Julian Bethwaite is an Australian, Sydney-based skiff sailor and sailboat designer. He wrote one chapter of his father Frank's book, Higher Performance Sailing.
Skiff sailing
Bethwaite started sailing 18ft skiffs in 1974 crewing on KB, before moving on to the boats 9Sports, Singapore Airline, and Mutual Acceptance. Bethwaite won his first 18 ft Skiff World Championship as crew in 1987 and again as skipper in 1990 and 1992. He held several positions relating to the 18 ft class, including secretary of NSW 18 ft Skiff Sailing League, manager of the Super Skiff Series, and Skiff Grand Prix. At this time, Grand Prix Sailing was covered on TV. Internationally, his partnership with Alex Gad developed media driven sailing events throughout Europe, the U.S., and Mexico that resulted in three Sport-Tel awards.
Sailboat Designs
In 1980 based on a stretched Tasar Dinghy hull, he designed the first of the trilogy of Prime Computer 18 ft skiffs. It had a crew of two rather than the usual three which made sailing the boat difficult when handling the spinnaker pole and its complex wire bracing. It was this complexity that made Bethwaite design the Prime Mk2 with a fixed bowsprit and asymmetric spinnaker. To keep the weight down, the hull was made of balsa wood and weighed just 130 pounds. Prime Mk3 was also made of balsa wood, had a wingspan of 26 ft, and weighed just 99 pounds. This was later used to make a plug for the standardized B18 class. In 1994, Bethwaite designed the 49er which was a new high performance skiff. In 1996, it was one of 15 entries considered by the ISAF selection competition for the upcoming 2000 Sydney Olympics. The Olympic committee selected the 49er. From the 2000 Olympics and onwards, the 49er sailed with county flag designs covering the entire spinnaker, making it clear which boat was which. In 1998, the smaller 29er was designed for the international youth market. The 29er has been given International Class status In 2004, he worked with Martin Billoch and Chris Mitchell to design the SKUD 18, a ballasted skiff for disabled sailors. From 2008 through 2016 this boat has been raced at the Paralympic Games. In 2012, ISAF held trials for a women's high performance boat to race at the Olympics. Bethwaite submitted the 29erXX, a souped up 29er with bigger sails. Although this boat lost out, the winning entry, the 49erFX from Mackay Boats does feature Bethwaite's 49er hull.
