H-28 is a well-rounded, sensible cruising ketch whose main virtues are
     old-fashioned simplicity, a balance of characteristics avoiding
     extreme forms, and solid seamanship.

     She was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff, son of the more famous
     Nathaniel Herreshoff.  LFH designed a few very fast racers and mostly
     reliable cruising designs.  He is also famous for his writings
     extolling old-fashioned virtues about boat design and appreciation of
     nature while cruising.

     LFH published the design for H-28 in The Rudder magazine in 1942.  LFH
     had no boatyard (unlike Nathaniel and his other descendants) so H-28s
     were built by amateurs and boatyards all over the world.  A lot of GIs
     kept dog-eared copies of the magazine in their pack with dreams of
     building one after the war.  I have heard (unconfirmed) somewhere that
     10,000 were built worldwide, and that more H-28s have circumnavigated
     the world than any other single design.  Cheoy Lee built a production
     modified H-28 called Bermuda 30 and a Far East 29 was also built by
     another Asian builder.

     H-28's hull form is nearly identical to that of the famous Herreshoff
     12 1/2, designed in 1914 by Nathaniel, and shares the quality of being
     an extremely seaworthy hull.  Her greatest virtue is that she can
     happily sail to weather in a nasty chop (even in 30 knots, with a reef
     in the main) without ever pounding or even sending spray into the
     cockpit.  Her corresponding vice is that she can roll terribly in a
     beam sea under power, in light air or at anchor.

     Her original design's sailplan (343 sq ft) is fine for 12-18 knots of
     wind but way undercanvassed for my own environment's 6-12 knots.  I use
     his optional masthead jib (he intended it as a light air "balloon jib")
     when racing in our Tuesday night races.  The masthead jib sailplan has
     443 sq ft.  She is shallow draught but reasonably weatherly.  Don't
     pinch in a chop.  The larger sailplan, not draught and leeway, is the
     important factor when comparing her speed to modern 28 footers.  The
     bottom line is that in light air she is slower than other boats her
     size, and in heavy air she is almost as fast.

     Her draught is 3.5 feet, which is shallower than a 28 foot long
     Herreshoff 12 1/2 would be.  Her shallower draught doesn't seem to
     hurt her weatherliness much or her seaworthiness at all.  With 3.5
     feet she can go many places her faster sisters, which average 4.5
     feet, cannot.

     Her basic shape is very strong because she has no extreme shapes, like
     a fin keel, sticking out anywhere.  Our H-28, built of wood in 1949,
     was bashed for an hour against a 45-footer in Hurricane Bob in 1991
     and sustained only cosmetic damage to the hull itself, and no leaks.
     It probably helped that we have a bridge deck, which the original plan
     does not.
 
 
 
 

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