Description
Book SynopsisUffa Fox was the most celebrated and successful yacht designer in the world. Much more than a sailor and boat designer, he was an irrepressible extrovert and novel thinker, as well as a singer, musician, journalist, author, painter, sportsman, campaigner, controversial businessman and friend of royalty. In the years since his death his reputation has grown rather than diminished. This new biography, the first for fifty years, celebrates a Universal Man who not only changed his sport, his Island, and the lives of his friends, but also left an unfillable void. Such people are rare, and his story deserves to be remembered.
Trade ReviewIt's a surprise more hasn't been written about Uffa Fox. Yet this is the first biography of the polymath, irrepressible extrovert and original thinker to be published in fifty years. Author Malcolm Turner gained the cooperation of many of Uffa’s friends, acquaintances and former employees. The book casts new light on his life and many achievements and contains many previously unpublished images.
-- Rupert Homes * Practical Boat Owner *
"The friendship between Fox, the Duke and his closest aide Commander Michael Parker included off-the-water carousing with a whiff of scandal, as well as impressive racing successes. Fox praises the Duke’s ‘ability to take the boat across the tide with a free wind’ and explains why this matters. His clear analysis reflects his own brilliance as a racing sailor as well as a designer."
Julia Jones, Yachting Monthly, October 2023.
... a working-class legend who transformed dinghy sailing through his visionary designs and fine craftsmanship. A fearless renegade who took on the establishment and poked fun at social norms... Fox makes a compelling subject and his life is packed with good stories... I do agree with the book's subtitle. Uffa certainly was eccentric and he was, by most measures, a genius.
Nic Compton
WoodenBoat Magazine
01/01/24
