Alan Gurney

Alan Gurney (1936-2012) was a British-born naval architect who became one of America's most celebrated yacht designers. Born in Birmingham, he trained with J. Francis Jones and later Kim Holman at Holman & Pye before immigrating to the US in 1960. After working with William Tripp Jr., Gurney established his own practice in New York City by 1962. His masterpiece was the 73-foot ketch Windward Passage (1968), built for Robert Johnson as a replacement for the famous Ticonderoga. This revolutionary cold-molded Sitka spruce design set multiple offshore racing records including the 1971 Transpac record that stood for decades. Gurney also designed Great Britain II for Chay Blythe's victorious Whitbread Round the World Race. Known for his traditional drafting methods using pencil and velum, Gurney created sensible, moderate displacement fast cruiser-racers. He later became an accomplished author of sailing adventure books and died in 2012 after a distinguished career spanning five decades.