Owen Clarke Design - Yacht Design and Naval Architecture

19/05/2024

Awen (ex Ecover 2/Mutua Madrilena) relaunches in New Zealand with new keel fin engineered by PURE (NZ)

18/05/2024

OCs sixth generation Class 40, #200 Scowling Dragon, showing off her scow bow in stark comparison to the 2nd generation 2007 design #54 Dragon.

10/04/2024

‘Meerkat; an ice reinforced aluminium centreboard blue water cruising catamaran is near the end of its concept design phase. The design is unusual and innovative in two aspects: multihull explorer yachts are rare, as are catamaran ketches. Merf Owen and Allen Clarke began their careers as multihull designers, builders, and sailors in 1987. This catamaran builds on a history of innovative progressive designs including their recent aluminium explorer yacht projects.

04/04/2024

Elephants gestate for 22 months. Mythical beasts take a bit longer.

August 2021, Owen Clarke Design - Yacht Design and Naval Architecture slid into my DMs to tease me with a concept drawing. April 2022 I said YOLO. 24 months later, something special is about to be born.

30/03/2024

29/03/2024

In 2023 Owen Clarke supported the refits of three of our IMOCA 60 designs that will be competing in the 2024 Vendee Globe. Nexans Art and Fenetres has had new foils, keel, bulb, and the water ballast tank configuration changed to optimise the boat to the latest rule. Another non-Vendee entrant, Ecover 2, refitting in New Zealand is having a new high tensile steel fin while retaining her original 2003 bulb and ballast tank configuration.

24/03/2024

A completely new innovative design challenge for OC in the last six months has been developing from first principles with a well-known ocean rower, this 6.5m offshore rowing boat. Designed with self -righting stability capability for a specific record attempt, yet to be announced. This full carbon composite machine will commence build in the UK in 2024.

09/03/2024

Cole Brauer finishing the Global Solo Challenge, the first American woman to complete a solo race around the world non-stop, sailing First Light (ex Dragon), her Owen Clarke Design Class 40, Cole finished second in this global ‘pursuit race’ with a corrected time of 130 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 38 seconds and 11 days, 19 hours days behind on the water, to winner Philippe Delamere. Photo credits: James Tomlinson

04/03/2024

On Friday at the New York Yacht Club, Ashley Perrin and Merfyn Owen received the 2023 Royal Cruising Club Trophy from the Commodore of the CCA (Cruising Club of America). The trophy was awarded for “For their extended circumnavigation and excellent cruise of Newfoundland by way of Greenland and Labrador in Santana, a Capo 30.”

In 2019 the couple raced and then cruised Santana, their 30’ Carl Schumacher design from Maine to St Johns NL They returned early in the 2020 season sailing in fog and ice to northern Newfoundland, before crossing the Labrador Sea on an expedition to the west coast of Greenland.

Trapped by Covid ashore in Nuuk for two winters, Santana returned across a cold, icy, and grey Davis Strait to Labrador and south to north west Newfoundland. The last part of the circumnavigation was completed last year. This time a pleasant summer cruise down the Straits of Belle Isle and west along the remote southern coast of Newfoundland.

Ashley Perrin is a CCA member, a professional boat captain and owner of Antarctic Ice Pilot, a company offering logistical, expedition leader, and ice pilot services to yachts visiting Antarctic and Arctic waters. Merfyn Owen is a founding partner of the yacht design and naval architecture office Owen Clarke Design former professional skipper and a double Cape-Horner.

www.antarcticicepilot.com

www.owenclarkedesign.com/Expedition-Sailing-and-Motor-Explorer-Yacht-Design

28/01/2024

Allen and I had a planning meeting yesterday with the brokerage team, Brian and Sue. The yacht brokerage side of OC and the Class 40s in particular is going great guns. We remain by some way the brokers with the most listings and sales of Class 40s, worldwide. This includes the 6 scows, from #165 to #180 currently on the books.

17/11/2023

Good article on UK's Yachting World, website and hard copy in their latest magazine edition.

The new OC188 from KM Yachtbuilders and designed by Owen Clarke, is built as a go-anywhere bluewater cruiser, that is capable of circumnavigations

22/10/2023

Three vintage OC 40s in this great race. More to follow over the coming months.…

A hectic final few days for Ari Kansakoski with lots of final minute preparations. Ari however managed to leave the dock with only a few minutes delay on his allocated start time and sailed at good pace towards Espresso Martini and Phoenix who had left on time with solent and one reef in the main. The residual swell from friday’s storm was quite significant.

13/10/2023

A great couple of days at KM Yachtbuilders culminating in the turning of the hull of the OC 60', aluminium blue water performance cruising yacht currently under construction. The high winds and rain did not hinder the smooth operation. These events are always exciting for client, builder and designer as its generally the first opportunity for all to view what up until this point has largely been a series of 2d and 3d CAD drawings, rendered images and a mass of aluminium components stacked in the boatyard.

21/08/2023

Fabrice Amedeo’s ’Nexans Arts et fenêtre’ (ex Ecover3/Gamesa) out sailing after her long refit at La Base, by Eric Lamy, Martin Mynne and their hard-working team. Newly measured, she is now at a new IMOCA measurement weight of 7720kg. Most of the changes we undertook were on the inside stripping out weight and replacing the old tank system with a new configuration, now that we can disregard the 10-degree rule, while honouring the maximum righting moment of 25,500 kgm.

On the outside more protection was built in around the cockpit and with reliability and cost the main drivers; there are new daggerboards to replace the small lifting foils that were fitted in France two Vendee cycles ago. We expect this conventional appendage choice to be somewhat quicker than the small foils and in some conditions as quick, if not quicker than the later generation foilers, as we saw in the Ocean Race Europe. The team's choice in this respect mirrors that made by Jean Le Cam for his new, recently launched IMOCA 60 sponsored by the region Finistere, and Armor Lux. For Fabrice, later in the year, after the TJV there will be a new OC keel fin and bulb in good time for the Vendee.

Photo Credit: Jean Marie Liot Images

23/07/2023

Just about every sailors knows not that it's been a breezy start to the Fastnet. Not wanting to jink any of the sailors enduring tough conditions we'll just post this nice series of pics. from one of the teams. Meanwhile commiserations to Canada Ocean Racing who have retired with halyard and sail damage to the J3.

19/07/2023

Canada Océan Racing back on the water after Spring refit.

Photo Credit: Canada Ocean Racing

route du rhum 2022

07/07/2023

South Africa caught red handed engaging in weapons export. The Russians aren't getting this one- she is headed to USA for completion at Maine Yacht Center by Podium Boatworks

Thank you to the team at Evolution Marine Manufacturing, Owen Clarke Design - Yacht Design and Naval Architecture , Hubley, Hobson, Skinner, Munslow, Marine, Hotchkiss, Marco Mackaiser, Gorilla Rigging , Stone, Mark Washeim , Onesails North Atlantic, Noordzy for all the hard work and patience to-date. We got a few miles to go, but she is gonna be worth it.

07/06/2023

New rudder design for the US West Coast Moore 24

Throughout the year in parallel with working on new projects and supporting the needs of owners of pre-existing Owen Clarke designs, OC undertake numerous consultancy projects for design offices, yards and owners. Recognised particularly as leaders in the field, OC rudder designs and other appendages have been retro-fitted onto dozens of well-known and not so well-known racing and cruising yachts from America to Australia, for inshore as well as offshore racing, on 12 metres, classics, IRC/ORC, Grand Prix, Volvo 70 and maxis.

The largest rudder to date has been a full carbon pre-preg package engineered to class (Germansker Lloyd) for Nautor Swan and their 35m racer-cruiser. The smallest and closer to home is a new rudder (with high strength stainless stock) for the venerable Moore 24 fleet in California. After two seasons of racing in San Francisco Bay with his wife Ashley Perrin on her beloved Flashman, designer Merfyn Owen developed a new rudder for the boat with the specific aim of improving the performance and handling in medium to heavy conditions when racing in non-class events under PHRF.

The new rudder was built in South Africa, taking advantage of the exchange rate of the SA Rand to the US $. Wetted surface area is identical to the old rudder meaning that even in light airs there are small gains with the new section. The difference between the low aspect ratio of a standard rudder (seen in the foreground) and the new high aspect profile shape is obvious and it’s not rocket science that the boat’s directional stability when pressed hard and the lift to drag numbers as boat speeds increase are considerably improved.

As well as section shape, what may also make OC’s rudder different to those of other designers that are beginning to appear in the fleet is that it can be swapped out with the old class rudder without any modifications to race in Moore 24 regattas. At the same time, the rudder is engineered to ISO 12215, part 8, Category A (Ocean), providing a heightened level of security for those heading offshore out of the Golden Gate or on Transpac and Pacific Cups.

For more information contact:

or go to: https://www.owenclarkedesign.com//Yacht-Design-Engineering-Consultancy-Services

and: https://www.owenclarkedesign.com//racing-sailing-yacht-rudder-engineering-design-3

31/05/2023

28/04/2023

Brilliant job Kirsten Neuschafer, at the same time condolences but congratulations to our good friend Simon Curwen for a course well sailed.

Kirsten Neuschafer has become the first woman to win a solo, round the world yacht race after winning the 2022 Golden Globe Race

10/04/2023

This is Lynx, the 15m lifting keel Owen Clarke high latitude blue water cruising boat leaving the Koopmans Kosko aluminium shipyard for the first time, heading to the shot-blasting shop and onwards to fit-out.

01/03/2023

OC are working on this exciting project with Fabrice Amadeo and his team, to convert ex Ecover3/Gamesa from its 'La Mie Caline' semi foiling configuration back to a light weight daggerboard solution for the 2024 Vendee Globe. This involves new tanks, changing the ballast configuration to the new rule (ditching the old ten degree requirement), replacing the small foils added by the Mer Agitee team with daggerboards and generally reducing the weight of the composite structure. The final stage is a new forged fin and bulb, reducing the keel cant from 42 degrees that was optimal for the old rule, to 32-33 degrees for the new. Her final configuration and displacement will be back below her original Gamesa displacement of 8.03 tonnes with a max righting moment of 25.5 TM at 25 degrees. The goal is to produce a light weight, reliable, cost -effective package, along the same lines as Jean Le Cam's new IMOCA and our own Offshore Team Germany (ex Acciona), winner of last years Ocean Race Europe.

03/02/2023

Good luck to the skipper who (hopefully will not) pick up the reins after this car crash......Shame on you Banque Populaire

Banque Populaire's dropping of Clarisse Cremer has caused widespread outrage among the offshore sailing community, and is a huge national story in France