George Holmes’ design the ‘Ethel’ of 1888 was digitised then stretched by Selway Fisher - who then drew up their own stitch-and-glue strake pattern for the hull, which I used when constructing the first one.

I further modified the appearance of the design during construction to produce the boat in the photo by altering both deck camber and sheer, and building a different deck and cockpit layout - with in particular the narrow, sweeping side-decks and coamings - as well as a new high aspect-ratio semi- pivoting daggerboard, a high aspect ratio lifting rudder and a wider, more practicable tiller (all necessary as I intended racing the boat), and altered the rig twice - both during construction and a few  months after.  Most construction details are different, too.  Further detailed changes were listed in ‘The Boatman’ review in the October/November issue of 1992.

The final appearance of the boat - though not the hull - is different to both Fisher’s digitised design and the original ‘Ethel’.  Fisher’s modified version - which he named the ‘Lillie’ - follows Holmes’ original layout of deck and cockpit, low aspect centreboard and non-lifting rudder, but with his own rig; and it is this which he offers in his on-line catalogue - though illustrated with a photograph of the changed deck and cockpit of my boat.

Though the gloss is no longer -some eight years later - as deep as here, you can still see your own face in the original finish.