Nick Keig

John Nicholas Keig (born 13 June 1936) is a yachtsman, inventor, and explorer. He was born and lives on the Isle of Man. He took over his family business, S.R. Keig Ltd, in 1952. The company was the oldest family run photography business in the world until its closure in 2010. Nick Keig is best known for his yacht racing successes in the 1970’s. He is also known for being one half of the team that designed and built the VSV (Very Slender Vessel) in the 1990’s.

Yacht racing

Three Legs I Three Legs I, a 37.6 foot Trimaran was launched 1973. It featured one of the world's earliest onboard computers, designed to measure the angle between True Wind and Apparent Wind. In 1974, it won the BP Crystal Trophy, a significant multihull event in Europe at that time. In the same year, it won the Round the Island Race, a 50-nautical mile course starting and ending in Cowes. It also secured victory in the Azores Race. In 1978, Three Legs II won both the Round the Island Race and the Azores Race. Furthermore, it achieved second place overall and emerged as the winner in the 35' and under class in the Observer Two-Handed Round Britain and Ireland Race. In the same year, it won the Round the Island Race.

VSD VSD. a 75-foot catamaran, was launched 1983.

Yacht building and design Over the span of fourteen years architect Derek Kelsall developed Nick Keig’s ideas into five consecutive multihulls. Legs of Mann III, VSD and Legs of Mann IV were built using a new technique that Derek Kelsall was developing at the time: GRP foam sandwich, a technique where a closed cell foam was sandwiched between two light skins of fibreglass, resulting in a very light and strong hull.

The project outgrew its innovators and Paragon Mann was unable to stop the design from being plagiarised by organisations with much bigger budgets. The VSV has since been developed by several users around the world into almost identical versions of the original design, including Multimarine Limited’s VSV Mary Slim.

Awards and honours Nick Keig entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1975 for Greatest Distance Covered Under Sail in 24 Hours. 360 miles, noon to noon. In 1983, the cumulation of Nick Keig’s yachting achievements earned him the honour of being the only living Manxman to have his head pictured on a set of Isle of Man postage stamps and he has been President of Peel Lifeboat since 1989.