Langan Design: 25 Years of Timeless Designs

For the last quarter century, Langan Design’s focus has been on the next project and attending to all the details that help make each design timeless. To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are taking a look in the rearview mirror and sharing a few special highlights.

Company History

In 1997, after more than two decades as Chief Designer at Sparkman & Stephens, Bill Langan decided to move to the Newport area and start a boutique firm under his own name. The goal was to offer clients a more intimate relationship in the design process. Soon Langan Design had created a wide range of award-winning power and sail designs, first under construction and then afloat. Unfortunately, Bill was diagnosed with Leukemia and passed away in 2010.

It was Bill’s wish that Langan Design continue to advance his vision, and today our overall goal of designing and engineering timeless yachts remains exactly the same (as does our Spring Street location, just up the hill from Newport Harbor). We have taken on a wide variety of power and sailboat projects that have flourished under our collaborative approach. We have also broadened our portfolio to include nautical design themes in several high-end residences. It is hard to believe that we are already celebrating Langan Design’s silver anniversary.

Here are four of our many designs from the last 25 years that are still actively underway:

S/Y Victoria of Strathearn

Design #1 from our office won the 2001 International Superyacht Design Award for “best sailboat above 36 meters”.

The first project for Langan Design became one of our “flag bearer” designs. Challenged by the client to create a modern sailing vessel with a classic profile, we strove to find the optimum solution to every detail—without compromising the vessel’s aesthetics. This set the stage for how Langan Design would handle each project going forward. She was launched in 2000 and won the International Superyacht Design Award in 2001 for best sailboat above 36 meters.

Where is she now? S/V Huckleberry was recently spotted in the Balearic Sea.

M/Y Calliope

Built in 2010, this all-aluminum 140-foot semi-displacement motor yacht has undergone two name changes and at least one major refit. The original owner had previously commissioned us to design the 105-foot Cassiopeia, and when he asked us to design a larger motor yacht our collaboration created a wide-chined hull with flared bow sections and a slight tumblehome aft. In 2011, this yacht won a World Super Yacht award.

Where is she now? Now called Fabulous Character, this yacht was recently spotted in Palm Beach, Florida.

S/Y Eos

This all-aluminum three-masted schooner is our flagship. At slightly more than 300 feet, she was the largest sailing vessel in the world when she was completed at Lürssen Shipyard in 2006. The design phase for this project was extensive, thanks to many technical challenges and innovative elements that had to be met by a vast number of marine companies. The exterior styling is a blend of classic and contemporary elements, while both hull lines and sail plan were extensively tested to optimize performance under both power and sail. EOS is still owned and actively sailed by the original owner.

M/Y Cocoa Bean

This 242-foot motor yacht, the largest yacht built at Trinity Shipyards, has undergone several refits since her launch in 2014, and Langan Design has been involved with most of them. The largest refit, completed as Astilleros de Mallorca in 2020, was focused on responding to the owner’s desire to improve the yacht’s profile: lowered bulwarks, updated coamings, modified chainplates, updated styling details, and a new paint scheme. She looks like she was launched two years ago!

These are just four of the yachts we have worked on over these past two and a half decades. To see more, visit our project page here.

Now it’s time to get back to work on our next projects. We will have some exciting news to share very soon…