RSHYR 2024 | Sean Langman - Kismet

Sean Langman loves to champion the lesser-known designers and naval architects of yachting’s history. So the opportunity to restore the diminutive 30 foot 1950s sloop Kismet, designed by Illingworth and Penrose was one not to miss. Captain John Illingworth is well known to Australians as the first winner of the Sydney Hobart yacht race in 1945 and he also collaborated in many of his yacht designs with Angus Primrose (co-designer of Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV) But Kismet was a collaboration between Illingworth and Harald Penrose, a test pilot and naval architect. Some of the stories of Harald’s 25 years as a test pilot are hair-raising, but it was his deep knowledge of lightweight aeronautical design that he brought to the design of Kismet. We spoke to Sean about the restoration of Kismet and his two-handing venture with friend and experienced offshore racer Peter Inchbold.