How effective is a centerboard on a classic yacht?
In naval architecture, intuition is tricky. Unless you’ve spent time digging into an issue, don’t take anything for granted! We were recently reminded of that after studying the effectiveness of the centerboard on the classic Olin Stephens design, Black Watch. After several seasons of getting hit with what felt like a very tough rating in […]
Spirit of Bermuda Sails Home Once Again
The Sail Training Vessel Spirit of Bermuda raced from Newport to Bermuda for the fourth time, finishing the 635-mile race in an elapsed time of 92 hours, 25 minutes, 9 seconds. As the sole entry in the Spirit of Tradition division, she crossed the starting line alongside the fishing schooner Colombia and both reveled in […]
SSV Tabor Boy: Two Generations of Inspiration
by Sam Howell. In 1978, I transferred to Tabor Academy for my final two years of high school. That brought me the unique opportunity of sailing on Tabor Boy, the school’s 92’ schooner. Originally built in 1914 as a Dutch North Sea pilot vessel, both hull and rigs were fabricated in steel. Forty years later, […]
STV Vela wins Antigua Classics Seaworthiness Award
Congratulations to STV Vela (LDP design #47), winner of the Arne Frisell Trophy for seaworthiness and timeless tradition at the 2022 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. We’re thrilled that hundreds of young adults will have transformative learning experiences while onboard, and so grateful to our friends at Seamester for their vision to build STV Argo (now […]
Alex Donlan Joins Langan Design Partners
We are happy to announce that we are growing and have hired a design engineer! Alex Donlan comes to Langan Design with a solid background in both design and hands-on skills. After starting his naval architecture degree at Webb Institute, Alex completed the Yacht Design program at the Landing School and a Bachelor of Engineering […]
Sam Navigates to a Win in Bermuda
LDP’s Sam Howell was the navigator on Masquerade, a Baltic 46, for the 2022 Newport to Bermuda Race. Four days after winning the start in big waves and breeze (and not having to tack to clear the first mark, unlike most of their competition), they decisively won Class 8 and finished second in the Finisterre […]
On the Road: Barcelona Yard Visit
With COVID restrictions finally easing in some parts of the world, it felt good to start revisiting some of our projects, in particular those which we never saw in person since their refits. Tom recently flew to the MB92 Shipyard in Barcelona for the inclining test of the Trinity-built 240′ motor yacht Cocoa Bean, a […]
Out of Sight: Stabilizers Add Onboard Comfort
Two recent stabilizer refits—one power, one sail—have more in common than you might think If stabilizers do their work while out of sight underwater, will anyone notice? The answer is definitely yes—at least according to two of our clients. Recently we were involved with a pair of successful refits to improve the stabilization of two […]
Bluenose II – Days away from sailing
From a design perspective, this project had its challenges: very few people still have the experience working with a such a large wood rudder, and most classification societies have long stopped adapting their rules to account for wood rudders for vessels of this size. For this new rudder, we approached ABS and asked that the […]
Zing III is now sailing in Rio harbor
After a short commissioning period in Santos (Brazil), Zing III has made her way to her mooring and can be seen sailing in Rio harbor. Regularly topping 20 knots her canting keel gives her all the power she needs to blast out to the islands in record time. She is proving a blast to sail, […]
