Designer Attribution
It should be noted here that some boats listed and attributed to a specific designer were actually copies stolen, ‘stretched’, ‘shrunk’, or modified in one way or another, of a designers original work.
This was a practice most prevelant with yachts built in the Far East, but also common with many yards around the world, including the US. Not only did this mean loss of revenue for the designer, but also a complete loss of control of the final product.
In cases where we are aware this has occured, we either make a specific note about it on the particular ‘boat record’, such as ‘derived from….’ OR, just leave design attribution blank when we are convinced it’s appropriate. (We receive emails from designers that wish to remove all association with a particular boat. And, of course, we always comply)
This is obviously an imperfect solution. We admit that the emphasis here leans more towards giving credit, rather than leaving it out. This is because of our respect for the designer as creator of a particular boat, even if the final outcome may not have ultimately been one that they approved.
It should also be noted that we never remove an existing boat from the database just because it might be thought, by some, as not achieving a certain quality standard, lack of seaworthyness, or for some other reason. Sailboatdata.com does not RATE any type of sailboat. We leave this to others more qualified to the task.
