Olin Stephens, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Olin Stephens

American yacht designer

Date of Birth: 13-Apr-1908

Place of Birth: Harlem, New York, United States

Date of Death: 13-Sep-2008

Profession: engineer, marine architect

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Aries


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About Olin Stephens

  • Olin James Stephens II (April 13, 1908 – September 13, 2008) was an American yacht designer of the 20th century.
  • Stephens was born in New York City, but spent his summers with his brother Rod, learning to sail on the New England coast.
  • He also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a term. Stephens' name had a long history in connection with America's Cup.
  • He assisted W.
  • Starling Burgess with the design of the J-Class Ranger, which won the America's Cup in 1937, defeating the Royal Yacht Squadron's Endeavour II in four races.
  • He was the original designer of six out of seven successful 12 Metre defenders of the America's Cup between 1958 and 1980, with the exception of Weatherly in 1962.
  • Other than Ranger, the most remarkable of his defenders was the Intrepid.
  • She had a rudder separate from her keel to reduce wetted surface and improve steering.
  • Stephens had previously designed separate rudders on a number of increasingly large ocean racers of the 1960s, most notably Thomas Watson's state of the art Palawan III, before using it successfully on the Intrepid in 1967.
  • After alterations by Britton Chance, Jr., she won the America's Cup again in 1970. Stephens also designed many off-shore and stock boats, including the Dark Harbor 20, which he designed in 1934.
  • His brother, Roderick Stephens, was also a partner in the yacht-designing and yacht brokerage firm Sparkman & Stephens, specializing in supervision and testing of yachts designed by the firm.
  • Olin was working in the Nevins shipyard in 1928 as a draftsman when he first met yacht broker Drake Sparkman.
  • They together set up an office next door to Nevins in 1929.
  • Since retiring from the company he lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he spent his final years writing computer programs for designing yachts.
  • He was awarded the Herreshoff Award by the North American Yacht Racing Union in 1965 for his contributions to sailing. Stephens was also involved in ocean-going sailboats.
  • His yawl designs Dorade (1929) and Stormy Weather (1934), his favorite design, each won the Newport Bermuda Race and the Fastnet race several times.
  • Both brothers were accomplished yachtsmen.
  • They were members of the winning crews of Dorade and Ranger.
  • Olin served as tactician and navigator, while Rod trimmed the rig and sails.
  • In the 1960s and 1970s, Olin contributed to the luxury yacht builders Nautor Swan of Finland and Hallberg-Rassy of Sweden.

Read more at Wikipedia

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