike 2 years to build, and he's made a super job of it. I was invited to the launching in North Wales, and the first sail in light winds indicated that she well-mannered and will perform well - see photographs on its web page.
- 4 February 2005. Several updates to this website: Bill Schmidt progresses with his Blue Lightning - the hull was turned in May 2004 and construction of superstructure and interior are now well under way - see photos here.
- 17 August 2004.I have just returned from an idyllic week of sailing with Heiner Forster and 'Antje' (BLUESTORM) in the Danish archipelago. Now I'm tackling the building of a new boatshed, so that I can build a new 5.5m design, to be called BLUEEYES
- 9 May 2004. BLUE LIGHTNING has been sold and will spend the season an a mooring on the Beaulieu River, near Southampton. I was quite ambivalent about selling her, but I am confident that her new owner will look after her and appreciate her remarkable sailing qualities.
- 6 May 2004. I've just returned from North Germany with Blue Lightning, where we sailed with 'Antje' in the beautiful area of coastal lagoons bordering the Baltic around Stralsund. Blue Lightning has at last met her match - Antje (the first boat to the BlueStorm design) was about 5% faster to windward in a moderate breeze, and as fast downwind. See some photographs of our Baltic trip at BLUESTORM.
- 15 March 2004. John Keeling is progressing with the planking of his Hazardous 170 Merlin Rocket. See photos here.
- 10 March 2004. Bill Schmidt has nearly completed the hull of his BLUE LIGHTNING . From the photographs he has sent me, he is making a superb job of it. See them here.
- 10 March 2004. After initial trials of the prototype, Heatwave dinghy plans are published today.
- 16 February 2004. My 1972 singlehander, the Harrier, is making a comeback at Whitby, N. Yorks, where a small fleet is developing. More boats are needed, so if you want to dispose of your old Harrier, contact Andy Martland.
- 30 January 2004. The first BlueStorm is launched. "Antje" is named after the builder's daughter, who launched the boat at a lake near Oldenburg. She is still minus her rig, which I will be taking over to Germany in March, when the weather will be a little more amenable for sailing.
- 2 December 2003. The prototype Heatwave singlehander was launched last Sunday. She slipped along nicely in the very light airs at Island Barn Reservoir S.C.. See the photographs on its web page.
Mike Hardie has finished erecting the frames for Highlight - see photographs on its web page.
- 17 October 2003. This summer has been very busy for me - dayboat and dinghy designs have been the main focus. I've been developing a 5.5m daysailer Highlight and a singlehander dinghy Heatwave. To my great pleasure, I have been commissioned to develop two new Merlin Rocket designs. One of the fascinating aspects of these boats is that they are both to be built abroad (USA and France).
- 30 May 2002. The first BLUESTORM hull shell was completed at the works of Tischlerei Förster GmbH in Wardenburg, Germany, at the end of May 2002. Click here to see photographs of the hull.
- 9 April 2002:A set of BLUESTORM plans have been sold to Yugoslavia.
- March 1st 2002: Australia is again the destination for the latest set of plans - this time it's a BLUE LIGHTNING. More info when building starts.
- I have videos of Blue Lightning on CD (mpeg1 format). UK residents please send me £1.00 in stamps to receive a copy (address at bottom of page); CD is free to anyone outside the UK. Video clips include the 2-sail reach mentioned below.
- Late 2001 I bought a fluorescent pink spinnaker from Arun Sails. I've found that the asymmetric is not really appropriate for cruising, but this pink thing pushes Blue Lightning's 1000kg along very well. So it should - we now set about 48 sq m. (530 sq ft) downwind.
- A mini-cruise in BLUE LIGHTNING gave my daughter Erin and I some fast sailing - in a NNE force 4 off the Essex coast, the boat averaged 9 knots over ten miles, with a maximum speed of 12.5 knots. We were on a 2-sail reach with the apparent wind just aft of the beam. (speeds verified by GPS). To see a clip from the video I took CLICK HERE
My address: 7 Ramsey Road, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP7 6AN, U.K. Tel +44 (0)1473 823587. Email: keith@bluelightning.co.uk
