As I rowed up the River Dart in Cornwall, England, in my Western Skiff early one summer morning, I thought there was something incredibly appropriate about going to photograph the latest Nigel Irens design in a Nigel Irens–designed boat. Of course, my 14' skiff was a far more humble affair than the new 26' motor launch he was testing that day, but I liked to think there was a family resemblance between the two boats, if only in those slim, easily driven hulls and plumb stems. Nigel once told me that most yacht designers only ever design one boat, reproducing the same concept in many different guises, so the relationship between Ellen McArthur’s record-breaking trimaran B&Q, the new launch, and my own diminutive skiff may not be so tenuous after all.