HOLMAN’S MISSILE
In the output of almost any yacht designer, it is the anomalies, like Herreshoff’s catamaran, Tore Holm’s J-Class or Fife’s seaplane tenders, that are the most tantalising. The English yacht designer CR ‘Kim’ Holman (1925-2006) was best known for his seaworthy cruiser racer sloops in the 25-30ft range like the Stella and Twister, and for some larger cruising yawls and ketches in the 35-50ft range. Stiletto is, for him, that moment of rarity.
By 1961, when was launched, Holman was relatively unestablished, but he had just made a big splash with his 1959 yacht , a 27ft (8.2m) clinker-hulled fractional sloop that won all her seven races at Burnham Week. She was the first of more than 100 Stellas. The early years of the 1960s were, for Holman, a, the Cowes-Torquay speedboat helmed by Sir Thomas Sopwith, and was backer of the racing driver Stirling Moss.
