Ian Proctor

Ian Proctor, that clever British boat wizard born in nineteen eighteen in London, kicked off his sailing love affair as a kid at school in Norfolk, snagging his first dinghy at eighteen before diving into design during World War Two-drafted into the Royal Navy, he sketched patrol boats and landing craft like a pro. Post-war, he exploded onto the scene with over a hundred dinghy and cruiser blueprints, from the zippy Merlin Rocket racer in nineteen forty-six to the game-changing Topper in sixty-six, the first mass-produced plastic sailboat that made junior fleets go bonkers worldwide. A sharp writer too, he co-edited Yachtsman Magazine, penned books, and hustled as a yachting correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, all while founding his own yard in the fifties to crank out affordable fiberglass flyers that balanced speed and smarts without skimping on fun. The guy snagged fancy nods like RDI and FRSA for his innovations, but he kept it real-sailing hard, racing fierce-until he slipped anchor in nineteen ninety-two at seventy-four, leaving a legacy that's still got sailors grinning on the water today.