Gordon K. (Sandy) Douglass - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Gordon K. "Sandy" Douglass (October 22, 1904 – February 12, 1992) was a racer, designer, and builder of sailing dinghies

Dinghy racing

Dinghy racing is the competitive sport of sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan, and techniques such as planing and trapezing.-Organisation of dinghy racing:...

. Two of his designs, the Thistle

Thistle (dinghy)

The Thistle is a high performance one-design racing dinghy, also used for day sailing, popular in the United States. The Thistle was designed by Gordon K. Douglass who later designed the Highlander and Flying Scot. Starting in 1945, 4000 boats have now been built. Their construction originally...

and the Flying Scot

Flying Scot (dinghy)

The Flying Scot is a day sailer dinghy used for pleasure sailing as well as racing throughout North America. The Flying Scot was designed in 1957 by Gordon K...

, are among the most popular one design racing classes in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Flying Scot was inducted into the American Sailboat Hall of Fame

American Sailboat Hall of Fame

The American Sailboat Hall of Fame was established in 1994 by Sail America to recognize ingenuity in designs by American boat builders. The physical display is housed in The Museum of Yachting located in Fort Adams State Park, Newport, Rhode Island, and includes examples of many of the selected...

. As a small boat racer, Douglass was five times the North American champion in the 10 Square Meter International Sailing Canoe

International Canoe

The International Canoe, or more properly the International Ten Square Meter Sailing Canoe, often abbreviated to IC is a powerful and extremely fast single handed sailing canoe whose rules are governed by the International Canoe Federation....

, five times the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

national champion in the Thistle, and seven times the Flying Scot North American champion.

Douglass was born in 1904, in Newark, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

. His father, George P. Douglass, was a real estate manager who became manager of The Dakota

The Dakota

The Dakota, constructed from October 25, 1880 to October 27, 1884, is a co-op apartment building located on the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City...

, a famous apartment building in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, moving the family there in 1920. George P. Douglass was a champion sailing canoe racer, and Sandy Douglass learned to sail by being on sailboats from his infancy. His family vacationed in the Thousand Islands

Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands is the name of an archipelago of islands that straddle the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario, the...

region of the Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

, eventually buying a small island there.

Douglass went to prep school at Collegiate School

The Collegiate School

Collegiate School is an independent school for boys in New York City and is one of the oldest schools in the United States. It is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is a member of both the New York Interschool and the Ivy Preparatory School League.-History:Collegiate was founded in the...

in New York City, then to Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, graduating in 1926. His athletic pursuits included college gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, canoe paddling

Canoe racing

This article discusses canoe sprint and canoe marathon, competitive forms of canoeing and kayaking on more or less flat water. Both sports are governed by the International Canoe Federation ....

, ice boat

Ice boat

An ice boat is a boat or purpose-built framework similar in functional design to a sail boat but fitted with skis or runners and designed to run over ice instead of through water. Ice yachting is the sport of sailing and racing iceboats. Sailable ice is known in the sport as "hard water" versus...

ing, and sailing canoe racing. He qualified for the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

national canoe paddling team, but was not allowed to go to the 1936 Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

because he was American. Douglass befriended the famous English boat designer and racer Uffa Fox

Uffa Fox

Uffa Fox CBE was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast.-Life:Uffa Fox was born on the Isle of Wight and was raised in East Cowes. He lived for a while in Puckaster on the Isle of Wight.-Work:...

, who he met through sailing canoe racing.

After false starts at selling Buick

Buick

Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...

s and painting portraits

Portrait painting

Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait...

, Douglass took up boat building

Boat building

Boat building, one of the oldest branches of engineering, is concerned with constructing the hulls of boats and, for sailboats, the masts, spars and rigging.-Parts:* Bow - the front and generally sharp end of the hull...

in 1938. At several shops in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Douglass built sailing canoes, International 14's

International 14

The International 14 is 14-foot double-handed racing dinghy. The class originated in England in the early part of the 20th century. It is sailed and raced in many countries around the world and was one of the very first true international racing dinghy classes recognised by International Sailing...

, Interlakes

Interlake (dinghy)

The Interlake is a sloop rigged sailing dinghy popular in the Midwest United States for one-design racing. The boat originates from the Sandusky Sailing Club, who in 1933 commissioned Francis Sweisguth, designer of the Star, to design a boat for the waters of Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay.- External...

, and Stars

Star (sailboat)

The International Star is a 6.9 m one-design racing keelboat for two people.The boat must weigh at least 671 kg with a maximum total sail area of 26.5 m . It is sloop-rigged, with a mainsail larger in proportional size than any other boat of its length...

.

After a wartime

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

job as a lofter

Lofting

Lofting is a Drafting technique whereby curved lines are drawn on wood and the wood then cut for advanced woodworking...

for a shipbuilding

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...

company, Douglass designed the Thistle in 1945. (These boat names commemorate Douglass’s Scots

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

heritage.) Influenced by Uffa Fox's International 14 design, and built using the innovative molded plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

technique, the Thistle quickly caught on with dinghy racers. It was light, fast, and held to strict one design standards by the Thistle Class Association http://www.ThistleClass.com founded by Douglass.

In 1949, Douglass designed the Highlander

Highlander (dinghy)

The Highlander is a large high performance one-design racing dinghy, also used for day sailing, popular in the United States. It was designed by Gordon K. Douglass in 1949, to be a more comfortable alternative to the Thistle. The Highlander was the last boat built by the Douglass & McLeod...

, a 20 feet (6.1 m) racing dinghy that is still popular, mainly in the south and midwest

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

. Douglass raced his boats constantly for his own enjoyment and as part of his relentless promotion of his designs and dinghy sailing in general. Douglass's involvement with the Thistle and the Highlander ended in 1956 when he split with Ray McLeod, his business partner.

Douglass then designed the Flying Scot for construction in the then-new technique of glass-reinforced polyester

Glass-reinforced plastic

Fiberglass , is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced by fine fibers of glass. It is also known as GFK ....

. Larger and more stable than the Thistle, the Flying Scot also became popular. Its wide beam and the prohibition of hiking straps were an effort to make the boat more competitive for smaller-sized people like Douglass and his wife, Mary (1907-2005), who crewed for him for 30 years.

Douglass moved his business to Oakland, Maryland

Oakland, Maryland

Oakland is a town in the west-central part of Garrett County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 1,925 according to United States Census 2010 figures, it is the most populated community in Garrett County...

, in 1958. Douglass retired in 1971 and sold the company. The successor company, Flying Scot, Inc., still builds Flying Scots in Oakland. Douglas died in 1992. He and Mary had one son, Alan. Douglass's gregariousness, optimism, and unflagging self confidence is evident throughout his 1986 autobiography, "Sixty Years Behind the Mast:: The Fox on the Water." Among his hobbies was barbershop singing.

External links

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