Today we mourn the loss of Dick Newick. Rebel, author, artist, wanderer, philosopher, innovator, designer, anarchist and most of all, sailor, Newick profoundly changed our world for the better. From an extremely well written piece by Steve Callahan in Professional BoatBuilder (and we really urge you to read the whole thing here):
Like most art that has reconfigured the future, designer Richard “Dick” Newick’s creations threatened some as much as they enlightened others. At times, his trimarans’ simplicity, structural reliability, and astounding speed seemed like grenades tossed into yacht clubs. One sailing magazine editorial, titled “Unsafe on Any Sea,” took all multihulls to task, and featured a photo of Newick’s Trice — despite the fact she never suffered a structural failure or other mishap until destroyed by hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Indeed, many of the concepts and design features that arose from Newick’s explorations have so shaped the norm of all sailboats over time, that we now might wonder why there was such a fuss in the first place.
Share your stories and condolences about Newick here.
