"As I think of Aage, the one word that describes him completely is integrity. He knew what he was doing and he took no shortcuts. His drawings, complete and attractive, his care to skip nothing proper to the boat's purpose, his full acceptance of the need to use an able builder and then to follow through at the builder's yard and see the new boat to full completion, the spirit behind all this activity, can be characterized by the single word: 'integrity.' That was Aage Nielsen." ?From the Foreword by Olin Stephens Although the name of Knud Aage Nielsen is arguably not as well known as his colleagues in the pantheon of great yacht designers of the twentieth century?Olin Stephens, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, John G. Alden, and others?it should be. Nielsen devoted his life to boat design and construction, beginning with his youth in his native Denmark. Nielsen's ability to build anything he designed gave him a unique relationship with accomplished builders?most notably Paul Luke in Ma
