Christopher James Hawkins (26 November 1937 –11 November 2023) was a British politician. He was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for High Peak constituency in Derbyshire from the 1983 general election until he stood down in 1992.
Hawkins was born in Saffron Walden on 26 November 1937. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and the University of Bristol from which he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Economics. From 1959 to 1966,he worked as an economist for Courtaulds,with periods of secondment in Nigeria and Tunisia. Hawkins then joined the Economics Department of the University of Southampton where he was successively Lecturer and Senior Lecturer.
In his Who’s Who entry,Hawkins listed reading,music and sailing as recreations. Sailing was more than a recreation for Hawkins designed several yachts. An early design was the GK 24 of 1977,but his most successful design was the Hawk 20 which he developed with Reid Marine,a firm in Christchurch,Dorset,and which was launched at the Southampton Boat Show in 1993;the boat is described in Sailing Today Test Report (April 2001).
After leaving Parliament,he was the Deputy Chairman of the Black Country Development Corporation until 1998.
Hawkins died on 11 November 2023,at the age of 85. [1]
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. It also built a range of seaplanes and flying boats,winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three wins in a row in 1927,1929 and 1931. After the war,the company produced a series of jet fighters.
A yacht is a sail- or motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure,cruising,or racing. There is no standard definition,though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht,as opposed to a boat,such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.
Hythe is a town in Hampshire,England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water,and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton. Hythe has a shopping area,a pier,and a marina for yachts.
An iceboat is a recreational or competition sailing craft supported on metal runners for traveling over ice. One of the runners is steerable. Originally,such craft were boats with a support structure,riding on the runners and steered with a rear blade,as with a conventional rudder. As iceboats evolved,the structure became a frame with a seat or cockpit for the iceboat sailor,resting on runners. Steering was shifted to the front.
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff was an American naval architect,mechanical engineer,and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920.
A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts,but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts,ranging from 40 metres (130 ft) to more than 180 metres (590 ft) in length,and sometimes include yachts as small as 24 metres (79 ft).
Denys Arthur Rayner DSC &Bar,VRD,RNVR was a Royal Navy officer who fought throughout the Battle of the Atlantic. After intensive war service at sea,Rayner became a writer,a farmer,and a successful designer and builder of small sailing craft –his first being the Westcoaster;his most successful being the glass fibre gunter or Bermudian rigged twin keel Westerly 22 from which evolved similar "small ships" able to cross oceans while respecting the expectations,in terms of comfort,safety and cost,of a burgeoning family market keen to get to sea. Before his death in 1967,Rayner had founded,and via his pioneering GRP designs,secured the future expansion of Westerly Marine Construction Ltd –up until the late 1980s,one of Britain's most successful yacht builders.
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) is a private yacht club in Toronto,Ontario,Canada. Founded in 1852,it is one of the world's older and larger yacht clubs. Its summer home is on a trio of islands in the Toronto Islands. Its winter home since 1984 has been a purpose-built clubhouse located at 141 St. George Street in Toronto,which includes facilities for sports and social activities. In 2014,the club had approximately 4700 members,about 450 yachts and a number of dinghies,principally International 14s.
A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.
Luke &Co was a boatbuilding firm,established in 1829 in Limehouse near London. They moved to Oakbank at Itchen Ferry in 1868,and in 1895,settled at Hamble. At Hamble,they designed and built yachts of all sizes,as well as providing all kinds of services to the yachts visiting or having a berth at the river. The river Hamble was a popular place to "lay up" yachts for the winter.
Doris is a sailing yacht,which has also been known as Astarte,Huntress,and Vayu,in Deep River,Connecticut that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. She was designed by Nathanael Herreshoff,who designed five America's Cup defender yachts and who also was the main architect of the America's Cup rule change called the Universal Rule. That rule allowed for displacement as well as length and sail area to be included in a formula defining yacht eligibility,and enabled more "sea-kindly" and roomier yachts to be competitive. The vessel known as Doris was constructed with a primary emphasis on speed and novelty,representing an avant-garde design that was highly appreciated in her era. She participated in a plethora of prestigious regattas and races,including the Annual Cruise of the New York Yacht Club and the Newport-Bermuda Race,showcasing her remarkable agility and endurance.
Amazon is a 102-foot (31 m) long screw schooner and former steam yacht built in 1885 at the private Arrow Yard of Tankerville Chamberlayne in Southampton.
The Britannia Yacht Club (BYC) is a private social club,yacht club,and tennis club based in Britannia,a neighbourhood in Ottawa,Ontario,Canada. It was founded in 1887 by a group of cottagers.
A Bristol Channel pilot cutter is a type of sailing boat used until the early part of the 20th century to deliver and collect pilots to and from merchant vessels using ports in the Bristol Channel. Each pilot worked individually,in competition with other pilots. Especially after 1861,the level of competition required larger and faster cutters,as pilots went "seeking" at much greater distances. The resulting boats were known for their ability to sail in the most extreme weather,for speed and sea-kindliness. They were designed for short handed sailing,often manned only by a man and an apprentice,with one or sometimes two pilots on board.
The American Yacht Club is a yacht club located in Rye,New York distinguished by a long history of competitive racing and leadership in growing the sport among women and junior sailors.
Colin Mudie was an Edinburgh-born yacht designer,author,naval historian,balloonist,and advocate for the handicapped sailor. He studied engineering at Southampton University,before working under yacht designers including Laurent Giles and Uffa Fox. He then set up his own firm. He received the award of RDI for Small craft/ naval in 1995.
Lyle C. Hess (1912–2002) was an American naval architect,particularly known for his Aquarius and Balboa series of boats,built by Coastal Recreation.
Camper and Nicholson is a yacht design and manufacturing company based in Gosport,England,for over two hundred years,constructing many significant vessels,such as Gipsy Moth IV and Prince Philip's yacht Bloodhound. Its customers included Thomas Sopwith,William Kissam Vanderbilt II and George Spencer-Churchill,6th Duke of Marlborough. Its yachts competed in The America's Cup,The Fastnet Race,the Olympics,the Ocean Race and many other yacht races. It also built a number of small warships,notably during the two World Wars,and some as late as the 1950s.
Arthur Edmunds was an American naval architect,credited with designing 29 sailboats as well as other boats of various types and forms. He is recognized as a top naval architect in the US. Edmunds's best known production sailboat was the Allied Princess 36.