De Pan

Design 2157 Morning Cloud III

Here is the third Morning Cloud for Sir Edward Heath. She was designed for Admiral's Cup competition, built of wood by the yard of Clare Lallow of Cowes, England. She was launched in 1972. The boat deserves considerable discussion as she was lost at sea during what started out as a pretty straightforward delivery. Heath was not aboard at the time.

Here are a couple of newspaper clippings about the event. Please double click for zoom.


The best summary of the loss of Morning Cloud can be found in the very good book, Heavy Weather Sailing by Adlard Coles. Here's a reprint of appendix 6. This is posted here without permission, so thank you to the author. Again, please double click for zoom.


Here are the plans.


Here's a dramatic sketch that was published in Seahorse magazine as part of an article about the incident.