Een club voor liefhebbers en/of bezitters van een zeiljacht van het Oostzeejol type Midget.

Birth of the 26' Midget.

The Midget Club was founded in 1977 by Leen Koppenol, one of the first  Midget  owners in Holland. At that time all members owned a Midget 20 or her smaller sister the Midget 15.

One day in March 1980 Leen told me that some members were leaving the club due to lack of space on board. My own children were shooting up and with some fear I recognized the problems of the members with grown-ups. That afternoon we brainstormed about the possibility of taking the initiative ourselves. We had no idea about the costs of such a project and we were not hampered by any knowledge of yacht designing or boat building. After a few hours we had made each other so enthusiastic that we decided to probe a response to our plans from the Midget Club. To arouse interest we had to show something to anyone interested and at the very least, we had to say something about prices.

In a very short time we succeeded  in approaching four designers who made pre-designs. Prices to construct the prototype were collected and at the first presentation to the Midget Club members, it was decided to continue along this path. Via a questionnaire the members could choose between the designers, bring in their ideas and also participate in the finances of the project.

There was a strong  preference for the design of  Martin Bekebrede, who was well known for his Scandinavian double-ender designs. We received his drawings just before our rally in 1980 and the unconventional arrangement under deck surprised us all. A lot of copies of the drawings were made and during the rally everybody became wildly enthusiastic about the Midget 26 design.

The next step was to collect the money . At a meeting, 29 members of the Midget Club signed up for 30,000 guilders, the construction costs of the prototype. To control the money a legal body,  the “Stichting (foundation) Oostzeejol”, was created.

The “Stichting Oostzeejol” would pay the construction of the prototype while the yard that was building the Midget 20 would pay for the molding and also would bring the boat on to the market.

From that moment we had been sending lots of information to yachting magazines in Holland, Germany and the UK to attract attention for this unique project. We found an old, but reliable prototype builder near Loosdrecht, who was very happy to build an “antique“ yacht, as he called it, after all the modern designs he had made. Almost weekly we visited the workshop to see the progress and to make photographs.

When the prototype was half finished our partner, the Midget builder had a very unpleasant message for us; his bank refused to continue to provide credit, so he had to pull out. We were left with a prototype under construction and without the prospect of  a yacht builder who was willing to fund the second part of the project.

Through sailmaker de Vries we made contact with the Jachtwerf Gebr. de Kloet. They saw an opportunity, also because their own  Fellowship design was slowly loosing share of the market. After a number of negotiation sessions, a contract was signed. The “Stichting Oostzeejol” purchased the Midget 26 prototype and it would receive a financial contribution for each boat that was sold. Jachtwerf  Gebr. de Kloet would invest in the mouldings and would build the Midget.

Just before Christmas 1981 the first Midget 26 was baptized. The boat show  premiere was one month later in Düsseldorf. During the show our public relations offensive paid off; hundreds of inquisitive yachties were seen climbing the stairs to see the astonishing roomy interior of a boat only 26’long, and at the end of the boatshow the yard had orders for five Midgets 26.

Since then the Midget 26 has been flying high. With a few minor adjustments the original design is still being made. More than 125 Midgets 26 have been delivered, proof  that we had the right idea at the right time with the right yard and since last year with the right  UK agent. 

Joop Ververs.