Thunderbird: Barbaree

In the early 1950's the Douglas Fir Plywood Association (DFPA) got the idea of marketing to Northwest backyard boatbuilders. The DFPA engaged naval architects of this region to design rowing, motoring, and sailing boats. The plans were made available at every lumber yard from Olympia to Bellingham. In particular the DFPA wanted a boat that could "...be both a racing and cruising boat; provide sleeping accommodations for four crew; be capable of being built by reasonably skilled amateurs; provide auxiliary power by an outboard motor that could be easily removed and stowed; and out-perform other sailboats in its class."  Ben Seaborn was one of the designers - with a reputation for fast sailing yachts that were also handsome in scale, proportion and details.  His boats were built in the traditional plank-on-frame manner.  The DFPA arranged a marriage of plywood and Seaborn.

Seaborn was well aware of how a round-shaped hull would go through the water with least resistance.  He took that image and transposed it into a vee-shaped hull form that was dictated by the stiffness of multilayered plywood. He called his 26-foot sloop Thunderbird, an icon of the Northwest's first peoples.  The first Thunderbird was built in Gig Harbor in 1958 by Ed Hoppen of the Eddon Boat Company.

The construction of more than 1,250 Thunderbirds around the world have demonstrated that the 25.9-foot (7.89 meter) Thunderbird class sailboat is a success. It isn't a pretty boat if you are looking for a sweeping sheer and wine glass transom, but functionally it has a perfect deck layout and maximum cabin space. But the main reason that Thunderbird No.1 kicked off a deluge of other T-birds was the speed and easy handling! The sail area is 363 square feet (33.72 square meters) in the mainsail and genoa, and racing boats are equipped with a spinnaker.  It outsailed and outraced any other 26-foot boat and could sail circles around most 36-foot yachts.