Quickstep Sailboats 19

The Quickstep 19: History, Design, and Legacy of a Bristol-Built Pocket Cruiser

The Quickstep 19 occupies a distinctive niche among late–twentieth-century pocket cruisers, marrying the compact dimensions and trailerable convenience of a 19-foot hull with the ambitions of genuine weekending capability, all emerging from the long boatbuilding tradition of Bristol, Rhode Island. Conceived by designer Stuart Windley as a small cruiser rather than a pure daysailer, the boat traces its lineage through earlier molds used by Lockley Newport Boats and Gloucester Yachts, yet the Quickstep iteration added ballast, interior fit-out, and wood trim that pushed the design toward a more serious cruising identity and a slightly heavier, more substantial presence on the water. Built in fiberglass with a fractional sloop rig and either a swing keel or optional fixed fin keel, the Quickstep 19 was introduced around 1989 and is now out of production, but it lives on in specifications databases, regional handicap lists, and the memories of owners who valued its unusual mix of trailerability, shallow-water access, and surprisingly complete accommodations in under twenty feet of overall length. Its story is further enriched by the coincidence that the Quickstep name had previously appeared on much earlier boats launched by the same town’s famous Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, creating a subtle historical echo between Bristol’s golden age of yachting and the fiberglass trailer-sailer boom that followed half a century later. Taken together, the design’s origin, technical details, production history, and naming heritage make the Quickstep 19 a revealing case study in how small sailboats evolved at the close of the twentieth century, reflecting economic shifts, changing recreational patterns, and the persistence of local boatbuilding cultures in New England and beyond.

Origins and Design Context

Bristol, Rhode Island and the Pocket Cruiser Moment

The Quickstep 19 was built by Quickstep Sailboats in Bristol, Rhode Island, a small city whose waterfront had been shaped for generations by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company and other builders servicing both racing and cruising markets. Bristol’s maritime landscape in the fiberglass era included not only famous racing designs from earlier decades but also a wave of modest, family-oriented boats, and the Quickstep 19 emerged in that context as one of the town’s comparatively small, accessible craft aimed at recreational sailors rather than grand-prix campaigns. By the late 1980s, the American market for trailerable boats under twenty feet had been thoroughly established, with numerous designs offering swing keels, fractional rigs, and simple outboard propulsion, and the Quickstep 19 was very consciously positioned within that group as a “pocket cruiser” rather than a bare-bones daysailer. In this sense, the design reflects broader trends of the era: the desire to keep ownership costs and mooring fees low by using trailers and small outboards, and the parallel hope that careful interior planning could still deliver sleeping berths, a galley, and a head within rigorously constrained dimensions. Located near the sailing waters of Narragansett Bay and Buzzards Bay, where depth variations and tidal currents reward shoal draft and good all-around performance, Bristol was a natural place to build a small swing-keel cruiser whose keel could retract for launching yet extend to a relatively deep draft for windward work offshore.

The Quickstep 19’s introduction in 1989 came after several earlier iterations of essentially the same hull form had already been molded and marketed by other companies in the United States, especially Lockley Newport Boats and Gloucester Yachts. A database maintained by a cruising magazine describes the Lockley-Newport 19, built in Newport Beach, California during the 1970s and 1980s, as a compact fiberglass daysailer or pocket cruiser of roughly the same length, beam, and general concept, and notes that this LN-19 was sometimes cross-referenced with both the Gloucester 19 and Quickstep 19 due to common or similar molds. A widely used specifications database lists the Gloucester 19 as a swing-keel fractional sloop first built in 1983 by Gloucester Yachts Inc., also in the United States, with dimensions very close to those later attributed to the Quickstep version: an overall length of 19.25 feet, a waterline around 16.50 feet, and a beam of about 7.50 feet. The same database explicitly notes that the molds for the Gloucester 19 were later acquired by Quickstep Sailboats, where the design was reintroduced as the Quickstep 19, making the Bristol boat not an entirely new hull but a carefully reinterpreted, reballasted, and refitted descendant of Gloucester’s earlier swing-keel daysailer.

This genealogy matters because it explains several peculiarities in the published numbers for the Quickstep 19, including small but meaningful differences in displacement, ballast, and waterline length compared to the Gloucester and Lockley-Newport versions. A general specifications database entry for the Quickstep 19, apparently compiled from manufacturer data and other sources, gives a displacement of 1,800 pounds and ballast of 750 pounds in lead, which is notably heavier than the 1,600-pound displacement and 550-pound ballast recorded for the Gloucester 19 and Lockley-Newport 19 on earlier production runs. These differences suggest that Quickstep’s implementation of the design deliberately increased ballast and overall weight, presumably to improve stiffness and comfort under sail and perhaps to support the extra interior cabinetry and wood trim described in accounts of the Bristol-built boats.

Designer Attribution and Conceptual Intent

The Quickstep 19 is generally credited to designer Stuart Windley, who appears as the named designer in both the Quickstep and Gloucester specifications and is also associated with the Lockley-Newport 19 according to the cruising magazine’s database entry. In the Lockley-Newport case, that database notes that some sources additionally credit designer Harry R. Sindle in relation to the broader Lockley-Newport lineup, hinting at a collaborative or evolutionary design process in which Windley’s work on the LN 19 may have drawn on or informed other small-boat projects within the same family of molds. For the Quickstep 19, however, the consensus across published records is much clearer: the Bristol-built boat is described as having been designed by Windley “as a pocket cruiser,” a phrase that underscores its dual ambitions of trailer convenience and cruising capability, and distinguishes it from pure racing dinghies or spartan dayboats.

Windley’s choice of a fractional sloop rig, swing keel, and moderate beam fits comfortably within the design language of 1980s trailer-sailers, but the ballast ratio and interior layout show that the Quickstep variant was optimized for a slightly different mission profile than its Gloucester and Lockley-Newport precursors. With lead ballast recorded at 750 pounds against a displacement of 1,800 pounds, the Quickstep 19’s ballast-to-displacement ratio stands near forty percent, higher than the roughly thirty-four percent figures associated with the Gloucester 19’s 550 pounds of ballast in a 1,600-pound hull. Such a change, though modest in absolute weight, is significant in a boat of this scale, increasing the boat’s righting moment and potentially making it feel more secure under sail in gusty conditions or when carrying cruising loads in its modest cabin. That heavier, more “cruiser-like” personality is further reflected in the Quickstep 19’s published description as a recreational keelboat rather than simply a daysailer, along with repeated emphasis on sleeping accommodation for four, a galley, a head, and meaningful cabin headroom, all unusual claims for a sub-20-foot hull not designed as a pure racing one-design.

The decision to locate production in Bristol and present the boat as a small yet serious cruiser tapped into a regional culture that valued capable pocket cruisers and rewarded designs that could carry families out onto the bays and sounds with enough comfort and security to make overnight trips plausible rather than theoretical. In the broader marketplace, the Quickstep 19’s fractional rig, keel options, and relatively high ballast stood out against competitors that leaned more toward lightweight day sailing, while its modest hull speed, small outboard, and tight cabin made clear that it remained fundamentally a compact boat optimized for coastal conditions and trailer storage.

Hull, Keel, and Rig: Technical Character of the Quickstep 19

Hull Form and Principal Dimensions

The Quickstep 19 is a fiberglass monohull with a raked stem, plumb transom, and transom-hung rudder, all features that align it with many small production boats of its era. Published specifications describe an overall length (LOA) of 19.25 feet, a waterline length (LWL) of 17.00 feet, and a beam of 7.75 feet, which together define a relatively beamy, compact planform intended to maximize interior volume and form stability within the constraints of a trailerable footprint. In the Gloucester 19 and Lockley-Newport 19 data, the LOA is also given as 19.25 feet, but the LWL is slightly shorter, at 16.50 feet, and the beam a fraction narrower at 7.50 feet, underscoring that detailed measurements vary somewhat across different builders’ interpretations and perhaps between different measurement conventions. The Quickstep 19’s minor difference in published waterline length relative to its molded precursors may reflect either genuine changes in the hull or different assumptions about how the boat sits in the water when lightly or heavily loaded, though the practical effect on performance would be small in a boat of this size.

The hull’s displacement is reported as 1,800 pounds, with 750 pounds of lead ballast, a combination that gives the boat a moderately heavy feel for its length and contributes to its character as a cruiser rather than a featherweight dayboat. By contrast, the Gloucester 19 and Lockley-Newport 19 figures of 1,600 pounds displacement and 550 pounds ballast point to a lighter, somewhat less ballasted version of essentially the same hull, supporting the interpretation that Quickstep deliberately increased weight and ballast to reinforce its cruising identity. The hull is built predominantly of fiberglass, a material that by the late 1980s had thoroughly displaced wood in mainstream small-boat production, offering durability, ease of molding, and relatively low maintenance for owners. That fiberglass construction is complemented by wood trim in the Quickstep 19, which both softens the boat’s aesthetic and hints at a slightly more upscale ambition within the mass-market world of small trailerable yachts.

In terms of hydrodynamic character, the Quickstep 19 sits in a familiar zone for 19-foot cruisers, with a theoretical hull speed calculated at about 5.5 knots based on its reported waterline length. The hull shape is not described in detail in published specifications, but the displacement-to-length ratios quoted for Gloucester and related models, along with their modest comfort and capsize screening values, indicate that these boats were intended for coastal cruising and daysailing rather than offshore voyaging, with emphasis on manageable performance and adequate, though not excessive, stability. Within the tight dimensional envelope of 19.25 by 7.75 feet, the Quickstep 19’s hull design balances the competing demands of interior volume, deck space, and trailering width, with the beam comfortably under common road limits while still broad enough to provide acceptable initial stability and room for a small cabin.

Swing Keel and Optional Fin Keel

One of the defining features of the Quickstep 19 is its swing keel (also referred to as a lifting keel), which allows the boat to change draft dramatically between sailing and trailering modes. In the lifting-keel configuration, the boat draws approximately 4.50 feet with the keel fully extended, providing a relatively deep foil for upwind performance and lateral resistance, and just 1.00 foot with the keel retracted, permitting operation in very shallow waters, beaching, and easy launching from low-angle ramps. In the fin-keel variant, the boat carries a fixed keel with a more modest draft of about 2.17 feet, trading some windward efficiency and righting moment for the simplicity of a fixed appendage and a shallower draft that still suits many coastal moorings and slip assignments.

Published records for the Gloucester 19 and Lockley-Newport 19 give max and min drafts of 4.50 and 1.00 feet, respectively, clearly aligning those boats with the swing-keel concept that Quickstep would later emphasize in its own version. A comparable British design, the Prelude 19, shows the same pattern in its swing-keel option, with a minimum draft of 1.50 feet and maximum of 4.50 feet, suggesting that by the 1970s and 1980s the swing keel had become a widely adopted solution across different national markets for making small cruisers both trailerable and capable under sail. A short video describing the keel system on the Flow 19, another modern small swing-keel boat, highlights the practical advantages of a fully retractable keel controlled by a simple rope and tackle system accessible from the cockpit, allowing beaching and shallow ramp launches while keeping maintenance requirements minimal. The Quickstep 19’s literature does not specify the exact mechanics of its keel hoisting system, but given its configuration and era, it likely used a similarly straightforward arrangement of control lines and pivot hardware to manage the raising and lowering of the keel from within or near the cockpit.

The swing keel’s combination of deep draft under sail and extremely shoal draft when retracted is crucial to the Quickstep 19’s identity as a trailerable pocket cruiser, enabling owners to store the boat on land, tow it with modest vehicles, and explore shallow coves and ramps that would be inaccessible to deeper fixed-keel yachts. The fin-keel option, while sacrificing some of this versatility, offered an alternative for sailors who prioritized simplicity and possibly slightly better motion at anchor over the ability to retract the keel fully, and it is telling that Quickstep felt there was enough demand to support both configurations within the same basic design.

Fractional Sloop Rig and Sail Plan

The Quickstep 19 carries a fractional sloop rig, a configuration in which the forestay attaches significantly below the masthead, resulting in a smaller headsail relative to the mainsail and concentrating more sail area in the main. Published sail area figures for the Quickstep 19 indicate a mainsail of approximately 90 square feet and a jib or genoa of about 84 square feet, for a total working sail area around 174 square feet. In the Gloucester 19 entry, total sail area is given as 176 square feet, a nearly identical number that underscores the close relationship between the rigs of the two boats and suggests that any differences are largely a matter of rounding or specific sail-cut choices rather than major rig redesign.

The rig is supported by the usual set of dimensions familiar from sailmaking, often denoted I, J, P, and E, where P is the mainsail luff length, E the mainsail foot length, I the height of the foretriangle, and J its base along the deck. For the Lockley-Newport 19, a database linked to the cruising magazine gives values such as I around 21 feet, J about 8 feet, P roughly 22.50 feet, and E about 8 feet, numbers that roughly correspond to the size and proportions one would expect for a fractional rig on a 19-foot cruiser. A technical note from a major sailmaking firm explains that P is measured along the aft face of the mast from the top of the boom to the highest point the mainsail can be hoisted, while E is measured along the boom from the mast’s aft face to the outermost point to which the main’s foot can be pulled, and that I and J define the foretriangle which, together with J or related measurements, determines the potential size of headsails and spinnakers. Although the Quickstep 19’s complete rig dimension set is not quoted in the same detail, its recorded sail areas and fractional configuration imply comparable proportions, with a main that is somewhat larger relative to the headsail than in masthead-rigged boats of similar length.

The choice of a fractional rig has several implications for the boat’s sailing behavior. In general, fractional rigs allow easier depowering by reefing or flattening the mainsail, encourage active mast bend and main trim in gusty conditions, and often result in somewhat smaller jibs that are easier to handle for short-handed crews. On a 19-foot cruiser aimed at couples and small families, such attributes are particularly attractive, providing manageable sail handling while still offering enough sail area to move the boat respectably in light airs. The Quickstep 19’s rig, combined with its ballast and keel, gives it a sail-area-to-displacement ratio that is moderate by small-boat standards, suggesting lively but not extreme performance and aligning with its positioning as a practical cruiser rather than a high-powered sportboat.

Construction, Layout, and Onboard Systems

Fiberglass Structure and Wood Trim

The Quickstep 19’s hull and deck are built predominantly of fiberglass, the standard material for small production sailboats of its generation, and this composite construction underpins the boat’s durability, ease of maintenance, and ability to be trailered without the structural concerns that would accompany similarly sized wooden hulls. Fiberglass allows complex shapes to be molded in one piece, and the use of a proven set of molds originally developed for Gloucester and Lockley-Newport variants meant that Quickstep Sailboats could focus on refining fit-out, ballast, and interior details instead of reinventing the hull from scratch. Within that fiberglass envelope, the Quickstep 19 incorporates wood trim, a choice that adds visual warmth and a traditional aesthetic, distinguishing it from more utilitarian peers that rely purely on gelcoat and plastic finishes. Such trim may appear in the cockpit coamings, companionway, interior joinery, or other details, and while it requires some maintenance, it likely appealed to buyers seeking a small cruiser with a yacht-like feel rather than a bare-bones plastic shell.

The use of lead for the 750-pound ballast reflects a desire to concentrate weight low in the keel, maximizing stability while minimizing volume, since lead’s density allows a given righting moment to be achieved with less bulky ballast than would be required with materials such as iron or steel. In the swing-keel variant, much of this ballast is presumably housed within the keel structure itself, pivoting with the foil to alter draft, while in the fin-keel version it would be incorporated in the fixed keel, all consistent with the published configuration and performance numbers. Fiberglass construction also simplifies the attachment of such ballast and keel structures, and the boat’s relatively small scale reduces some of the load and fatigue concerns that arise in larger, heavier keelboats.

Interior Layout and Accommodation

Despite its modest length, the Quickstep 19 is recorded as having sleeping accommodation for four people, along with a galley and a head, and cabin headroom of about 44 inches (112 centimeters). These claims position the boat firmly in the pocket cruiser category, as opposed to minimal cuddy-cabin daysailers that offer little more than storage or an occasional shelter below. Achieving four berths in a 19-foot hull typically involves a V-berth in the forepeak and two small settee berths in the main cabin, often one on each side, and while published descriptions do not specify every detail of the Quickstep’s interior plan, references to sleeping four and providing a galley and head imply a similar arrangement. The galley on such a boat would usually consist of a simple sink and space for a portable stove or fixed single-burner, while the head might be a compact marine toilet or portable unit tucked discreetly into the layout, and the 44-inch headroom suggests that standing is not possible but sitting and crouching are reasonably comfortable.

The Quickstep 19’s interior appointments, together with its increased ballast and displacement relative to earlier molds, underscore the builder’s commitment to making the boat suitable for genuine weekend cruising, even if such cruising is necessarily constrained by space and storage limitations. When compared to the Prelude 19, which is also recorded as a small cruiser with approximately 1,500 pounds displacement, 500 pounds ballast, and modest comfort ratios, the Quickstep’s slightly heavier build and sleeping-for-four emphasis place it in a similar market segment but with a somewhat more robust ballast profile. In practice, this means that owners could plausibly attempt short overnight trips with family or friends, knowing that the boat’s design anticipated such use, even though comfort would inevitably be spartan compared to larger yachts.

Outboard Propulsion and Systems

For propulsion, the Quickstep 19 is normally fitted with a small outboard motor in the 3 to 6 horsepower range, sufficient for docking, maneuvering, and short passages under power but not intended for heavy motoring against strong currents or extended engine-driven cruising. This scale of outboard is typical for 19-foot sailboats, balancing adequate thrust with light weight and ease of lifting off the transom or bracket when trailering. The use of an outboard rather than an inboard engine keeps the interior free for accommodations and avoids the complexity, cost, and maintenance associated with small inboard installations, particularly on boats intended to spend much of their time under sail and on trailers.

Beyond propulsion, the Quickstep 19’s systems would have been simple and minimal by contemporary cruising standards, though specifics are not detailed in the published specifications. A boat of this size and purpose would usually carry basic electrical wiring for navigation lights and perhaps a cabin light or two, a small battery charged occasionally by shore power or portable means, and simple plumbing to serve the galley sink and head. The emphasis on trailerability and low ownership costs suggests that Quickstep did not burden the design with elaborate systems, instead keeping the boat straightforward to maintain for owners who may have been stepping up from dinghies or open boats.

Performance, Handling, and Use on the Water

Hull Speed, Ratios, and Expected Behavior

The Quickstep 19’s theoretical hull speed is given as approximately 5.5 knots, derived from its reported waterline length of 17.00 feet and the standard formula for displacement hulls. For comparison, the Prelude 19 is recorded with a hull speed of about 5.52 knots, based on its own 17-foot waterline, underscoring that boats of this type and size naturally cluster around this performance ceiling. Displacement-to-length, ballast-to-displacement, and sail-area-to-displacement ratios published for Gloucester and related designs all point to moderate, balanced performance, with enough sail power to make the boat responsive but not enough to push it into the realm of extremely light or “tender” behavior. The Gloucester 19’s ballast-to-displacement ratio around thirty-four percent and its reported sail-area-to-displacement ratio of roughly 20.63 sit on the conservative side of small-boat norms, emphasizing general-purpose sailing rather than racing optimization. With the Quickstep variant carrying even more ballast and similar sail area, its ratios tilt slightly toward solidity, implying a boat that is perhaps a bit slower to accelerate than the lighter Gloucester but more resistant to heeling and arguably more comfortable when loaded for cruising.

Comfort and capsize screening ratios quoted for the Prelude 19, including a comfort ratio around 10.14 and a capsize screening value near 2.39, further illustrate that small cruisers in this class are designed for protected and coastal waters rather than open-ocean work, and the Quickstep 19’s closely aligned dimensions and displacement would yield broadly similar numbers. These metrics, while only approximate guides, suggest that the boat’s motion in waves would be lively but manageable, and that while its keel and ballast provide good resistance to knockdown in normal coastal conditions, the design remains fundamentally a compact cruiser and should be sailed prudently in severe weather.

Handling Under Sail and Motor

With its fractional sloop rig, swing or fin keel, and transom-hung rudder, the Quickstep 19 is configured for straightforward handling under sail, particularly for small crews. Fractional rigs permit easy reefing and depowering via the mainsail, and the relatively small headsail—around 84 square feet according to published figures—keeps winch loads modest and allows for quicker tacks and sail changes. The swing keel, when lowered to its full 4.50-foot draft, provides a reasonably deep foil for a boat of this length, helping the boat track upwind and reducing leeway, while the generous ballast helps the boat stand up to its sail plan without feeling excessively tender. The transom-hung rudder, controlled by a tiller, offers direct feedback and simplicity, and it is easy to maintain and inspect compared to more complex spade or skeg-hung arrangements.

Under power, the small outboard would be adequate for harbor maneuvers and light airs, and its ability to be tilted up or removed would minimize drag when sailing and avoid corrosion when the boat is stored on a trailer. The Quickstep 19’s modest displacement and hull form mean that even a 3-horsepower motor can push it close to hull speed in calm conditions, though adverse currents or chop would naturally reduce speed. For sailors in waters like Narragansett Bay, where currents and crowded harbors combine, this level of auxiliary power is usually considered acceptable for a boat designed primarily to sail rather than motor, especially given the presentation of the design as a simple recreational keelboat.

Trailerability and Shallow-Water Sailing

One of the strongest appeals of the Quickstep 19 lies in its trailerability, enabled by the swing keel’s ability to retract to a 1.00-foot draft and the hull’s modest beam of 7.75 feet. With the keel raised, the boat sits low on its trailer and can be launched from ramps with shallower water and less ideal geometry than would be suitable for deeper fixed-keel yachts, a flexibility that greatly expands the range of cruising grounds accessible to owners without permanent moorings. The Flow 19 video’s demonstration of beaching and very shallow ramp use illustrates the kind of experiences swing-keel owners often seek, and although the Quickstep 19’s specifics differ, its keel configuration clearly aimed for similar versatility, allowing it to nose into quiet creeks and anchorages with far less water beneath the hull than traditional keelboats require.

Trailerability also affects ownership economics and patterns of use. By storing the boat on land when not in use, owners can reduce mooring fees and haul-out costs, and they can tow the boat to different regions or lakes seasonally, making the Quickstep 19 an attractive choice for sailors who travel or who live far from deep harbors. The boat’s relatively small size makes it manageable on the road for many vehicles, and the swing keel’s ability to retract means that the boat’s effective draft during transport is primarily the depth of its trailer bunks rather than its sailing draft. At the same time, once launched and the keel lowered, the Quickstep behaves much more like a conventional keelboat than a centerboard dinghy, offering reassuring ballast and underwater profile for longer sails and rougher conditions.

Ratings and Organized Racing

Although the Quickstep 19 was not conceived primarily as a racing one-design, it does appear in regional performance handicap tables, suggesting that owners have used the boat for club racing under systems such as PHRF. The handicap authority serving Narragansett Bay maintains rating histories for numerous yachts, and its published tables include entries that reference Quickstep models, reflecting the boat’s presence in local fleets and its compatibility with informal racing. Participation in such events would typically involve sailing against a mixed fleet of small cruisers and daysailers, where performance differences are evened out by handicaps and emphasis is placed on seamanship and tactics rather than pure speed.

From a performance perspective, the Quickstep 19’s ratios and sail plan place it in the middle of the pack among small cruisers, neither notably underpowered nor aggressively canvased, and its swing keel and ballast allow it to perform respectably upwind when properly trimmed. The fractional rig’s balance between main and headsail makes it well suited to short-handed crews common in club racing, and the boat’s tiller steering and responsive rudder provide adequate control during maneuvers. While it would not be expected to dominate high-performance fleets, the Quickstep 19 would offer enjoyable racing for owners who appreciate tactical sailing in modestly sized boats and value the ability to race the same vessel they cruise on weekends.

Production History, Lineage, and Naming Heritage

From Lockley-Newport and Gloucester to Quickstep

The Quickstep 19’s molds trace back to designs marketed earlier by Lockley Newport Boats and Gloucester Yachts, and understanding this lineage is key to appreciating the Bristol boat’s place in the broader family of related small cruisers. A database entry for the Lockley-Newport 19 describes it as a compact, trailerable fiberglass daysailer or pocket cruiser built in Newport Beach, California, active during the 1970s and 1980s and characterized by a swing keel, fractional rig, and similar dimensions to the later Gloucester and Quickstep variants. This LN-19 is identified with multiple aliases, including LN-19 and LN 19, and the entry notes that it is sometimes cross-referenced with the Gloucester 19 and Quickstep 19 due to shared or related molds, underscoring that the basic hull and deck tooling may have migrated or been replicated across companies.

The Gloucester 19, first built in 1983 by Gloucester Yachts Inc. in the United States, appears in the specifications database as a swing-keel fractional sloop with LOA 19.25 feet, LWL 16.50 feet, beam 7.50 feet, displacement 1,600 pounds, ballast 550 pounds, and sail area 176 square feet. The database further notes that the Gloucester 19 is a daysailer version of the Gloucester 20 and that its molds were subsequently acquired by Quickstep Sailboats, at which point the design was reintroduced as the Quickstep 19. This explicit statement confirms that Quickstep was not simply inspired by Gloucester’s boat but directly used its molds, giving the Bristol-built version a genealogical link to both Gloucester and the earlier Lockley-Newport iterations that shared similar characteristics.

Within this lineage, Quickstep’s modifications—most notably increased ballast and displacement and enhanced interior and trim—mark a shift from an emphasis on daysailing toward a stronger pocket-cruiser identity. By adding roughly 200 pounds of displacement and 200 pounds of ballast compared to Gloucester, Quickstep altered the boat’s behavior and capability, and by highlighting sleeping accommodation for four, a galley, and a head, the company signaled that this was not merely a lightly furnished dayboat but a genuine cruiser in miniature. These changes illustrate how molds can serve as a starting point for new interpretations, allowing builders to reposition a design for different markets without changing the fundamental hull shape.

Comparative Specifications and Conflicting Data

Because the Quickstep 19 is part of a family of closely related boats, published specifications occasionally conflict, particularly regarding displacement, ballast, and waterline length. A comparison of major figures from several sources helps clarify these differences and illuminate how each builder configured the design. The following table summarizes key dimensions and performance-related data for the Lockley-Newport 19, Gloucester 19, Quickstep 19, and Prelude 19, drawing on the specifications databases and magazine records cited earlier.

The Lockley-Newport 19’s data is reconstructed from the cruising magazine’s database and shows displacement and ballast numbers matching those of the Gloucester 19, suggesting that both boats were configured similarly. The Quickstep 19’s heavier displacement, greater ballast, and slightly wider beam differentiate it within the same mold family, while the Prelude 19, from a different builder and designer, illustrates how another small cruiser of identical LOA can adopt different rig options, sail areas, and ballast strategies.

These differences highlight the need for caution when interpreting specifications across sources. The Quickstep 19’s displacement figure of 1,800 pounds might be measured with certain standard equipment aboard, while Gloucester’s 1,600-pound figure could represent a more stripped-down configuration, and variations in ballast may reflect different keel options or revisions made during the boat’s production life. Nevertheless, the overall pattern is clear: the Bristol-built Quickstep 19 is the heaviest and most heavily ballasted of the group, and its fractional rig and swing keel place it firmly in the same conceptual class as its predecessors and peers.

Out of Production and Surviving Presence

The Quickstep 19 was built starting in 1989 by Quickstep Sailboats in Bristol, Rhode Island, but it is now out of production according to the principal specifications entry. The exact end date of production is not recorded in the sources consulted, but the absence of new builds and the boat’s confinement to historical databases and rating tables indicate that its manufacturing run concluded some decades ago, likely in the 1990s or early 2000s. As with many small production boats, the reasons for discontinuation may have included economic shifts, changing consumer preferences, and the broader consolidation of the marine industry, though such factors are not explicitly documented for Quickstep.

Despite the cessation of new construction, the Quickstep 19 persists in the sailing ecosystem through existing hulls, online specifications records, and handicap lists maintained by organizations such as the PHRF authority in Narragansett Bay. A large online database of sailboats, designers, and builders notes that it contains information on more than 11,000 boats, including models like the Gloucester 19 and many similar small cruisers, and the Quickstep 19’s inclusion in such records ensures that prospective buyers, restorers, and historians can still readily access its basic data even though the factory no longer produces the boat.

The “Quickstep” Name and Herreshoff Echoes

An intriguing aspect of the Quickstep 19’s story is the reuse of the name “Quickstep” in Bristol’s boatbuilding history, linking the small pocket cruiser to earlier boats launched by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff records list HMCo hull number 1138s, later known as “Quickstep,” as a Buzzards Bay 12½-footer designed by N. G. Herreshoff and delivered in 1930. This wooden sloop, with a length overall of 15 feet, waterline length of 12 feet 6 inches, draft of 2 feet 6 inches, sail area of 140 square feet, displacement of 1,574 pounds, and lead keel, was built for Paul Dudley Dean for $1,100, and it represents the kind of finely crafted, small Herreshoff yacht that made Bristol famous in the early twentieth century.

A separate historical note on civilian ships describes the steam yacht Florence, a 104 gross ton vessel built in 1903 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, and mentions that during her pre–World War I career she was also known as Quickstep. This means that at least two different Herreshoff boats—one a small sailing sloop, the other a substantial steam yacht—carried the name Quickstep at various points, and both were built in the same town where Quickstep Sailboats would later construct the Quickstep 19. While the sources consulted do not explicitly state that Quickstep Sailboats chose its company and model name in conscious homage to these earlier Herreshoff boats, the coincidence is striking and adds a layer of historical resonance to the Bristol cruiser’s identity, especially for sailors familiar with the town’s rich nautical heritage.

The reuse of names across decades in a single harbor illustrates how local maritime cultures carry forward certain linguistic and symbolic traditions, whether intentionally or by coincidence. In Bristol’s case, “Quickstep” first attached to a steam yacht and a classic Herreshoff sloop, then resurfaced on a compact fiberglass cruiser designed for trailerable leisure sailing, creating an unexpected continuity between eras of yachting separated by dramatic changes in materials, propulsion, and market structure.

The Quickstep 19 in Broader Small-Boat History

Comparison with Contemporary Designs

Within the wider landscape of small cruising sailboats of the 1970s through 1990s, the Quickstep 19 shares key characteristics with both American and European designs, yet it maintains distinctiveness through its particular combination of swing keel, fractional rig, and raised ballast. Comparing it to the British Prelude 19, for example, reveals convergences and divergences: both boats have the same overall length of 19.25 feet and similar waterline lengths around 17 feet, but the Prelude offers twin keel, fin keel, and swing keel options, as well as both fractional and masthead rig variants, and carries a significantly larger reported sail area of 274 square feet in some configurations. The Prelude’s ballast of 500 pounds and displacement of 1,500 pounds result in a ballast-to-displacement ratio of about 33 percent, somewhat lower than the Quickstep’s heavily ballasted 750 pounds in 1,800 pounds displacement.

These numerical differences suggest that the Quickstep 19 was tuned more toward stability and cruising comfort than the more versatile and possibly performance-oriented Prelude, whose greater sail area and alternative rig options could provide livelier sailing at the cost of handling complexity. In contrast, the Quickstep’s moderate sail area and fractional rig reflect a desire to keep sail handling straightforward, and its swing keel focuses on access to shallow waters and ramp launching rather than maximizing absolute performance. For American sailors, the Quickstep 19 would have been one choice among many in a crowded field of trailerable pocket cruisers, but its Bristol heritage, ballast profile, and interior claims set it apart as a slightly more serious cruising platform than certain competing 18–20-foot daysailers.

Recreational Sailing Trends and Market Niche

The period in which the Quickstep 19 emerged saw significant shifts in recreational sailing, including growing interest in trailerable boats that could reduce mooring costs and expand cruising horizons beyond a single home harbor. Designs like the Lockley-Newport 19 and Gloucester 19 responded to this trend by offering swing keels, fractional rigs, and modest interiors, and the Quickstep 19 continued this theme while enhancing ballast and accommodation to appeal to sailors seeking more than afternoon sails. Small boats like these made entry into sailing more accessible for many families, allowing them to own a yacht-like craft without the expense and commitment of a larger vessel, and they fit neatly into a lifestyle that blended daysailing, occasional weekends aboard, and seasonal travel by trailer.

At the same time, the rise of such boats reflected a broader diversification of the sailing market, where high-performance raceboats, offshore cruisers, and small trailerable craft coexisted, each addressing different desires and budgets. The Quickstep 19 occupied a mid-range niche in this spectrum: more capable and enclosed than open dinghies and minimalist dayboats, but far more modest than offshore-capable cruisers. Its specifications indicate that it was designed to be safe and comfortable within its intended environment—coastal and inland waters—but not to challenge the ocean-crossing ambitions of larger yachts, a differentiation clearly visible in its ratios and rig.

Legacy and Ongoing Relevance

Although out of production, the Quickstep 19 remains relevant as an example of thoughtful small-boat design that sought to reconcile trailerability, shallow-water versatility, and genuine cruising capability within a very tight dimensional envelope. Owners of surviving boats continue to benefit from the design’s strengths, including its heavily ballasted swing keel, manageable sail plan, and practical interior, while online databases and rating tables preserve its technical details for future buyers, restorers, and historians. The boat’s connection to earlier molds and its positioning as the most heavily ballasted member of its family underscore its significance as a particular interpretation of a shared hull concept, showing how builders can tailor a design to different uses and markets without altering its fundamental shape.

The Quickstep 19’s presence in the historical record also enriches understanding of Bristol’s post-Herreshoff boatbuilding story. While the town’s earlier fame derived from iconic racing and cruising yachts built of wood and powered by sail or steam, later decades saw the emergence of fiberglass trailerables like the Quickstep 19 that catered to a different clientele and use case. The reuse of the “Quickstep” name across multiple Bristol boats—Herreshoff’s Buzzards Bay 12½, the steam yacht Florence/Quickstep, and the Quickstep 19 pocket cruiser—symbolizes continuity amid change, linking generations of sailors who may have very different boats and sailing styles but share a common harbor and linguistic tradition.

Conclusion

The Quickstep 19 stands as a revealing snapshot of late–twentieth-century small-boat design, embodying the aspirations and constraints of the trailerable pocket cruiser concept while carrying forward echoes of Bristol, Rhode Island’s long boatbuilding heritage. Designed by Stuart Windley and built by Quickstep Sailboats using molds inherited from Gloucester Yachts’ earlier Gloucester 19, the boat combines a fractional sloop rig, swing or optional fin keel, and substantial lead ballast within a 19.25-foot fiberglass hull, producing a small cruiser that is both trailer-friendly and capable of offering modest but genuine accommodation for four, along with a galley and head. Its heavier displacement and increased ballast relative to the Lockley-Newport 19 and Gloucester 19 variants mark it out as the most cruising-oriented member of that mold family, reflecting Quickstep’s choice to prioritize stability, comfort, and interior fit-out over the lighter, more dayboat-like configurations used earlier.

On the water, the Quickstep 19’s swing keel allows drafts ranging from 1.00 foot with the keel retracted to 4.50 feet when extended, granting owners access to extremely shallow ramps and coves while delivering adequate upwind performance and righting moment when sailing offshore, and its small outboard provides practical auxiliary power for harbor work and calms. The fractional rig’s moderate sail area and balanced main–headsail relationship, supported by typical rig dimensions such as I, J, P, and E, make the boat manageable for short-handed crews and well suited to club-level racing under handicap systems like PHRF, where it appears in regional rating tables alongside other pocket cruisers.

In historical perspective, the Quickstep 19’s story illuminates the evolution of small cruising sailboats in both the American and British markets, showing how similar hull dimensions and swing-keel concepts were interpreted differently by designers like Windley and Ian Proctor to produce boats such as the Quickstep and Prelude 19. It also underscores the ongoing relevance of specifications databases and archives maintained by magazines and enthusiasts, which preserve the technical and genealogical details of out-of-production boats and enable informed decisions by buyers, restorers, and researchers. Finally, the boat’s name ties it to Bristol’s earlier yachting history, where Herreshoff boats such as the Buzzards Bay 12½ “Quickstep” and the steam yacht Florence, later known as Quickstep, once sailed the same waters, suggesting a subtle continuity of naming and maritime identity across eras and technologies.

Although no longer built, the Quickstep 19 continues to offer an instructive and appealing template for sailors and designers interested in compact, trailerable cruisers that do more than simply day sail. Its combination of shallow-water access, ballast-supported stability, practical interior, and historical resonance make it more than a mere footnote in sailboat directories; it is a compact embodiment of a particular moment in sailing culture and an enduring reminder of how much thoughtful design can be packed into nineteen feet of fiberglass and wood.