manned by young Bermudians taking part in the next great gathering of tall ships is now more than a dream and a set of drawings.

The Bermuda Sloop Foundation is moving from design phase to implementation phase -- ready to build a sail training ship for Bermuda. The Foundation's five year long research and design phase has just been completed. And it has already raised $1 million to fund this most exciting Bermudian ship-building project since the glory days of the 19th Century.

The new schooner's design will be based on the historically significant Bermuda-rigged vessels built here between 1820 and 1850, the beautiful Bermudian or Ballyhoo schooner, designed for fast transport of perishable cargo and as a dispatch vessel.

"She has been designed to look traditional, but below decks she will be 21st Century,'' Foundation spokesman Malcolm Kirkland said. "She'll be made of modern materials and be designed to engage young people.'' The Foundation is very excited about the interior accommodation plan which will be created by a separate specialist to be plugged into the hull shape.

"We wanted this vessel to be as efficient as a maxi ocean racer, and also to be a broad, effective learning tool for the young people on board,'' he said.

"In addition to spatial design, we will be using lots of technical tools like a computer network, Internet access, LCD screen to enhance learning. Thus the main saloon will be open plan, so the kids as a group could watch online, for instance, satellite picture of weather systems moving across the Gulf Stream to Bermuda.'' The navigation area, which is traditionally a small, one-man cubby hole will be a navigation area that can sit six trainees who want to participate in the navigation calculation. The galley will be the typical cramped area on a yacht, but designed to cater for groups and dockside receptions.

"As US Coast Guard regulation require water tight bulkheads, the Foundation will have a separate engine room,'' Mr Kirkland said.

"It will be designed so there is easy access to the two diesel engines and generator, so a number of kids could gather around to learn about engines and electrical systems. So in general, the interior will be designed so kids can follow their own interests in marine and other subjects, while others will be interested in the pure sailing.'' Design Evolution In 1995, the Foundation acquired the Admiralty plans for the 72-foot sloop Laura . She was a Lady Hammond Class boat, built here in 1807. The plans were digitalised and put on CAD, computer assisted drawing.

The Laura was the typical sloop of the day, way over-canvassed on a very low freeboard, with a huge mainsail sail on a 60' boom.

Continued on page 32 .

A tall ship for Bermudians Continued from page 30 Bermudians loved these fast, manoeuvrable boats, the envy of the all who sailed.

"A striking aspect of the sloop as a symbol of Bermudian shipbuilding, seafaring, and character is the design,'' Mr Kirkland noted.

The allure of the Bermuda sloop stems from the sheer, radical proportions. An 1806 Royal Navy version was 73 feet long on deck with a 65 foot bow sprit protruding from her bow and 62 foot main boom, framing a raked-back single mast rig, all springing from an exceedingly low profile hull of only two feet freeboard amidships.

The sloop was rigged as a schooner (with two masts) in most navy applications, but privateers and pirates "out on a cruize'' preferred the single mast for its windward performance. Privateers and pirates would have sailed with 30, 40 or 50 crew or more (required for manning prizes) providing up to about 4 tons of movable human ballast and plenty of hands to man the main.

"Think of the light hulled, over canvassed sloop as stealth design, and the gaff- and square-rigged British warship as cumbersome outdated DC-9 designs!,'' Mr. Kirkland commented. "We were state of the art.'' However the sloop was difficult to control in a breeze because of the huge main sail and massive main boom, and the skill of Bermudians in sailing the overpowered sloop earned them respect around the Atlantic.

In heavy weather, the sloop, imbalanced with only movable internal ballast below and heavy guns on deck, was difficult, if not dangerous, to control. The power developed by the huge, loose-footed main and boom was enormous and required the huge crew to handle safely.

Downwind, she was prone to "syncronous'' rolling which, unchecked, caused the sloop to spin out and lay down. Rolled down or knocked down by a sudden gust, the internally-ballasted sloop was then vulnerable to down flooding and sinking.

So the obvious question was: "Is the Laura stable?'' The Foundation sent the CAD plans of the Laura to a marine engineer to test against their stability and sailing performance models. The answer came back as expected.

"The Laura was indeed a handful to sail and not suitable for as a sail training vessel,'' Mr. Kerkland said.

"It would fulfill our historic mission but it would not fulfill the youth mission. The technical design had to flow from the mission of the vessel which required a safe vessel to train inexperienced young Bermudians.'' Marine architects Bermudian Bill Nash and American Peter Boudreau of Tri-Coastal Marine in the USA collaborated on the design, which evolved from the one-masted Bermuda sloop to an 83-f00t two-masted vessel.

This looked like a pirate ship and it was felt that it was a composite -- an imaginary ship. The final version was a type of 100-foot three-masted schooner built here.

" We know just what she looked like from a painting by John Lynne of her entering Kingston Harbour done in 1834,'' Mr Kirkland said.

"She was a Bermuda-rigged Ballyhoo schooner which Bill believes is a local evolution of the Royal Naval Shamrock class build here in the early 19th Century. We believe the ship in the painting was built here in 1834, the year of Emancipation, which makes her even more significant.'' The next step was deciding on building materials. Having learned that the Jubilee Sailing Trust in England is replacing its steel hull boats with ships constructed with cold molding wood, it seemed a great choice for a number of reasons.

"Cold molding is the least expensive method of construction in the US,'' Mr.

Kirkland explained. "It is also low maintenance. It's extremely tough -- more so than fibreglass. You can bang into a dock or a reef. It also creates a water-tight structure. Rain cannot seep into joints, between deck seams and so on.'' The vessel will carry 35 persons day-sailing and sleep 24 below deck. In line with its purpose as a learning centre, a purpose-built interior will be designed by a specialist, to accommodate young people for coastal voyages and occasional ocean passages.

The new schooner will exceed USA and UK safety requirements for sail training vessels. She will have a maxi yacht's design for efficiency and safety. For instance, access to the deck will be such as to maximise the safety of large numbers of kids coming on and going off watches, who can be not quite awake or tired.

Initial plans to build the ship at Dockyard have had to be scrapped because the lack of a going yard local materials and Bermudians skilled in building ships at the tall ships level.

"We wanted to build her at Dockyard but it would literally cost twice as much and would render the project unviable,he said.

"We don't have a fully fledged shipbuilding yard with experience in USCG regulations for Sailing School Vessels so we would be starting fresh for a one-off construction.

"It's a sad commentary on that front, but Bermuda just doesn't have the capability anymore to build blue water sailing vessels of this size. But that doesn't remove the historical fact that Bermuda was a centre of shipbuilding in the 'Atlantic' world of two hundred years ago of which all Bermudians should be proud. We now want to press on with the main mission of helping young Bermudians actualising themselves.'' Courtesy of Bermuda Archives: The traditional Bermuda-rigged sloop based on the RN "Lady Hammond'' class, 1806.

The Foundation plans to eduate young sailors aboard ship.