The search results confirm a lot of the initial assumptions and provide the necessary details.
Key findings from search:
- Designer: Ian Proctor (1956).
- Purpose: Versatile, cherished for over 50 years in the UK as an exceptional trainer and leisure boat, suitable for solo or double-handed sailing. Also described as safe and stable.
- Hartley Boats Connection: Hartley Boats currently builds the Gull, acquiring the tooling. They updated the original Ian Proctor design but maintained the hull lines. They consider it the "most STABLE 3.35m dinghy in its field".
- Production History/Variations:
- Originally designed by Ian Proctor in 1956 as a frameless double-chine plywood boat.
- Difficult and expensive to build in fiberglass initially note, 2].
- Followed by Gull Calypso (simplified, no wooden parts, by Hartley Laminates).
- Gull Spirit also mentioned, with an interior cloned from the larger Wanderer (another Proctor design).
- The notes align with these variations, mentioning a "second version proved less than popular, partly because of it's lack of a solid fore deck. A third version was significantly redesigned."
- Hartley Boats bought the tooling and produced Gulls, making changes but not redesigning the hull. The "New Edition Gull" still has the original hard-chined hull lines.
- Handling: Described as a "delightful dinghy to sail and to manage," "very forgiving boat, ideal". Excellent for single-handed and double-handed sailing, with an option for spinnaker. Safe and stable. Nimble, responsive not directly stated but implied for a dinghy of this size.
- Accommodations/Layout: Open cockpit dinghy. Can be sailed two-up but can be cramped. Some people find it hard to climb back on board. Has a stepped interior. It's an open boat; accommodations are minimal. Rowing is possible but not ideal due to wide beam and shallow hull.
Now I can proceed with generating the article.