Perhaps best known for the success of our sailing yachts and particularly our many winning racing yachts, Sparkman & Stephens has a proven and unmatched record for delivering innovative and successful designs for all types of vessels.
Although Sparkman & Stephens has diversified its range of client services over the years, Yacht Design remains the company’s cornerstone. Since 1929, S&S designers have been responsible for numerous revered and beloved racing and cruising yachts ranging from club one-designs to America’s Cup winners to sail and power superyachts. Under the direction of Executive Vice President and Chief Designer Bruce Johnson, the versatile S&S staff hails from the best naval architecture schools in the world including Webb Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, the Landing School of Yacht Design and Ghent University in Belgium. The team brings more than 60 years of combined yachting industry experience to bear on all aspects of design, engineering and naval architecture. It employs state-of-the-art techniques and technologies to meet any need, regardless of size or complexity.
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A dedicated team of naval architects, marine engineers and yacht designers
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Expertise in naval architecture, marine engineering, structures, hydrodynamics and motions, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial design, applied mathematics and computer applications.
Sparkman & Stephens is licensed for professional engineering.
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Pleasure Yachts
Some of the boats for which the company is best known include Stormy Weather, Finisterre, Clarion of Wight, Tenacious, Running Tide, and Bolero, to name just a few. At the same time, S & S has been heavily involved with the America's Cup since the company was formed, designing successful defenders such as the J-Boat, Ranger, and the 12-Meters - Columbia, Intrepid, Courageous, and Freedom.
Today, S & S continues to be more and more actively involved with the complete design and engineering of today's large power and sailing yachts. These yachts continue to meet our winning standards with frequent recognition by professional societies for outstanding projects. The International Superyacht Society has recognized three of our recent designs with their award for design excellence.
- VICTORIA OF STRATHEARN - Best Sailing Yacht
- VENTUROSA - Best Sailing Yacht
- MITseaAH - Best Power Yacht
Production Boats
Although best known for the design of custom yachts, the company's greatest influence has been with the design of production yachts. These range from the venerable 14-foot Blue Jay class, and the 19-foot Lightning class on which many people have learned to sail, all the way up to the designs for Swan, Tartan, Baltic, Stellar, Queen Long and Northwind sailing yachts. This broad experience with both racing and cruising designs gives S & S an unparalleled data base on which to draw from for the development of any new design.
Commercial Boats
In addition to its work with production sailboats, S & S has worked on a variety of custom commercial projects including passenger/car ferries ranging in size from 60 to 165 feet, several tugboat designs and the conversion of a 540-foot cargo ship to a passenger liner.
Military Designs
Drawing from our broad experience in pleasure and commercial small craft design, the firm has undertaken many design projects for the military. These projects have included patrol boats and mine sweepers, plans and specifications for fast transfer-at-sea ammunition ships, and several amphibious craft. Most recently, S & S developed a prototype design for a US Navy Seal patrol boat.
Our most famous military work is the DUKW - Amphibious truck, known for its pivotal role in the World War II Battle for Normandy. For his work on the "Duck" project, Rod Stephens was awarded the Medal Of Freedom - the highest award given to a civilian in a time of war. The "Ducks" were developed for the U.S. Army in conjunction with the General Motors Truck division as a method to get cargo over undeveloped beaches. A 2-1/2 ton pilot model was developed and tested in the record time of 4 weeks. Several hundred DUKW's were built, landing over 40% of the supplies during the 13-week invasion. Even today, descendents of the Ducks can be found in various American cities offering land/sea tours and ferry service.
Special Projects Consulting
In addition to the many new design/engineering projects that we have undertaken, we have also been involved in some very interesting consulting projects, such the refit of a 140' steel schooner. This work included a spar, rigging and stability review, replacement of all systems including main machinery and electrical, and a new interior arrangement. Another project involved all of the engineering/naval architectural support for preparing a 53-meter yacht to transit the famed Northwest Passage. Included in this work were such items as ice-strengthening for powering through heavy ice, and stability analysis with frozen spray on deck. We are currently acting as engineering consultants to a world renowned carbon fiber spar manufacturer.
