One of the earliest Morgan Giles One-Design vessels was the Thames Estuary design. In 1911 Francis produced an 18ft centre board sailing boat for the Alexandra Yacht Club at Southend. This was a new era in the field of small racing boats.
The club was formed initially in 1873 as the Alexandra Club but in 1878 it became a ‘Sailing Club’. By 1900 the club was holding a number of Handicap races for boats from 16ft to over 60ft. In 1911 the club decided to commission a One-Design boat which would be able to sit on the mud-flats when the tide went out. Morgan Giles and May submitted an 18ft clinker built boat with a lifting keel and an optional rig of 220 sq ft. These were three-quarter decked with a small cockpit designed for the open waters of the Thames Estuary. The design was adopted but with a reduced sail area of 210 sq ft. Drake Brothers of Tolesbury won the tender to build the boats and ten were built at a total cost of £370-3-8 including the cost of the sails. The first race took place on 25th May 1912.
The specifications were:
LOA - 18ft
LWL – 16.75ft
Beam – 6ft
Draft – 0.89ft with Centre Board 4.89ft
Displacement – 16cwt
There was great club competition in the three years up to the war but the advent of war and the introduction of the Essex One-Design in 1920 affected the growth of the Thames One-Design.
