Please select your home edition
Edition
Doyle_SailWorld_728X90px-02 TOP

Design icon Olin Stephens dies

by sail-world.com/uk on 14 Sep 2008
Olin Stephens (Photo: Billy Black) Sparkman & Stephens http://www.sparkmanstephens.com

Yacht Designer Olin James Stephens II (April 13, 1908 – September 13, 2008) has been described as the best-known and most successful yacht designer of the 20th century.

He celebrated his 100th birthday last April but he has now sailed on, dying yesterday in the USA.

Olin retired from the design business in the 1980's, after designing over 2,000 boats, including eight America's Cup winners, in career lasting more than 50 years. To celebrate the work of this designer with few peers, Sail-world.com put together a few pictures covering the major design successes that he and his brother Rod Stephens produced from 1929 onwards.


Their prolific design firm, Sparkman & Stephens Inc (S&S) was formally created on November 11, 1929, with five partners, Drake and James Sparkman, Olin and Rod Stephens. and James Murray and is still based on 5th Avenue, New York, was responsible for designing such diverse craft as the World War II DUKW amphibious landing vehicle, their own Atlantic and Fastnet race winner Dorade, a string of 12 Metre America's Cup winners from Columbia to Courageous, and iconic maxi yachts like Kialoa III, and early Whitbread round the world race winners Sayula II and Flyer.

The Sparkman side was a Yacht brokerage and so today there are the marriages of two departments, one focused on design, naval architecture and marine engineering and the other handling the brokerage.

The Fastnet

Dorade was one of the first offshore yacht designs drawn by Olin and Rod for their Father Olin Stephens Snr. Built in 1929, this 52ft yawl did most to establish Olin and Rod at the forefront of yacht design.

She not only won the 1931 Atlantic and Fastnet races outright, but gained a class win in the 1932 Bermuda Race. The yacht was recently restored in Italy and Olin was guest of honour at her re-launch.


The Sydney Hobart

Challenge II a 45ft S&S design, bought by Lou Abrahams in 1979. won the 1983 Sydney to Hobart.

Mark Twain a 39-foot S&S,in 2002 became the first boat to compete in 25 Sydney to Hobart Yacht races Over the years, Mark Twain has had three-second places and two thirds in division and she successfully completed the storm conditions of the 1998 Telstra Sydney to Hobart Race finishing 17th overall on IMS handicap.

Mark Twain and her sister ship Pilgrim now known as Perie Banou II and now owned by Jon Sanders, had major battles on the race course in their time, and when they last meet, the competition started as though it never stopped. Mark Twain beat Perie Banou II by the same margin to Hobart, last time they met - 4 hours.


The Bermuda Race

The biennial Bermuda Race has long been a proving ground for Sparkman & Stephens designs. Their own yacht Dorade won Class B in 1932, followed by Edlu which won overall honours in 1934.

Baruna did the same in 1938, Blitzen won Class B the same year, Good News won Class A in 1946 and line honours in 1958, Mustang (owned by Rod Stephens) won Class B in 1952, Bolero won line honours in 1950 and set a record time in 1956.

Finisterre won Class D together with the Lighthouse Trophy in 1956, and '58 and Running Tide won Class A in 1970 and '76, together with the overall honours.


America's Cup

Olin Stephens' most famous America's Cup yacht is undoubtedly the 12 Metre Courageous which successfully defended iin 1974, skippered by Bob Bavier and helmed by Ted Hood, and she was again steered to victory in 1977. This time by Ted Turner. This evergreen design was still competing for the Cup in 1986/7. Other S&S Cup designs included the J Class yacht Ranger, and 12M yachts Columbia, Vim, Constellation, Intrepid, Valiant and Enterprise.


Olin - the Father of modern tank testing

Olin Stephens did much to develop the methodology for gaining accurate model test tank results by comparing the full size results of two 6-Metre designs, Jack & Jill against those gained from running models in the tank testing facility at the Davidson Laboratory, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey.

From 1958 to 1967, this lab tested the America's Cup 12 Metre designs of Columbia, & Constellation - all Olin Stephens designs.


Circumnavigations

Jon Sanders with Perie Banou a S&S 34,was first man to circumnavigate Antarctica, circling the continent twice in 1981 – 1982. During the voyage, he passed south of the three great capes: Horn, Good Hope and Leeuwin, before rounding Cape Horn a second time. He turned north to Plymouth, UK and returning south around Good Hope and returning to Fremantle

* The first single-handed sailor to remain continuously at sea twice around the world
* First single-handed sailor to round the five southern most Capes twice on one voyage
* First single-handed sailor to round the five southern most Capes twice
* Longest distance continuously sailed by any yacht: 48,510 miles.
* Longest period alone at sea during a continuous voyage: 419 days: 22 hours: 10 minutes


S&S Maxi yachts

Kialoa III, the 79ft S&S design maxi owned by Jim Kilroy broke the Sydney to Hobart Race record in 1975 and held that mark for 21 years. She also won the Transatlantic, Transpac, China Sea and dominated the Maxi World championships during the early 1980s. Other equally notable Stephens designed ocean racing yachts included the Swan 65 Sayula II, winner of the first Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, and Flyer, another S&S designed ketch which Dutchman Conny van Rietschoten won the 1977/8 Whitbread Race.

ABS25-SailWorld-1456x180-BOTTOM-01_01Selden 2020 - FOOTERC-Tech 2020 Tubes 728x90 BOTTOM

Related Articles

RS400 Eurocup, UK and Irish Nationals Update
Notice of Race published for the event at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in August The RS400 Class Association, in collaboration with the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, is excited to announce the publication of the Notice of Race for the RS400 Eurocup and UK & Irish National Championships, taking place from 3rd to 8th August 2025.
Posted today at 6:03 pm
Vendée Globe Tuesday Update
The long and winding road to Les Sables d'Olonne Passing Cape Finisterre off the NW corner of Spain this afternoon Boris Herrmann (Malizia Seaexplorer) remains in prudent, safe mode as he closes the finish line of the Vendée Globe which he should cross tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon to take 12th place.
Posted today at 5:09 pm
Henri-Lloyd supports Arctic Scientists on SV Barba
A community of ocean explorers, scientists, conservationists and communicators A community of ocean explorers, scientists, conservationists and communicators has teamed up with Henri-Lloyd as its official technical clothing partner.
Posted today at 4:00 pm
Cup-quake, Vendee Globe news, Florida racing
America's Cup news, Vendee Globe finishers, warm-water racing While the dates and details of the next America's Cup have yet to be finalized, the AC world was jolted last week by the news that Sir Ben Ainslie will not return as principal, CEO, and skipper of the British-flagged INEOS Britannia team.
Posted today at 4:00 pm
Emma Wilson launches LA 2028 campaign in Lanzarote
The 2025 iQFOiL Games kicks off in Playa Blanca on Wednesday The 2025 iQFOiL Games kicks off in Playa Blanca on the Canary Island of Lanzarote on Wednesday January 29 and concludes on Sunday February 2.
Posted today at 3:21 pm
Giancarlo Pedote in the Vendée Globe update
Less than 1,500 miles from the finish Currently lying in 15th place in the provisional Vendée Globe ranking, the skipper of Prysmian, Giancarlo Pedote, is about to tackle the last 1,500 miles in the sprint to the finish in Les Sables-d'Olonne.
Posted today at 2:59 pm
Vendée Globe Tuesday 28th January Update
A La Rochelle welcome for Benjamin & Clarisse La Rochelle welcomed Vendée Globe finishers Benjamin Dutreux and Clarisse Crémer with open arms after they couldn't enter the channel at Les Sables d'Olonne due to rough seas.
Posted today at 8:32 am
CYCA claims 2025 Helly Hansen International
Cole Tapper, Max Brennan, Jack Frewin & Hamish Vass win in Sydney Cole Tapper, Max Brennan, Jack Frewin & Hamish Vass have won the 2025 Helly Hansen International, claiming the Joy Ride Perpetual Trophy for a second time over Jeffrey Petersen, Enzo Menditto, Spencer Kriestein, Justin Callahan, Mitchell Callahan.
Posted today at 5:43 am
A hat for every ocean-head!
Stay all day in this super light, comfortable full-shade brim hat with mesh vents Stay all day in this super light, comfortable full-shade brim hat with mesh vents, adjustable head size and removable draw cord.
Posted on 27 Jan
Freight Train Running
Checking in with Cole Brauer and ZaZa Tucker in the Southern Ocean Back at the beginning of November 2024 in 'When diminutive is massive' we warned fellow mariners in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, then the Tasman Sea that First Light may resemble more of a freight train on her delivery to Australia than a Class 40.
Posted on 27 Jan