When trying to determine what is the oldest, fastest or first boat, it can help to set up a stalking horse and invite others to come up with a better answer,” wrote Martin Black in our August 2023 issue. He was talking about claims on the world’s first one-design, suggesting that GL Watson’s Red, White and Blue pre-dated the Dublin Water Wags by almost a year.
The same point might be made about another, less-discussed category: the first plywood cruising yacht. It’s generally accepted that the type was pioneered in Europe by Cornelius ‘Kees’ Bruynzeel to expand the market for the durable plywood he had developed for use in kitchens. In 1939 he commissioned his near-neighbour, the then-unknown designer EG ‘Ricus’ Van de Stadt, to design a dinghy that could be built from three sheets of ply. The 6.5m Valk (Falcon) proved a resounding success and is still one of the most popular classes in the Netherlands, with later models in GRP.
Valk was followed in 1949 by the 41ft Zeevalk (Sea Falcon), said to be the first planing ocean racer, which won her class in the 1951 Fastnet race. Both boats were designed with hard chine hulls that made best use of plywood’s natural properties and were phenomenally fast.
Meanwhile, in Chingford, London, a similar process was taking place. Flexoply was promoting its own brand of waterproof plywood, alongside other
