Albert Strange (1855-1917) was one of the foremost designers of small cruising yachts and his craft, acknowledged to be of classic quality, were and still are sought after by small boat sailors and builders in many countries. His designs, and his writings on the subject, contributed significantly to the evolution of the seaworthy cruising yacht. He had a lifelong career in art, exhibiting many times at the Royal Academy, and turned to yacht design as an activity complementary to his love of small boat sailing.
The work of Albert Strange has been admired and respected by yachtsmen for more than a hundred years. He designed some 150 craft of varying size and style. Some were drawn on spec, others for design competitions, still others for commissioning clients. Many still grace the world’s harbours and anchorages.
A
keen sailor from a very young age, in later years Strange was to make
many two-handed cruises, often in the company of his great friend
George Holmes, in UK and European waters, and a number of noteworthy
extended single-handed trips along the east coast of England. All of
these adventures he recorded in prose, drawings and paintings, the
accounts appearing in The Yachting Monthly and other magazines of the
day. The experience he gained afloat lent great authority to his
output as artist, writer and yacht designer. He numbered among his
friends that most respected of English yachtsmen, Claud Worth, for
whom he drew up the lines of Tern III, and W. P. Stevens, the
American yachtsman and writer, whose collected papers at Mystic
Seaport Museum contain many of Strange’s original design drawings.
There is an excellent book, by John Leather, about Albert Strange, his life, paintings and yacht designs, available from Lodestar Books:
