C. William 'Bill' Lapworth

The designer who proved that light displacement wins on the West Coast. His wooden L-36 was a Bay and Southern California staple; his Cal 40 ended the argument nationally.

Trained

University of Michigan; US Navy officer in WWII, shipyards at Quincy and San Diego

Partnership

Post-war partner to Merle Davis in Los Angeles; took over the practice on Davis's death

Builder partnership

A handshake arrangement with Jack Jensen of Jensen Marine created the Cal line; it lasted until Jensen's death in 1980

Philosophy

Light canoe-body hulls, fast downwind — built for Transpac conditions

Output

32 designs

• 1954Lapworth 36 (L-36) — wooden sloop; more than 70 built by 1958
• 1958Cal 24 — first fibreglass Jensen design
• 1961Cal 20 — roughly 1,900 built
• 1963Cal 40 — fin keel, skeg rudder; the design that changed American ocean racing