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Editors Note- As part of our mission to support the sailing community, Sail1Design is pleased to unveil our new series, Profiles in Pro Sailing. This series is designed to give our community thoughts, ideas, tips, and reflections on how some of the best in the industry made it to where they are today. We hope these articles are informative, and maybe even inspirational. As always, we invite comments and feedback.
By Airwaves writer Tyler Colvin

Ever since the early 1970s, performance and Farr have been synonymous in the sailing world.  Bruce Farr made a name for himself in the 18’ Skiff Class of Australia and New Zealand, with Farr designs winning the 18’ Skiff Giltinan World Championships several times.  Teaming up with Russell Bowler in 1980, Farr took the operation to Annapolis, MD and began churning out winners.
Around the same time, Britton Ward was sketching floor plans of houses and boats.  Growing up in Western Australia, Ward watched in awe as Australia II won the America’s Cup.  “…all the talk of winged keels made a big impression on me.  I think I followed every race of that 1987 defense and was hooked from then on.” Said Ward.  It just so happened that Bill Langan, designer of America II (NYYC), was a family friend and told him about the Webb Institute.

In 1991, Ward picked up everything and moved halfway around the world to attend the Webb Institute.  He received his BSc in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in 1995, after which he headed to MIT for his Master’s in Ocean Engineering.  “(The) most challenging part was probably moving halfway around the world at 17 to attend Webb. It was a big step but I think it set me up for my career better than I could have imagined.”  After graduation, Farr happened to be hiring candidates with Ward’s background.  19 years later, he’s still at it.
Farr Yacht Design has been one of the driving forces behind performance yachting over the past several decades.  Notable designs include America’s Cup yachts for New Zealand in ’87, ’88, and ’92, Young America in ’00, and BMW Oracle in ’03 and ’07, as well as super Maxi’s and now famous one-design classes.  Many of the iconic high performance monohulls raced today are Farr designs, TP 52, GP42, Volvo Ocean 70, Volvo Ocean 65, Volvo Ocean 60, Mumm 36, Mumm 30 and the Farr 40 to name a few.  Additionally, Bavaria and Beneteau have both commissioned designs for their fleets from Farr.

Ward’s work spans the entirety of the design process.  “A lot of my work is focused on the conceptual design, hull shape development and performance prediction side of the design process and that can take me from fairing a 3D hull shape to setting up computational simulations or refining VPP algorithms and a lot in between.”  While a mouthful, in short he works on figuring out how to make boats faster.  “Life in a yacht design office can be pretty varied on a day to day basis and the tasks can vary a lot.  Some of our employees may be drafting a fitting or doing structural engineering and weight calculations while others are working on handicap optimization for existing designs or designing new rudders or keels.”
After 19 years in the industry, Ward remains focused and intrigued by his work. “There is something very pure about designing boats… that’s always fascinated me.  You need to develop a product that often has to meet many different design objectives all while being as efficient as possible both aero and hydrodynmically but also optimized structurally for weight, strength and manufacturing.”  Putting together this puzzle is what makes a great boat, and full concept understanding is a key component.  “In a lot of industries you might work in a little big of isolation, designing a little piece here or there and a project might take years to come to fruition.  But with the yacht design problem we have tight time frames and you need to be able to wrap your head around the whole design challenge, as everything is so tightly inter-related.  When your team pulls all the pieces of a design together into something that exceeds all those expectations it can be pretty rewarding.”
Ward takes great pride in his work and is excited to tackle a new challenge.  “The (project) one that looms largest right now is the VO65 for which I was lead designer.  The challenge of a short design and build time, big performance expectation, tight cost control and incredibly tight tolerances and reliability requirements is like nothing I’ve worked on before.  Watching them send it though the Southern Ocean this month has been nerve wracking for sure but I’m really proud of how close the racing is and that they seem to have delivered on so many of the often conflicting design objectives.”

Every young sailor at one point or another has sketched boats in a notebook or on the sand; big, small, sailboats and motorboats, in crayon, marker, pencil or pen, in corners of lined paper or on the back of an assignment.  It is the imagination of a young mariner at work.  Britton Ward’s imagination transformed into an unbelievably productive career at one of the most successful yacht design firms in the business.  While degrees from Webb and MIT might not be your chosen path, he explains, “The more technical paths need college or graduate school level engineering but others require advanced software skills and real world experience.  Everyone needs a lot of creativity and has to have a passion for pushing the envelope and developing unique design solutions.”  Dream big and keep drawing.