Paul Whiting

Paul Whiting (1952-1980)

Paul Whiting, born in 1952, was part of the new generation of “self-taught” Kiwi designers. He began designing at age 16 his first boat, the Reactor 25, which was quite successful (70 units sold). His first light displacement hull was the Stinger, a 1974 half-tonner, precursor of the successful Whiting 29.

His most famous boat is the Magic Bus, born in late 1975. It was to be a boat following the idea of the Farr 727 that won the Quarter Ton Cup the previous year, that is, with a light displacement and typical dinghy shapes. In 1976 Magic Bus won the Quarter Ton Cup in Corpus Christi, Texas.

He later designed Candù, eighth at the Half Ton Cup in Trieste, and Newspaper Taxi, a moving-drift half-tonner that was the star and winner of many offshore races.

Smackwater Jack (11.95 m) is the first boat he designed for the One Tonner world: built in 1977.

Smackwater Jack had a very wide stern which was was ahead of its time (in contrast to the “V” sterns of the 1970s). A square, unsightly deckhouse was hastily added because, according to IOR regulations, it did not have sufficient height below deck.

Smackwater Jack is the boat on which the designer lost his life along with his wife Alison, John Sugden and Scott Coombes while crossing the Tasman Sea following the 1980 Sydney to Hobart race. The boat went missing and only in 2008, New Zealand newspapers write, would part of the cockpit be found along the island’s shores.