The original design which became the East Coast 12 Meter was a Charles Morgan design #2770. Nicknamed Eagle, the design was prepared circa 1962-63 and made into a 9/10″ = 1′ scale model for aerodynamic testing. The design was never considered for full size construction as a potential defender of the 1964 America’s Cup, but was use to study ways of reducing the troublesome quarter wave produced from older designs. From the late 60’s EC12 moulds had been produced from the tank testing origins and the class was sailing in increasing numbers in America and later in Australia.
This original tank test model is still in existence hanging above a bar at the St Petersburgh Yacht Club in Florida.
Way back in 1983 Ian Hull Brown, from here in New Zealand, went to Australia, purchased a new EC12 and promptly used that boat to win the EC12 Nationals in Australia of that year.
Returning home with that boat (Number 1) Ian put in a lot of effort promoting the class and over the next few years the numbers of EC12s slowly grew and a register was developed recording the owner and hull number as each new boat came along. At this time the hulls were made from a mold “flopped “ from Ian’s the original number 1 boat .
In the 90’s it was decided in the USA that the hull shape in use was not very representative of the original tank test model that Morgan Brown used to start the class as many olds had been flopped and gaining distortion over time off various hulls. These hulls are now described as “Pinched bow” as they are very fine in the forward sections. There only a few of these original shaped hulls surviving but Chris Harmer still has NZL 1 and I have NZL 7, in both cases they gather dust on a shelf.
To improve the hull shape a new hull mold was introduced in America with slighter fuller forward sections, and arguably a more aesthetically pleasing shape and became known as the 95 Standard which was closer to the original lines. In due course a mold of this new shape was in service in New Zealand and we began to see hulls produced by the Davie Norris in Christchurch. These are from hull #50 to around hull #150
But by about 2010 it was felt in America that because there again a variety of iterations of the EC12 hull, with some American builders altering the shape subtly to “improve” the boat, it was time to standardize the hull shape world-wide.
So, the EC12 class in USA settled on the master Class-owned EC12 plug as the only shape going forward world-wide. From this plug a small number of identical moulds were commissioned by the EC12 Class to be produced by selected manufacturers in the USA. One such builder was Robert Dudinsky of RMD Marine who was asked to produce a set of moulds that were also to be sent to Australia and to New Zealand.
These were shipped in 2012 and were accompanied by the “Certificate of Authenticity” from Joe Walters (EC12 Class Secretary in USA at the time) confirming they are the same moulds used by US EC12 Class hull manufacturers of which there were only 4 appointed (currently 3 as Bob Dudinsky passed away in April 2018).
Shortly afterwards the Australian EC 12 scene was beginning to fall victim to internal disagreements and declining so only 3 boats were ever produced from the moulds which went to Australia.
Meanwhile the moulds sent to New Zealand in 2012 unfortunately arrived in a damaged condition. Davie Norris used his considerable boat building skills to repair the damaged moulds and we have been obliged to use these ever since. After years making many EC12 hulls of this mould unfortunately Davie passed away.
After Davies passing the moulds passed to Chris Koskela who produced a few hulls from them and since then Daniel Cross has been our builder using the repaired moulds.
However back in April this year Peter Morris in Queensland (who was instrumental in getting the moulds into Australia in 2012) made contact asking if we would like to have the almost new (and undamaged) Australian moulds as a gift as they no longer have an active EC12 class in Australia.
The outcome is that the New Zealand EC12 Owners Association now (late 2024) has the perfect molds for EC12 production of new boats. It is anticipated that the EC12 Owners Association will be able use these moulds to offer complete new hulls for sale from some time in 2025. It must be stressed that there is no discernible performance difference between any iteration of the EC12 over the past many decades, but the latest molds are cosmetically better inside and out and are exactly the same as the latest boats in America, where the largest EC12 fleets are racing.
