Hoek Design has been the leading design office in optimising traditional Dutch leeboard craft such as skutsjes, lemsteraken, hoogaarsen and schokkers. These craft, which come from a variety of origins, have been built for more than a hundred years. Skutsjes were sailing craft used to transport cargo from the north to the south of the Netherlands through shallow inland waterways. Meanwhile, smaller lemsteraken were used as fishing boats, and larger ones to transport fish from fishing grounds to the marketplace. Many of the vintage craft have been converted and are today used as family cruising yachts. The trend to build new traditional yachts started in the 1950s, and really took off in the early 1970s, when these craft also became popular as racing yachts.
Hoek Design was the first design office to optimise the performance of these typical Dutch yachts by tank testing different hull shapes and wind tunnel testing various sail plans. In the early 1980s, we were the first design office to develop software capable of predicting the performance of these yachts, the so-called Velocity Prediction Programs (VVP).
Traditional yachts have a number of rather unusual features, and proved difficult to model in computer programs. For example, it was no mean feat to mathematically describe surface piercing leeboards and gaff rigs. Nonetheless, the race results achieved by yachts designed with VVP software were stunning. The first yacht developed (the 14.32-metre lemsteraak Haesewindt) set new standards for performance in these craft. The 17.00-metre Aphrodite, the 16.00-metre Daniëlle, the 16.50-metre ’t Vliegent Hart, the 10.75-metre Fidelia, and the 12.15-metre Watergraaf all became (multiple) Dutch open champions in their class. 
Over the years, we have successfully optimised more than 250 vintage yachts and delivered drawings for over 300 new build craft in various sizes. Below, you’ll find general information on these characteristic vessels. Please contact Martijn van Schaik at info@hoekdesign.com for more information.