direct association with Open 60s that was to lead, after a stint as a BT Global Challenge skipper, along with Mike Golding, to Merf Owen project managing the design and build of Golding’s Group Finot-designed, twin-rudder Open 60, Team Group 4, for the 1998 Around Alone (formerly the BOC).
In 1999, having taken onboard lessons learnt with the Team Group 4 campaign, Owen approached Giovanni Belgrano, Andy Claughton and Rob Humphreys to form a small America’s Cup-type design team to bid against the leading French designers for the contract to design an Open 60 for the Kingfisher-sponsored Vendée Globe campaign of the then little- known Ellen MacArthur and her business partner Mark Turner. The rest, as they say, is history.
Owen Clarke, together with their numer- ous design partners over the years (which have included at any one time SP Gurit, various luminaries of the famous Wolfson Unit, Clay Oliver, Michel Kermarec and others too many to list), have designed more Imoca Open 60s than any other design office, bar none. In total, as of 2014, Owen Clarke have over 30 twin-rudder racing and cruising designs on the water.
How does lead designer Merfyn Owen summarise the company’s progress over the past two decades and what are his aspirations looking into the future? ‘We’ve worked hard, innovated and pushed boundaries to get where we are, but I also know we’ve been fortunate too.
34 SEAHORSE
Top: the latest Imoca 60 to be launched by Owen Clarke Design was Acciona, seen here at speed and in perfect balance. The easy maintenance of high average speed is central to success in open shorthanded classes. The line around the aft run on Mike Golding’s OCD-design Gamesa (above) is the interceptor which when lowered trims up the stern
‘There are any number of talented designers who’ve worked as hard but haven’t had some of the breaks and so the successes that we’ve enjoyed. At the same time, as a company we still have the drive and ambition to work with others again as part of a larger team, or pitch up with a club-level IRC design, or work in a grand prix class such as the Mini Maxis and com- pete against our contemporaries head to head. We still have that same hunger that drove us during projects such as Kingfisher
and we know we’re better placed than we’ve ever been to take up such challenges, using a technology-centric approach married to all the design experience we’ve accumulated over the years.
‘Conversely, I know that my business partner Allen Clarke would be keen to have more chances to show off all of his considerable flair and talent for cruising yacht design. We’re making progress in that part of the business; however, frustratingly, because of our success in
MARK LLOYD
JESUS RENEDO
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