The Jack Koper Connection

My father Jack Koper was highly talented in many aspects of the visual arts. During his rich life, he made superb photographs, oil paintings, and story-telling movies about the family, boats and birds. He designed and built his own furniture. He was a National Champion sailor. He built several boats at home, starting with the Flying Dutchman, the Olympic class boat he’d introduced into South Africa. He learned how to make sails at home while never losing his winning touch, and established the first sail-making business in South Africa.

To top all these accomplishments, he designed three classes of sailboat that were spread nationally and even internationally: the 12-foot Dabchick in 1956, a plywood board-boat for juniors with over 3,500 built so far, mostly by parent-and-child teams. Then followed the 15½-foot Tempo in 1963, numbering 350-400, and the 14-ft 4 in. Sonnet in 1971, some 500 built. Dad had first given the gift of sailing first to his children, and then to thousands of others, young and old, in several countries.

A unique feature of his designs is that they are all scows, and have a flat “spoon” bow, like a sailboard, but elegantly curved across the front. His designs are stable and light in weight, so quick to get up skim over the water in a breeze. They are great fun to sail, ideal for learning on, yet giving a great ride for the expert’s more discriminating tastes. Dad enabled ordinary people to discover the world of sailing through low costs and home building techniques. Sailing was a healthy pastime, and he felt there was a spiritual component to it.

Our relative lack of money was a driving force behind our family’s prominence in the sailing world. We just had to figure out how to build our own boats and sails. We made almost every piece, including the rigging and fittings. It was nothing less than an era in the history of sailing in that country.

I made the decision this year to redesign the Sonnet to suit the lighter winds we enjoy here in most of North America. I called my design the Sonatina, giving her more sail and reducing her beam (width), plus many other changes.

One of the many astounding experiences I had during this journey was finding and old drawing in which Dad had written measurements for a larger sail plan and underwater foils. Many of them were exactly as I had chosen for the new design. He was giving me his blessing and his guiding hand across the “silver curtain!”

The new Sonatina is stunning. People who see her “in the wood” are immediately impressed with her violin-like appearance. Early sailing trials demonstrated the success of the concept as she skimmed along in hardly a zephyr. The first test sailors would not come back in to the beach for the next person to try!

In 2002 I designed and built the 12 ft Chickadee, based on the Dabchick. Again, as soon as I made the decision to design this boat, I found an old Dabchick plan on which Jack had written in the dimensions of a taller sail plan. He was speaking to me from “out there” once again! So of course I used his input in my design. Details of this exciting little Junior Trainer are found elsewhere on this site.

So now I am sponsoring a new idea in the Canadian sailing world – and I have already found an audience beyond our borders too. That is what the next phase in my life is about.

Chris Koper
With acknowledgements to Jack Koper, 1911-1998
(November 2002)