Owen Clarke Design was founded thirty years ago and is recognised as being at the leading edge of performance sailing yacht design. We are particularly known for our earth circling IMOCA Open 60’s such as Ellen MacArthur’s Kingfisher, and as pioneers in the field of canting, lifting, and lifting/canting keel racing and cruising boats. As naval architects and yacht designers our portfolio of cruising and racing designs are as diverse as our experience in large sailing yacht design. We specialise in designing and managing complex projects, delivering innovation such as this large cruising yacht ‘cabriolet‘.

Our own designs have been styled by Allen Clarke, who having completed three years studying yacht design at the world-famous Southampton Institute worked for the largest interior design company in the West of England before forming Owen Clarke Design with Merfyn Owen in 1991. Allen designed OC’s first large cruising yacht, Spirit of Adventure, a 65’ performance blue water cruiser built by Marten Yachts, New Zealand and delivered in 2004.

Clay Oliver, co-designer of our last three Open 60’s is an American naval architect based in Annapolis who also brings to the group his experience gained at Farr Yacht Design and subsequently principal designer for Team New Zealand. He is co-designer of Mari Cha 4, and the 100’ maxis Genuine Risk and the winner of the 2011 Sydney-Hobart, Loyal (ex Maximus). The fourth designer and lynch-pin of the superyacht team is Tim Sadler who runs the office in New Zealand. Before he joined Owen Clarke in 2001, he spent the previous decade working at Marten Yachts and Sensation Yachts, where he was the design and project engineer on new builds including the 147’ ketch, Mari Cha 3.