Gustave Caillebotte and Curves

Wooden boats and their environment

Ireland has a rich tradition of boat-building, both working craft and racing boats. These boats were designed for specific purposes and particular places, local weather, materials and craftsmanship were incorporated into their designs. Sometimes the designs came from abroad and were adapted for local conditions. Many of these designs are still preserved and active today.

This course is about designing a wooden sailing boat for Lough Derg (County Tipperary) referring to the history and traditions of local construction and water use. Students will learn about the history of boat design and construction, the processes of design and the methods of construction. There will be visits to boatyards and boatbuilders with a particular emphasis on techniques of wooden construction. The final objective is the creation of a new design of sailing craft.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Gustave Caillebotte and Curves

Gustave Caillebotte, 1848 - 1894, a well known french impressionist painter was also a talented yacht designer and sailor.Here is an example of his work, his own boat Le Roast Beef. It is quite extreme in its form as was quite typical of french river boats at the time, see other examples here. However there is no doubt that the practice of boat design gives an awareness and appreciation of the sophistication of curves, curves are dynamic and have purpose.

Above Caillebotte can be seen at his drawing desk using ducks and splines to create fair curves. As with the half model these are one of the fundamental design tools in boat design. There is quite a close approximation in how we create careful curves in our software. In both instances the fewer used the fairer the curve, however once the curve is created manually one usually needs lots of ducks to keep that curve in place so the spline can be drawn along. The photo of Roastbeef is from the french list of important historic vessels, a type of list of protected structures for boats, makes a lot of sense.

woodcraft.com

As in aeronautical design the refinement of curves has a big impact on the performance of the craft, whether it be in reducing drag or increasing stability or balance. Refined curves come into all aspects of boat design, hull design, spar design, sail design, drag and performance analysis and materials and construction.