Don’t fall for deceptive beauty

have, over the years, had the pleasure of being involved in the design of a number of boats, buildings and equipment. All have benefited from an incisive design brief born of many hours of thought. The spirit of my competitive boats, inspired by brutal simplicity, can be summed up by their cockpits whose sole function was to serve the winches. My back needed a given height for maximum, my Vendée Globe boat, we made the cockpit large enough for corporate hospitality but reduced its volume during the race in case a breaking wave swamped it. We extended the coach roof over the forward end of the cockpit to offer a safe cuddy out of the elements.