My first design, the 26 ft. sloop ‘White Rabbit’ was created in 1966 during the 3 year period I attended my boat building apprenticeship in Auckland, New Zealand. Six years later, while working in the engineering department of production yacht builder, Morgan Yachts in St. Petersburg, Florida, I designed a 24 ft. racer, ‘Eygthene’, to the IOR Quarter Ton Rule. This yacht won the 1973 Quarter Ton Championships in Torbay, England, and enabled me to secure the design commission for ‘Golden Apple’ from Irish yachtsman, the late Hugh Coveney. The success of this yacht was the foundation of my Irish based yacht design business. These small racing yachts formed the backbone of the Ron Holland organisation for several years, with a string of successes in level rating world championships and Admiral’s Cup events. Racing at the highest level of international competition. Based on the racing success of the Admiral’s Cup yachts came commissions for maxi racers, the largest yachts competing internationally. In 1980, ‘Kialoa’ and ‘Condor’ established the Ron Holland design philosophy in this area of the business and lead to commissions for larger, performance oriented cruising yachts. ‘Whirlwind XII”, my first design over 100 ft. in length, was launched from the Royal Huisman Shipyard in 1986 and paved the way for a wide variety of design commissions from clients who demanded beautiful, safe, comfortable cruising yachts, capable of worldwide voyaging. The common denominator is these were all performance oriented cruising yachts, the benchmark of the Ron Holland Design philosophy still in force with today’s design commissions. 1999 has seen important new projects that included my first interior design commission, as well as my first motor yacht design work. New areas of activity that I have found stimulating and a logical extension of a lifetime’s work in the marine design field. Reviewing the presented Ron Holland designs will show the variety of design approaches that have been taken, specifically to ensure my clients achieve a yacht that fulfils their personal requirements. My organisation prides itself with interpreting the client’s goals and integrating these with aesthetically correct and performance oriented design solutions.
