Dixon Kemp a British naval architect, was a founder of the Yacht Racing Association (now the Royal Yachting Association

Royal Yachting Association

The Royal Yachting Association is the national governing body for certain watersports in the United Kingdom. Activities it covers include:* Sailing* Windsurfing* Motor cruising* Sportsboats* Personal watercraft* Powerboat racing...

) and at one time its secretary. He was a founder of Lloyd's Register of Yachts.

Kemp was born in Ryde

Ryde

Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...

, a British seaside town on the Isle of Wight. For a time, he edited the Isle of Wight Observer. He was also yachting editor of The Field

The Field (magazine)

The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...

.

Kemp was an authority on the design of yachts and yacht racing. Of his famous yachts, Firecrest (1892) was used by Alain Gerbault

Alain Gerbault

Alain J. Gerbault was a French aviator and tennis champion, who made a circumnavigation of the world as a single-handed sailor. He eventually settled in the islands of south Pacific Ocean, where he wrote several books about the islanders' way of life.- Early life :Alain Gerbault was born on...

 in his solo circumnavigation of the globe, and was the vessel he sailed to win the Blue Water Medal

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:*Alex Whitworth "for a circumnavigation of the world via the Northwest Passage west to east."...

 in 1923. His Amazon

Amazon (yacht)

Amazon is a long screw schooner ex-steam yacht built in 1885 at the private Arrow Yard of Tankerville Chamberlayne in Southampton....

 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

Spray (sailing vessel)

The S.V. Spray was a oyster sloop rebuilt by Joshua Slocum and used by him to sail single-handed around the world, the first voyage of its kind...

, 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 was also wrote concerning the rules of yacht racing.

Non-Fiction

• 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 (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 (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