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Ted Brewer: A Stand-Up Draftsman

Posted by Fiona McGlynn | BWI Award-Winning Articles , Sailor Profile

Yacht designer Ted Brewer gazes back over a storied career.

T ed and Betty Brewer’s living room is warm and inviting. Two harpoons hang on teak-colored walls, and a model boxcar sits on the shelf alongside other artifacts marking a life well-lived. A picture window overlooks a baseball diamond across a quiet street in Agassiz, British Columbia. With its neat buildings and carefully trimmed yards, the town feels bricked with charm and mortared with apple pie. But just outside the window, above the baseball diamond, the craggy, glaciated peak of Mount Cheam towers, a reminder of the wild Coast Mountains and North Cascades ranges that embrace the community.

“I’ve never been a sit-down draftsman. I’ve always been standing up at the drafting board,” says Edward “Ted” Brewer, the world-renown yacht designer who worked on two America’s Cup contenders and designed 260 boats including yachts built by Aloha, Morgan, Nimble, Union, and Whitby.

“For many years it was standing up at the drafting board with a cigarette,” says Betty.

“Yeah, too many years with a cigarette,” Ted agrees, leaning back in a sage-green armchair with extra foam padding. “No more cigarettes.”

At 87, Ted no longer designs or smokes, but he tells stories with his whole being, arms thrown up in amazement, voice soaring high with incredulity, mouth crinkling with infectious laughter. A mischievous twinkle in his eyes reveals a certain boyish quality that belies his grey hair. On his left forearm, a weathered tattoo takes him back to his youth, roaming the Navy docks in Hamilton, Ontario, learning to sail from his father’s veteran friends.

“By the time I was 15, I was proficient at rigging, rowing, and sailing, and I was allowed free run of the Navy’s 14-foot dinghies and 26-foot whaleboats. I could go down to the Navy base in Hamilton and sign out a 27-foot sailboat on my own account. My girlfriend, her girlfriends, and my buddies would all be there. We’d get the boat rigged and ready and out we would go.”

When he was about 15, Ted and a friend bought their first boat.

“We coughed up 55 dollars for Quest , a 16-foot ship’s gig that someone had put a long wood fin on and an overly heavy, gaffy rig.” A year of scraping, painting, and replacing rotted planks, and Quest was ready for her maiden voyage. After ballasting her with 400 pounds of sandbags, they cast off into afternoon squalls. They were soon knocked down, and panic rose as water came over the lee hull. The two boys managed to fling the sandbags over the side and eventually right her. Upon being towed in, a photographer appeared on the scene, and much to Ted’s chagrin a photo of their woeful yacht made the paper the next day.

It wasn’t long after that he got the tattoo: an anchor with Quest stenciled beneath it.

Downstairs in Ted’s studio, half- models and photos of some of his hundreds of designs cover the wood-panelled walls. Two drafting boards hold metal weights or “whales” (aka ducks), a handful of pens and pencils, articulating table lamps, cardboard blueprint tubes. These are the tools of a traditionalist; Ted has always preferred drawing by hand to using CAD software.

Even as a child, he liked to draw. He would doodle Navy boats in the margins of his school papers where, despite being the youngest in his class, he earned top grades, at least until high school, when boredom set in.

“I really goofed off…I quit school to get a job as a Class 4 electrician at the steel company in Hamilton.”

During one night shift, Ted read a military recruiting advertisement in Liberty magazine. The next morning, he went to the armory and signed up.

“I didn’t get home until almost 10 a.m. When mum met me at the door she asked if I had to work overtime again. I said, ‘No, I just joined the Army,’ and I caught her before she hit the floor!”

Ted survived the grueling Army boot camps, and by 1957 he’d made lieutenant. But he remained restless, and one day, his company commander finally suggested that he pursue his passion for boating. “He knew I loved boats. I resigned my commission and got a job in Toronto as a yacht broker with George Cuthbertson.”

Cuthbertson, who would go on to become the first “C” in C&C Yachts, at the time was building Inishfree , a 54-foot wooden ocean racing yawl. Not long after joining the firm, Ted asked if he could accompany Dick Telford, the yacht brokerage firm’s boatbuilder, to see Inishfree under construction. When he saw the yard and spoke with the builders, Ted was struck with yearning.

“I thought, ‘Oh god, this is what I want. I want to design boats and build boats.’ ’’ Encouraged by Telford, Ted enrolled in a yacht design course at Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology. He’d almost completed it when he heard that Alfred Edward “Bill” Luders Jr. in Stamford, Connecticut, was looking for a design assistant.

“With Dick’s blessing, I applied for the job.”

“He doesn’t stand for very long,” Betty says, gently ushering Ted over to an office chair. Seated, Ted reaches for the computer mouse, one of few visible concessions to modern technology. Above the desk is a black-and-white photo of Bill Luders’ 40-foot Storm flying a spinnaker. Tucked into a corner of the frame is a photo of Luders himself, in a pullover and collared shirt.

In 1960, at the age of 27, Ted started working as Luders’ assistant, basically a second-in-command in the shipyard. He’d visit each department daily to see what was happening, problem-solve, and then head for the drafting room, where Luders would give him sketches to turn into a working drawing. At the end of the workday, Luders and Ted would sit in the office, smoking, and mull over designs and construction work. Often Ted would ask for Luders’ advice on his own designs. “He didn’t look at me as competition,” Ted says.

While at Luders, Ted worked on two America’s Cup boats. Weatherly , a Phil Rhodes design, which they modified, went on to win the 1962 regatta, and Luders earned the commission to design, and build a 1964 contender, American Eagle . Though American Eagle was initially the “bird to beat,” winning 20 out of 21 races in the June and July trials, by the end of summer Constellation , designed by Olin Stephens, had pulled ahead and won the right to defend the 19th America’s Cup.

By 1968, the shipyard business was foundering, and Luders closed Luders Marine Construction Co., 60 years after his father had founded it. Ted and Luders remained close until Luders’ death in 1999.

Bob Wallstrom, Bill Luders, and Ted Brewer

“Bill Luders was my boss, my teacher, and my great friend,” Ted says. “He was like a second father to me. I truly loved the man.”

After Luders closed the yard in 1968, Ted moved to Brooklin, Maine, to hang out his shingle. He bought an old hotel from the 1870s, “a weird place. It had eight or nine bedrooms, and only one bathroom. My first office was in the hotel dining room.”

There, he developed a design for a client who sailed on Lake Champlain and wanted a boat that would go well to weather. The boat was eventually named Black Velvet , and at the boat show in Annapolis, Kurt Hansen of Whitby Boat Works saw a photo of it and said, “I want a boat just like that.”

But as Ted began working with Whitby Boat Works, he discovered Hansen had some ideas of his own. Though Black Velvet was a fin keel, Hansen insisted on a full keel . “I wanted to at least cut it away and make the rudder separate. But no, it had to be full keel.”

At a time when full keels were the gold standard for cruisers, Ted often found himself attempting to sway owners to incorporate a fin keel’s windward sailing advantages.

“I felt the ideal was a fin keel with a skeg hung rudder behind it…If a client w anted a full keel boat, I’d cut away as much of the keel as I could…When he complained, I’d have to add a bit back.” This “Brewer Bite” would become one of Ted’s signature design features.

The Whitby 42 became an enormously popular design, selling over 230 hulls, and according to Ted, “was what established me as a production boat builder, designer.”

In 1976, Morgan Yachts approached Ted to work with Jack Corey, head of Morgan’s design staff, on a 36- to 38-foot fast cruiser. Ted recalls taking the Morgan 382 on its first sea trial. What started as a great day for a sail quickly descended into inky black skies and a lightning storm, with strikes as close as 50 yards from the boat. Though frightful, the boat emerged unscathed, perhaps the beginning of a lucky streak that would see 400 Morgan 382s built between 1977 and 1981.

Ted rests a forearm on the desk and gazes up. Centered above the desk is a large-format color photograph of a ketch flying two rainbow spinnakers over turquoise water. This was Mystic , which he designed for Marvyn Carton, who became a lifelong best friend. Built of aluminum, Mystic was launched and sailed through the Great Lakes to Europe. Ted sailed the boat with Carton in a Transpac that started slow and became a wild ride.

“We’d be going down waves doing 17 knots. Almost everybody on board was seasick. We roared through for about six or seven days of this storm. All the time Marv’s listening to the radio, and we’re hearing about crews that are out with sickness, broken this and broken that, and boats turning back. But we were on a big custom cruiser.” Not only did they finish second in class, Carton celebrated by serving the crew a 55-gallon-drum of Mai Tais and flying all their wives and sweethearts to Hawaii to join the party.

One day in 1988, Ted, living in Anacortes at the time, was driving home when he spotted a man on a BMW motorcycle.

“I owned a BMW, brand new, and so I followed him home, my big black dog on the seat beside me, and pulled into his driveway. He came out very suspicious.” Once Ted had introduced himself, the two men bonded over motorcycles, and pretty soon, the fellow introduced Ted to his daughter, Betty.

“She had just had a divorce, and I was winding up a rather disastrous marriage, so I asked her for a date to go sailing. I had rather a fancy little yawl, one that I’d designed, a Nimble 30,” Ted says. Betty, who at that point had sworn off men, was taken with Ted.

“I was definitely swept off my feet,” she says. After marrying in 1988, Ted and Betty eventually moved to Gabriola Island in 1999, where Ted designed custom yachts, sold plans, and wrote for magazines, including Good Old Boat . From 1998 to 2003, Ted was a contributing editor at Good Old Boat . He wrote humorous stories in “Fireside chats with Ted Brewer,” divulged lessons on cruising etiquette, and shared his love and knowledge of boat design.

Though he often wrote highly technical articles, Ted liked to have fun with his topics. In the July/August 1999 issue, in an article called “Brewer by the Numbers,” Ted discussed different ratios and terms used by yacht designers. Amid LODs, LOAs, LWLs, CBs, and CEs, Ted introduced a new ratio, the Comfort Ratio (CR), a formula that indicates the speed of the upward/downward motion of a boat in waves and swell. The lower the ratio, the more uncomfortable the ride.

“People were coming up with all of these sail area displacement ratios and this and that ratio. I thought, well there’s one ratio that nobody’s ever thought of, a comfort ratio. I’ll work one out,” he says. “So, I diddled around and came up with this crazy comfort ratio, and it was a joke and I published it, and it took off like a rocket. It does have a basis in fact, but I thought it was a joke.” The CR ratio remains in use to this day.

In addition to writing articles, Ted also authored three books, Understanding Boat Design , Cruising Yacht Design , and Ted Brewer Explains Sailboat Design .

These days, Ted no longer draws, but he still sells boat design plans to boatbuilders around the world at TedBrewer.com.

“His babies are everywhere,” says Betty. “When we were sailing, he would pick up the binoculars and he would look and look and say, ‘That’s one of my babies!’ ”

Some of Ted’s boats have also retired. No longer racing, Weatherly and American Eagle are in the America’s Cup Charters fleet in Newport, Rhode Island, where sailors can experience the golden age of America’s Cup racing. Other boats have had less dignified endings. Ted points to a model boat in a glass case and says, “I’ll tell you where that is right now. That’s 200 feet underwater off the coast of Machias, Maine, with a cargo of marijuana.”

Some people find time heavy on their hands when they retire, but Ted has always pursued interests including folk music, American Civil War books, and model trains. Nor are these always half-measure hobbies; at one point he had a couple hundred feet of railroad in the backyard, and to this day he sells plans for model railroad buildings and bridges online at BrewerPlans.com.

Recently, he has become an avid stock investor. He wakes up at 5 a.m, and with a coffee in hand, he checks the stock markets before going downstairs to his computer to “make any buys, sells, and trims” and answer email inquiries about his boat designs.

Retiring is in some ways like crossing a finish line, a time to reflect on achievements and legacies. Ted’s career has been extraordinary, and it’s clear that he relished every tack, jibe, and sail change. But most important to him, it seems, are the people who mentored and influenced him: George Cuthbertson, Bill Luders, Marvyn Carton, and Dick Telford among others. You need only look around his studio, where seemingly every square inch of wall space is dedicated to a boat or a photo of a loved one.

As Ted works at his computer, cane propped against one knee, Storm and Bill Luders watch down from their frame.

“The last race we ever sailed together was in 1967,” Ted says. “Bill had been at the helm two hours and said, ‘Boys I need a rest, I’m just getting weary here, somebody take over.’ Everybody volunteered and he said, ‘No, we need the best at the helm, come on, Ted.’ I drove her to within a half mile of the finish line and I said, ‘Here, Bill, take over now.’ He took her across the finish line. We won. We were not only first in our class, we were first overall. The boat was that good.”

About The Author

Fiona McGlynn

Fiona McGlynn, a Good Old Boat contributing editor, has sailed from Canada to Australia.

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Custom Ted Brewer 45

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CAPE RACE A 44' Motorsailer for steel construction Brewer Design #53

CAPE RACE is a husky motorsailer of steel construction, designed for year round live-aboard usage and long distance, blue water cruising. The yacht was designed as a pure round bilged hull but a simpler double chine hull form is also available.

Her accommodation plan is worthy of study as it features accommodations for 6-7 in three separate staterooms, each with its own head and shower. There is generous stowage space throughout and ample tankage for extended voyages.

Comfort is assured by the well sheltered helm station, 7kw generator set, air conditioning, deep freeze, electric refrigeration, warm air heating and many other amenities.

The ketch rig is simple and easily handled with its roller furling jib. The mast are mounted in tabernacles for ease of lowering as the original boat built to this design was used extensively in the canals in Europe. Although the sail area is quite moderate the CAPE RACE performs well under sail in a decent breeze and the owner of ZIG ZAG, the first yacht built to this design, reported that she was surprisingly fast and comfortable.

Auxiliary power is by a diesel of 70-80 hp for economical cruising in the 7-8 knot range. The engine compartment is quite spacious and affords room for all the necessary machinery without crowding.

ZIG ZAG was well named. She has cruised the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the canals of Europe, the Danube, the Black Sea, crossed the Atlantic, cruised the Caribbean, the east coast to Nova Scotia, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, the Panama canal and the west coast of North America. She was truly well named!

Study plans contain sufficient drawings to price out materials or obtain a professional bid; the cost of study plans is credited if complete plans are later ordered. Complete plans include rights to build one boat, plus reasonable consultation during construction.

Brewer Yacht Designs 1825 Evergreen Drive Agassiz, BC Canada VOM 1A3 Phone 604-796-373 2 Fax 604-796-3738 [email protected]

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1988 Ted Brewer 45

Iron mistress, punta gorda fl.

Derek Jarvis

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David Walters Yachts

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Iron Mistress is an incredible yacht from the board of legendary designer, Ted Brewer! Hull and deck were constructed in 1987 by Mooney Marine, with the interior finished up in York Maine. The quality of the build and the attention to detail of its only owner shine in this classic circumnavigator.

Iron Mistress is a conically developed radius chine steel sailboat that was custom designed by Ted Brewer for her owner. She was designed from the ground up for ease of future maintenance. She has circumnavigated the globe and is a one-owner sailboat who has spared no expense on her upkeep and refits over the years. Although her owner is a doctor, now retired, he is heavily versed in the industrial arts and boat building. Iron Mistress has always been ready and equipped to circumnavigate the globe, coastal cruise, liveaboard, or day sail. She is insulated with Spray Polyurethane Non-Toxic above the waterline with an Espar internal diesel heater, thus, she is quite capable of sailing in higher latitudes.

Features: All the hand rails are stainless steel which sits on top of bar stock on the cabin house which is 316L stainless steel. Thus, there are no communications for water leakage. All port lights are 316L stainless steel TIG welded to prevent future maintenance problems. Her chain plates are solid stainless steel and are TIG welded through the mild steel, therefore, no water leakage. She has a true double backstay rig for safety and double bobstays for the bowsprit. All areas that can be made out of stainless steel have been done to reduce wear and tear and future maintenance. Other features: She has stainless steel stanchion bases which has a removable teak bulwark that eliminates the need for scuppers. She has a unique aft slanting cockpit, so again, no need for scuppers. The cockpit well is small enough that the boat will not be overwhelmed by an onboard rogue wave. She has a keel-stepped mast and with hatches closed is designed to be rolled and come back up with or without the mastnically developed radius chine built from the bottom up for ease of maintenance

The interior steel has been coated with non-toxic spray polyurethane above the waterline for sailing in higher latitudes.

She has a full keel with the "Brewer Bite" in the fore part of the keel.

Her interior layout is a two-stateroom single-head arrangement with exquisite fit and finish. Please read the vessel walkthrough in the description section.

Iron Mistress is powered by a 56 hp Yanmar that has been maintained to the highest standard.

Features include:

Newer standing and running rigging
Newer sails and canvas including a Stackpak
New bottom paint
Newer topside paint
Newer electronics
Fleming self-steering gear
Sea Frost Refrigeration (2021)
Broadwater 4 burner propane stove with oven.

I have an extensive survey, available on request along with hull thickness graphs and numbers.

Iron Mistress is available for showing by appointment only.

Her original design brief was to have a boat built of steel for strength, durability, and safety and be able to carry large amounts of stores, and supplies and provide a sea kindly platform that was easy to single-hand or be sailed by a couple to circumnavigate, live-aboard or coastal cruise. Her interior is designed on an "open" concept basis for a couple and occasional guests. She has four usable sea berths with proper lee cloths in the main cabin and a double aft quarter berth to port. Thus, she can safely and comfortably sail with 2-4 crew on passages. This is something that is lacking in a lot of boats that are designed to sit at the dock. Her rig is second to none in regards to strength and her cutter rigged with a mast-mounted spinnaker pole on a track (which can be handled by a 105 lb woman). All standing rigging is oversized and she features a Harken Batcar system with lazy jacks and a Doyle stack pack for the mainsail. This system allows one person to reef the main going downwind - no more turning into big seas to reef the main.

Let's start at the companionway, as you come below you will be impressed with the clean and modern ambiance and comforted by the solid traditional feel of Maine solid wood joinery with painted bulkheads in the traditional Herreshoff fashion. She has Corian countertops in the galley with gleaming stainless steel ports. The bright white headliner is Formica with solid ash wood molding complimented by stainless steel lighting throughout as well as an oil lamp for ambiance. To help keep air moving, there are 7 Hella turbo fans throughout the interior as well. Immediately to port, is a double quarter berth with lee cloth. Next, you come to the galley on the port side. It is a secure offshore galley, beautifully finished with solid Corian surface countertops, where the cook won't have a problem being secure in a seaway or at anchor. There is tons of counterspace and a large molded Corian sink into the counter for easy cleanup and a clean look, four burner Broadwater propane stove with oven, a Seafrost holding plate refrigeration system with a huge separate freezer. It can be run off 110 or engine driven while underway. It is new as of 2021. You will always be able to make ice as well as keep ice cream frozen for 72 hours even with the system turned off.

The navigation station is to starboard, across from the galley. The nav station is a bench style with Ultraleather covering the foam cushions throughout the whole boat. The nav station is well equipped for cruising with all the communication and navigation equipment within reach. Just before the navigation station on the starboard side, there is a large wet locker and a large deep pantry. All lockers have caning in the doors for ventilation. Before the galley on the port side, directly across from the pantry is the enclosed engine box amidships. It provides copious amounts of extra counter space and can be dismantled very easily for complete engine access. In fact, once it is removed, the motor can be removed by one person using the 12,000 lb pad eye above the motor with a line to the primary winch for lifting.

Garmin GPSmap XS EVT ACU chartplotter
Garmin GPSmap XS radar in chartplotter
Raymarine i70 autopilot with rudder angle
Raymarine i70 multifunction, depth, wind and speed
Venus 5" compass
Double spreader aluminum mast
Keel stepped mast
Aluminum boom
Genoa with Profurl roller furling
Staysail with Profurl roller furling
New standing rigging in 2012
Chainplates, stainless steel, and welded to hull
Running rigging replaced in 23/24
Two Enkel #28 2-speed self-tailing winches (cockpit)
One Enkel #20 2-speed self-tailing winch (cockpit)
Two Enkel # 20 2-speed self-tailing winches (Cabin top)
1 Lewmar # 44 2-speed self-tailing winch (cabin top)
1 Enkel # 18 2-speed self- tailing winch (mast)
1 Enkel # 18 2-speed self-tailing winch ( mast)
1 Enkel # 18 2-speed self-tailing winch (mast)
2 Doyle mainsails with Harker Batcar system
1 Highcut Doyle jib (good condition)
120 Hard Sails Genoa (Excellent condition)
1 Highcut Yankee ( good condition)
1 Storm staysail (excellent condition)
1 Storm Trysail with separate mast track (excellent condition)
1 cruising spinnaker with Iron Mistress logo
Custom 12-volt electrical system with floating ground
4 six six-volt batteries for the house
2 six-volt batteries for engine start
BatteryMINDER monitor
Balmar 210 amp series 94 large case alternator
Balmar 130 amp small case alternator
Alternators have isolated ground
Air Marine wind generator with Ferris controller
12-volt electrical panel
Marinco shore power core and power inlet
Galvanic isolator
Reverse polarity indicator
Magnum 2000-watt inverter/charger
Yanmar 4 cylinder naturally aspirated diesel
4JH3E 56 hp diesel (good condition)
Racor RS 20 fuel filter
Kanzaki KBW20-1, 2.63 gear ratio
Last drop stuffing box
Whitlock rack and pinion steering
Numerous life jackets
Fire extinguishers
2 3500 gal/hr 12v bilge pumps
Manual bilge pump in cockpit
Smoke and carbon detectors
Class 406 EPIRB
Winslow 6-man liferaft ( needs service)
Proper navigation lights

David Walters Yachts is pleased to assist you in the purchase of this vessel as a Buyers Agent. This boat is centrally listed by Derek Jarvis

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DEAD GUY: Ted Brewer

Oct. 12/2021: Here we have another sad tale of mortality. On the last day of last month, as I understand it , the well-known yacht designer Ted Brewer passed away peacefully at his home in British Columbia. Born in 1933 in Hamilton, Ontario, he certainly had a good long run on this planet, both as a human and as a boat guy. He resigned his commission as a lieutenant in the Canadian Army in 1957 to pursue a career in boating, which he ultimately nurtured studying design via the Westlawn correspondence school .

He worked first as a broker with George Cuthberston and also with boatbuilder Dick Telford, seminal figures at what became C&C Yachts . During his time with Cuthbertson Ted was involved in 8-meter racing, and in 1960 started working with Bill Luders as an assistant designer. With Luders he was involved in important America’s Cup 12-meter campaigns, but ultimately transitioned to working independently, focusing primarily on cruising boats.

Ted was in his day a seminal cruising-boat designer who generated some important fiberglass production-boat designs, most notably perhaps the Whitby 42 ketch , of which 300 were built from 1972 to 1988. He also conceived a surprisingly large variety of boats for one-off construction in all different materials, from fiberglass to wood to aluminum to steel. This is only a small selection of samples:

The Huromic 35 was a Brewer design to be built in aluminum and pioneered Brewer’s radius-bilge construction technique for metal boats. This combined elements of hard-chine and round-bilge construction, producing fairer hulls that are much easier to weld up than perfectly round hulls. This design, which also featured a “Brewer bite” in its keel, is well proven, a veteran of more than one circumnavigation via the southern great capes

The Corten was a popular 40- or 43-foot design in steel, featuring a traditional full keel and outboard rudder. The first was built with a gaff schooner rig, but alternative versions feature cutter and ketch rigs. One variation also boasts a fin keel below the waterline, an indication of how flexible Ted could be

The 32-foot Mystic Sharpie was designed to built by amateurs or small shops in plywood, and unlike more conventional sharpies carries a good bit of ballast to enhance stability and has a high pinky stern to help cope with following seas. Brewer also designed wood boats to be built with conventional carvel planking and with strip planking

The 41-foot Vision is a fine pilothouse cutter designed to be built in glass. She features a tall cutter rig, an efficient NACA-foil fin keel, and a rudder on a full skeg. A true long-range cruiser, she has lots of tankage, 110 gallons of fuel and 180 gallons of water

I never met Ted, but did speak with him on the phone a few times while writing The Modern Cruising Sailboat . I am still a big proponent of a design performance parameter he created, the so-called comfort ratio, which seeks to quantify in objective terms the quality of a boat’s motion in a seaway. Like any such design parameter, the “ Brewer Comfort Ratio ” does have its limitations, but is still quite useful, and I have long urged that buyers of cruising sailboats should calculate and consider it when evaluating any boat they might buy.

Ted also created a cruising-boat design feature now universally known as the “Brewer bite,” a declivity between an otherwise full keel and a prop aperture that decreases a boat’s wetted surface area while retaining all the advantages of a traditional full keel. He was a pioneer in construction technique as well and created and promoted the radius-bilge method of fabricating boat hulls in metal.

Ted was also an author, and I personally have long been a big fan of his explanatory book for laypersons, Understanding Boat Design , now in its 4th edition, which was critical in my own education. I still recommend it to anyone seeking to understand the ins and outs of cruising sailboat design.

My sense of Ted, from our conversations and from all I’ve heard about him from others, is that he was genial man, truly considerate, and self-effacing, in spite of his considerable success as a designer.

He will be missed.

RIP: Edward S. Brewer, 1933-2021

DEAD GUY: Bill Butler

FAMOUS FEMALES: Remembering Patience Wales; Celebrating Cole Brauer

Sail Far Live Free

Question of the month w/ ted brewer: 50 years of cruising sailboat evolution.

Brewer-designed 42' alumninum s/v
has cruised the S. Pacific extensively

Brewer-designed Pacific 42 belonging to Burl Ives

Brewer-designed Puffin 38 (s/v ) features twin fin keels and a central ballast pod.
She's cruised a lot of bluewater, from Seattle to the Bahamas and back

Brewer-designed Carib ketch, built by Cape North

Ted Brewer's very first production boat design - a Douglas 31 from 1967.
Notice the short waterline & long overhangs from the CCA rule.

So does that mean it's OK to sail a Laser - or not?

Of course! I learned the very basics of sailing aboard a Laser using the trial and (mostly) error method. It's exhilarating to be that close to the water getting sprayed and feeling such a close connection to the boat.

Keep on working, great job!

Escape to the Sea: How to get from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean

IMAGES

1988 Ted Brewer Three Seas Fourty Cruiser for sale
1983 Custom Ted Brewer Cutter Sail New and Used Boats for Sale
2007 Ted Brewer Custom 46 Cutter Sail New and Used Boats for
1998 Ted Brewer 40 Custom sailboat for sale.
1987 Ted Brewer 50 Auxiliary Ketch Sail Boat For Sale
1998 Ted Brewer 40 Custom sailboat for sale

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COMMENTS

Ted Brewer Yacht Design
This includes individual designs such as the Lazyjack, Rob Roy, and Quickstep. Brewer Yacht Designs. 1825 Evergreen Drive. Agassiz, BC. Canada VOM 1A3. Phone 604-796-3732 Fax 604-796-3738. [email protected]. Ted Brewer is a world renowned yacht designer, with over 270 sail and power designs.
Ted Brewer Yacht Design
CARIOCA A handsome, clipper bowed, flush decked 40' cutter with full keel and Brewer bite. Radius bilge hull. Berths for 6-7, large galley, deep, protected cockpit. A yacht that blue water sailors will appreciate. SP-$90 US/ FP-$895 US. VERITY 40 A 40' fast, radius bilge, fin keel cutter and a very successful design.
Edward S. Brewer
Edward S. Brewer. 1933 - 2021. www.tedbrewer.com. From Designers website: Ted was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1933. In 1957 he was a Lieutenant in the Canadian Army and resigned his commission to return to his first love, boating. He was lucky to get a job as yacht broker with George Cuthbertson, who later founded C&C Yachts and, at the same ...
Ted Brewer: A Stand-Up Draftsman
Yacht designer Ted Brewer gazes back over a storied career. T ed and Betty Brewer's living room is warm and inviting. Two harpoons hang on teak-colored walls, and a model boxcar sits on the shelf alongside other artifacts marking a life well-lived. A picture window overlooks a baseball diamond across a quiet street in Agassiz, British Columbia.
Ted Brewer Yacht Design
Ted Brewer Presents A Primer on Yacht Design. The Numbers (More Than You Ever Wanted To Know!) (And please don't ask me what the Metric equivalents are!) The terms and ratios that follow are used by all yacht designers so it's a good idea to have an understanding of them if you are considering buying a boat, or having a custom design created ...
1988 Custom Ted Brewer 45 sailboat for sale in Florida
45' Custom Ted Brewer 45 . Year. Length. Beam. Draft. Location. Price. 1988. 45' 12.6' 5.6' Florida. $185,000. Description: Absolutely the finest steel cutter I have ever seen! Immaculate in every way, owner by the same highly respected Yachtsman since she was built. ... Featured Sailboat Added 06-Jun-2024 Home. Register & Post. View All ...
Ted Brewer boats for sale
Ted Brewer boats for sale on YachtWorld are available for a variety of prices from $32,900 on the lower-cost segment, with costs up to $198,900 for the more lavish yachts on the market today. What Ted Brewer model is the best? Some of the most popular Ted Brewer models presently listed include: 45 Custom, Jason Pilothouse Offshore, Kaiulani 38 ...
Sail Ted Brewer boats for sale
Boats for Sale ⁄ / Sail ⁄ / Ted Brewer; Sail Ted Brewer boats for sale. Save Search. Clear Filter Make / Model: All Ted Brewer Category: All Sail. Location. By Radius. By Country. country-all. All Countries. Country-US. United States. All. All 25 miles 50 miles 100 miles 200 miles 300 miles 500 miles 1000 miles 2000 miles 5000 miles. from ...
Ted Brewer Yacht Design
Brewer Design #53. CAPE RACE is a husky motorsailer of steel construction, designed for year round live-aboard usage and long distance, blue water cruising. The yacht was designed as a pure round bilged hull but a simpler double chine hull form is also available. Her accommodation plan is worthy of study as it features accommodations for 6-7 in ...
BREWER 44
Ft. Myers Yacht & Shipbuilding (USA) Designer: Ted Brewer: KLSC Leaderboard. Auxiliary Power/Tanks (orig. equip.) Make: Perkins: Type: Diesel: HP: 62: Fuel: 136 gals / 515 L: Accomodations. Water: 200 gals / 757 L: Sailboat Calculations ... This is a ratio created by Ted Brewer as a measure of motion comfort.
Brewer boats for sale
Brewer boats for sale on YachtWorld are listed for a range of prices from $32,900 on the relatively lower-priced models, with costs up to $198,900 for the more sophisticated, luxurious yachts. What Brewer model is the best? Some of the most popular Brewer models now listed include: 44, 12.8 Cutter, 42, Holiday 52 and MT42. Specialized yacht ...
1988 Ted Brewer 45 Custom Iron Mistress
HULL: Steel. CATEGORY: Cruisers. DESCRIPTION: Iron Mistressis an incredible yacht from the board of legendary designer, Ted Brewer! Hull and deck were constructed in 1987 by Mooney Marine, with the interior finished up in York Maine. The quality of the build and the attention to detail of its only owner shine in this classic circumnavigator.
Ted Brewer Yacht Design
About Edward "Ted" Brewer. Ted was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1933. In 1957 he was a Lieutenant in the Canadian Army but resigned his commission to return to his first love, boating. He was lucky to get a job as yacht broker with George Cuthbertson, who later founded C&C Yachts. ... Brewer Yacht Designs 1825 Evergreen Drive Agassiz, BC Canada ...
DEAD GUY: Ted Brewer
DEAD GUY: Ted Brewer. Oct. 12/2021: Here we have another sad tale of mortality. On the last day of last month, as I understand it, the well-known yacht designer Ted Brewer passed away peacefully at his home in British Columbia. Born in 1933 in Hamilton, Ontario, he certainly had a good long run on this planet, both as a human and as a boat guy.
Question of the Month w/ Ted Brewer: 50 Years of Cruising Sailboat
50 Years of Cruising Sailboat Evolution by Ted Brewer. I thought it would be interesting to look back over the changes in boat design that have come along in the 50 plus years since May '57, when I was discharged from the army. That's when I got into the boating business, beginning as a yacht broker at George Cuthbertson's Canadian ...
Ted Brewer Jason Pilothouse Offshore
Engine · 1 x diesel 52hp, Perkins 4-108 (1977) Lying · Kenmore, WA USA - Shown by Appointment. Broker's Comments: The Jason 35 is featured in the book "Best Boats to Build or Buy" by Ferenc Mate, and was designed by Ted Brewer for experienced owners who wanted a seaworthy, fast, maneuverable blue water cruiser.
Ted Brewer Yacht Design
About Ted. Consulting. Stock Plans: Power vessels. Sail-Fibreglass. Sail-Wood. Sail-Steel. Sail-Aluminum. Ordering Info. Links. Contact. Sailing Vessel Designs for Wood Construction ... Brewer Yacht Designs 1825 Evergreen Drive Agassiz, BC Canada VOM 1A3 Phone 604-796-3732 Fax 604-796-3738 [email protected].
Ted Brewer boats for sale in United States
1977 Ted Brewer Jason Pilothouse Offshore. US$65,000*. US $549/mo. Kenmore, Washington. 35ft - 1977. Waterline Boats LLC.
Nimble 25 Arctic
Ted Brewer: Location: United States: Year: 1988: Builder(s) Nimble Boats: Role: Cruiser: Name: Nimble 25 Arctic: Boat; Displacement: 2,900 lb (1,315 kg) ... The Nimble 25 Arctic, also called just the Nimble 25, is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Ted Brewer as a cruiser and first built in 1988. Production.
Ted Brewer Yacht Design
Mailing rolled prints costs 5 or more times the cost of folded prints. All plans are sold on a no exchange, no return basis. Brewer Yacht Designs 1825 Evergreen Drive Agassiz, BC Canada VOM 1A3 Phone 604-796-373 2 Fax 604-796-3732 [email protected]. 12 July 2014.
1977 Ted Brewer Jason Pilothouse Offshore
Engine · 1 x diesel 52hp, Perkins 4-108 (1977) Lying · Kenmore, WA USA - Shown by Appointment. Broker's Comments: The Jason 35 is featured in the book "Best Boats to Build or Buy" by Ferenc Mate, and was designed by Ted Brewer for experienced owners who wanted a seaworthy, fast, maneuverable blue water cruiser.
Ted Brewer boats for sale
Find Ted Brewer boats for sale near you, including boat prices, photos, and more. Locate Ted Brewer boat dealers and find your boat at Boat Trader!
Ted Brewer Pilothouse boats for sale
1977 Ted Brewer Jason Pilothouse Offshore. US$59,900. ↓ Price Drop. Waterline Boats LLC | Kenmore, Washington. Request Info. <. 1. >. * Price displayed is based on today's currency conversion rate of the listed sales price.