The Essex One Design dates from 1919, when it was commissioned for the Essex Yacht Club, together with the nearby Alexandra Yacht Club, both sailing the tidal waters of Southend on Sea.
Another local and not dissimilar design, the Thames Estuary One Design, had originated a few years earlier in 1911, in an era when many local one-design classes were being developed around the coasts of the UK.
Originally the Essex One Design boats all had musical names such as Fanfare, Caprice, and Nocturne. Many of the original boats of this class, however, were wrecked in the great gale which lashed the east coast of England in 1946. Arabesque, built in 1955 by Morgan Giles, is one of the second wave of Essex One Design boats built to restore the numbers of the class. Its owner, a Miss Scott, was the only female owner of this class of boat at this time.
In the 1960s designer Norman Dallimore was commissioned to create a standardised set of drawings and specifications for the new Estuary One Design, with building allowed in glass reinforced plastic (GRP). One of the few designs to normally have a crew of three, Estuary One Designs continue to be sailed today in small numbers on the Thames Estuary.
Dimensions
Length 5.53m
Beam 1.87m
Draft, centreplate down 1.05m
