Ten prettiest sailing yachts ever, in no particular order. Ten: Stormy Weather

Dorade, photo captured by James Robinson Taylor in 2001. The sharp-eyed may note the neat, triangular bumpking that gives lie to the phrase 'all-inboard yawl'; but most of the S&S yawls in this vein are genuinely all-onboard rigged.

This one came out of a conversation with the photographer James Robinson Taylor a couple of days ago. There can't be many who have spent as long looking at classic yachts with an eye solely for the aesthetics of a good photo as James, as he tears around the regattas of the Med in some borrowed RIB focusing his lens on the great yachts of the world. For this list, he suggested the schooner Atlantic; the 23-M Fife yacht Cambria; either of the two very active Herreshoff Fighting 40s (Chinook or Rowdy); or this, Stormy Weather, the second of the all-inboard bermudan yawls designed by Sparkman and Stephens, design number 27 from the young firm.

The first, Dorade, launched in 1930, won the 1931 Transatlantic Race and the Fastnet that year... and the next one in 1933. She went on to win seemingly every major ocean race, including, incredibly, the Transpac, for a second time, in 2013.

It is still impossible to speak of any of the S&S yawls without reference to the first, Dorade, seen her leading the fleet at the Voiles de Saint Barth.

Dorade's exploits made her a living legend, and her chief designer, Olin Stephens, among the most famous and illustrious in history. She was followed by a seemingly never-ending stream of bermudan yawls, among them Manitou, Baruna, Argyll, Skylark, Comet and dozens of others, in a run lasting half a century. These days, those names live on, and the restored yachts are numerous enough to form their own group at the big classic regattas like Antibes and Saint-Tropez.

For more than a few observers though, Stormy Weather is the one. She was built at the well-regarded Henry Nevins boatyard in 1934, and although superficially similar to Dorade at just two foot longer (Stormy Weather is 54ft on deck), she carried 2ft (61cm) more beam, an increase of nearly 20 per cent. It was a reaction to a rule change brought in by the Cruising Club of America, but even though the catalyst was a forced one, it improved the breed, making Stormy Weather and those that came after drier, more stable downwind, and capable of carrying more canvas.

Like Dorade, she won a transatlantic race to England the year after her launch (1935) and won the Fastnet that year too, victories that were followed by an incredible run of wins too long to list here. It was reportedly Olin Stephens's favourite design, a common claim, and not one backed up in his autobiography All This and Sailing, Too... but the view is given some weight by an amazing campaign Stormy Weather put up at Argentario Sailing Week in 2007, where Olin, aged 99 and a year from his death, raced aboard her for the whole week.

2007 wasn't the only year that Olin Stephens raced aboard Stormy Weather. Here he is seen at a Med regatta in 2001.

Aesthetically, Stormy Weather has the perky sheer common to many S&S designs: balanced overhangs, a low cabin truk and a well-proportioned rig that visually balances out the sails along the length of the boat. The gently curved transom has won a few fans over the years too.

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See a recent article in Classic Boat on Stormy Weather by clicking here

See the Sparkman & Stepehns Association here

See Dorade's official website here