J.R. (Rod) Macalpine-Downie

by Dick Gibbs, his design partner (beginning in 1964).\n(from Buccaneer website)\n\nJ.R. (Rod) Macalpine-Downie\nBorn, Appin, Argyll, Scotland.\nHis father, a specialist in hypervelocity artillery shells was also an offshore sailor.\nRod attended Eton where he majored in Biology and won the King’s Scholar Award. He considered a career as a concert violinist. \nWhile chicken farming in Scotland in 1961, he saw a Shearwater Cat and although he never designed a boat, concluded he could do a better job. The first boat was Thai MK4 which won all six races of the 1962 European, One of a Kind' regatta. He followed that with the winning of the first International Catamaran Challenge in 1963, and had seven more consecutive wins.\nHe was the first developer of the 'UNA' rig and wing masts. A series of 'Crossbow' designs won 5 consecutive competitions. Players Fastest sailboat, Trophies at a top official speed of 41 knots, the last of which sailed in 1984, unofficially at 60+ knots. At the time of his death, a new crossbow was underway, which he believed was capable of 70+ knots.\nThe partnership with Dick Gibbs in 1964, sealed with a handshake, put 80 boats in to commercial production, resulting in 15,000+ boats. Of all his designs, it is probably the BUCCANEER that ended up being the most popular and commercially successful.