Herbert Hasler - Sailing

Sailing

Hasler is known as the father of single-handed sailing, owing to his invention of the first practical self-steering gear for yachts: many sailing vessels continue to rely on systems substantially based on Hasler's work.

In 1947 he took part in the RORC Dinard Race - Cowes to Dinard, sailing the yacht Tre-sang, winning his class championship.

In 1960, Hasler competed in the first Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR), from Plymouth to New York. The race, originated solely by Hasler, did not include any "half a crown" bet as the myth suggests with Francis Chichester the fourth of the five competitors to enter the race. Of the fifty yachtsmen who sent letters of intent to compete, only five eventually started. Hasler himself sailed one of the smallest boats in the race, his heavily modified Nordic Folkboat Jester, and finished second in 48 days to Chichester's much larger Gipsy Moth III. Only Jester was equipped with Hasler's self-steering.

Hasler had Jester built some years prior to the first trans-Atlantic race, specifying that a fully enclosed deck, with two circular hatches in the cabin top rather than a conventional cockpit, be built on the standard hull. He used the boat as a floating laboratory to develop his self-steering system, and also pioneered the use of a Chinese-style junk rig on a western yacht, to avoid the physical effort and potentially dangerous deck-work, required to handle a conventional rig single-handed. The junk rig allowed all sail handling to be done from the safety of the central control hatch, and Hasler claimed he could sail Jester across the Atlantic without ever leaving the cabin.

Hasler and Jester returned for the 1964 OSTAR, finishing fifth in 37 days, 22 hours. On his return Hasler, who was becoming disenchanted with what he perceived as the race's commercialisation, and the increasing size, complexity and expense of the yachts brought about by sponsorship, sold Jester to Mike Richey. Richey continued to race the boat until she was lost in an Atlantic storm during the 1988 OSTAR.