Fall, 1981
The first Shannon 50 Saiorse is launched for Bill McGrail of Boston. This step up to the major leagues of yacht building was prompted by a group of Shannon 38 owners who wanted a bigger boat but would settle for nothing less than Shannon quality. A notable construction feature of the 50 was Walt Schulz's decision to use Airex PVC linear foam as hull coring material, establishing Shannon as a leader in composite core technology. This single biggest improvement in boatbuilding methodology during Shannon's 26 year history, the combination of cores, biaxiel stitched fabrics, Kevlar hybrids, and vinylester resin, result in a Shannon hull built in 2001 being 20% lighter and 40% stronger than a hull built in 1975-1980.
