Dixon Kemp (1839 – 21 November 1899), a British naval architect, was a founder of the Yacht Racing Association (now the
Royal Yachting Association
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national governing body for sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for i ...
) and at one time its secretary. He was a founder of Lloyd's Register of Yachts.
Kemp was born in
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
, a British seaside town on the Isle of Wight. For a time, he edited the ''
Isle of Wight Observer
The Isle of Wight Observer is a free newspaper published on the Isle of Wight. It was launched on 10 August 2018 in a tabloid format, and is distributed through supermarkets and other outlets across the island. It is regulated by IMPRESS.
The edit ...
''. He was also yachting editor of ''
The Field''.
Kemp was an authority on the design of yachts and yacht racing. Of his famous yachts, ''Firecrest'' (1892) was used by
Alain Gerbault
Alain Jacques Georges Marie Gerbault (November 17, 1893 – December 16, 1941) was a French Sailor, writer and tennis champion, who made a circumnavigation of the world as a single-handed sailor. He eventually settled in the islands of south P ...
in his solo circumnavigation of the globe, and was the vessel he sailed to win the
Blue Water Medal
The Blue Water Medal is an honor awarded annually by the Cruising Club of America for a remarkable sailing feat. The first award was issued in 1923.
Winners
*Webb Chiles (2017)
*Michael J Johnson (2016)
*Tom and Vicky Jackson (2015)
* Skip Novak ...
in 1923. His ''
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
'' is still afloat and made a Trans-Atlantic crossing in 2011. The
British Admiralty ordered copies of his ''Yacht and Boat Sailing'' supplied to the Navy.
As an architect, he was regarded as an expert on stability of vessels, and his work was supplied to officers of the Royal Navy. As recently as a 1950 analysis of
Joshua Slocum's vessel ''
Spray'', Kemp's formulae and analysis were still being put to use.
In yacht racing, he was known for having devised a new ranking system based on the length of vessels and their area under sail. Kemp also wrote concerning the rules of yacht racing.
Works
*''Yacht designing : a treatise on the practical application of the scientific principles upon which is based the art of designing yachts '' (1876)
*
A manual of yacht and boat sailing' (first published in 1878)
*
Yacht architecture: a treatise on the laws which govern the resistance of bodies moving in water, propulsion by steam and sail; yacht designing; and yacht building' (first published in 1885)
*''Exposition of yacht racing rules: customs & practices observed in match sailing, including decisions on particular cases of protest'' (1898)
Yachts
*''Lapwing'' (1882)
*''Amazon'' (1885)
*''Firecrest'' (1892)
*''Fauvette'' (1894)
*''Beluga''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Dixon
1839 births
1899 deaths
People from Ryde
British yacht designers
English male sailors (sport)