He even has a full surname (Kouyoumdjian) but it is so difficult to spell and read that everyone simply calls him Juan K. And the name of his studio, based in Valencia, is even more simplified: Juan Yacht Design. Yet these few letters are enough to make it clear to all sailing enthusiasts who we are talking about, namely the most crystalline talent expressed by the latest generation of naval architects. A talent that is now recognised at all latitudes and has made him a global yachting star.
Of Argentinian birth and French nationality, Juan K. has graduated in Naval Architecture from the prestigious Solent University of Southampton in the same year as two other stars of yacht design, Marcelino Botin and Shaun Karkeek. He achieved international fame by designing the first ABN Amro to win the Volvo Ocean Race in 2006, and winning the next two editions with two other boats. His career continued as Head of design for Artemis Racing. one of the teams involved in the 2013 America's Cup.
The yacht designer's opinion
Juan K. has taken a critical view of the performance level of contemporary ocean racing yachts. According to him, current technology is able to make these boats fly at speeds unimaginable 15 years ago, while at the same time making them structurally insecure. That is, a designer who follows the rules of the various box rules (the construction regulations of the one-design classes) cannot guarantee that there will be no hull or rig breakage. Why despite the materials usedboats today are so stretched that their safety depends mainly on the conduct of the crew. Racing at sea is not like racing on a racetrack, he adds, many things can happen when subjected to weather conditions. It is like putting artificial bumps in Formula One circuits: how many cars would finish the race in one piece? The numerous cases of broken hulls in races around the world have confirmed this view of the Franco-Argentine designer.
In addition to racing yachts, Juan K. has also been successfully engaged in the design of series production boats, all of which have a high sporting vocation, such as the Beneteau First 30 and the Swan Club50 (we talked about them in a previous article on the Nautors Swan Shipyard).
The last missile: Rambler 88
Launched by New England Boatworks (Rhode Island) at the end of 2014, the Rambler is 88 feet long (about 27 metres) all carbon. The design is marked by very pronounced edges (an unmistakable signature of Juan k.'s hulls) that run along the entire side of the boat. Pronounced edges are not a stylistic quirkbut a necessity that stems from the need to have very flat sail surfaces, so as to create as little wetted area as possible and better shape stability. The boom has a novel design in that it is rotating, so that it adapts to the shape of the mainsail and constitutes an extension of the sail surface. The rudder also has an original designAccording to Juan K. This shape echoes that of the fins of humpback whales and allows for increased laminar flow, postponing the moment of rudder stall. Needless to say, Rambler 88 immediately became the killer boat of the world's major ocean races, winning in real time, in 2015 alone, the Voiles de St Barths, the RORC Caribbean 600, the Rolex Middle Sea Race, the 12th Palermo-Montecarlo and coming third in the extremely tough Rolex Sydney-Hobart.
