We could talk about yacht design and understand something of the process of drawing and scientific testing a vessel of any shape. However, until we becoming an expert in yacht design we may never truely understand each calculation and the effects changing the figures will have on the performance of the final boat. it is essential that we understand how traditional crafts simultaneously employ several different methods for arriving at those optimum shapes, be that for a boat hull or a harbour wall or any practical item really.

It is easy to understand how any system which replicates will gradually change to suit the surrounding environment. This process, where a system or item is adapted over a period of time is called evolution . Modern design gives us scientific data with which to calculate the safe thickness of most materials used and while these material strength calculations are invaluable for modern mass production, I would like to offer up another system, where "rules-of-thumb" allow an educated guess. The rule of thumb is then tested through practical application, if the item breaks, then the area of the break is made thicker next time. Gradually we build up an understanding of the materials at hand and of how they interact within the environment.

When I say "tool" I mean any item which serves a purpose, yes that might be a saw, but it could equally be a seat or a harbour and of course a boat is also a tool. Many of the items within our world serve very important roles as tools, we rely upon them working properly and if they fail or break people get hurt and so the evolution of tools tends to incorporate a margin of safety in addition to simply fulfilling the task.

For instance one of my favourite tools is a chair, four legs and when I sit down it holds my weight - great, I have come to rely upon chairs and my legs would get very tired if the chair had never evolve. However, if the floor was uneven I would be better sitting upon a chair with three legs as a chair with four legs will rock and never be stable on an uneven floor. Now this is a very basic example of how the development of chairs was influenced by the development of floors, as floors became level, chairs went from three legs to four (but not to five - why?)

Evolution is guided by the surrounding environment and traditional boats are a beautiful example of how this evolution process can generate a spectrum of craft, each suited to a particular task, in a similar way to the variety of beak shape on birds, just as each birds beak has evolved to suit the food available, traditional boats around the coast fit the wavelength of the seas and shore of that area.

There is an expression in design, "a cathedral is never built on virgin soil" meaning that the cathedral is built upon the site of a large church and the church is built upon the site of a meeting house and the meeting house is built upon the pagan meeting place. Items and ideas are taken and reproduced and with each reproduction the lessons gained from using the previous item are incorporated as improvements.

Despite the title of this page, it is not really my intention to force old and new to compete, both traditional evolution and modern design have positive and negative aspects and it serves no purpose to compare items which fulfil different requirements. We have found while building our ApprenticeSHIP boats that a combination of our traditional tools (like the draw knife and the marking gauge) can be as useful as the modern tools like the fein saw and power drill. The key aspect of any creative experience is to learn from our mistakes and then adapt our future processes to include our new understanding of the requirements within any given environment.