Olin Stephens

American yacht designer (1908–2008)

Olin Stephens sitting with jam; taken at Olin's apartment in New Hampshire.

Olin James Stephens II (April 13, 1908 - September 13, 2008) was an American yacht designer. 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 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.[1] 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 1959, he was awarded the David W. Taylor Medal by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.[2]

In the 1960s and 1970s, Olin contributed to the luxury yacht builders Nautor Swan of Finland. He had also actively collaborated with the shipyard of Argentario, in Porto Santo Stefano, Italy.[3]

## Later years

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In 1993, Stephens was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame and awarded the Gibbs Brothers Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.[4] Several years later, in 1999, he wrote the autobiography All This and Sailing Too.[5][6] In 2007, he was named as one of six inductees to the inaugural ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame. Stephens was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.[7] He was ranked member number 1 on the New York Yacht Club Member Seniority List at the time of his death.[8] Stephens died exactly five months after celebrating his 100th birthday in 2008.

## References

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1. ^ Jones, Gregory O. The American Sailboat. October 1, 2001. MBI Publishing Company, p. 16. ISBN 0-7603-1002-5.
2. ^ "The David W. Taylor Medal". Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
3. ^ Renzo Wongher E' morto a 100 anni Olin Stephens Ha disegnato barche da sogno 2008-09-16 Il Tirreno accessed 2025-02-12 via web.archive.org
4. ^ "Gibbs Brothers Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
5. ^ The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. McGraw-Hill Professional, p. 356. ISBN 0-07-141950-0.
6. ^ Rousmaniere, John. Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of the Offshore Sailing Yacht. May 1, 1987. W. W. Norton & Company, p. 18. ISBN 0-393-03311-2.
7. ^ "Olin Stephens 2011 Inductee". Nshof.org. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
8. ^ John Rousmaniere. "Olin Stephens obituary". New York Yacht Club. Archived from the original on 2008-08-01.

* Olin J. Stephens II (2002). Lines: A half-century of Yacht Designs by Sparkman & Stephens, 1930-1980. David R. Godine. ISBN 978-1-56792-195-3.
* Olin J. Stephens II (1999). All this and sailing, too: an autobiography. Mystic Seaport Museum. ISBN 978-0-913372-89-0.

## External links

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* Article mentioning his early years and education
* Dorade: photos
* Stormy Weather: photos
* Website: Sparkman & Stephens Inc. (S&S) Archived 2006-09-08 at the Wayback Machine
* Article highlighting his 100th birthday, with a picture
* Daily Sail Obit
* Sailing World Obit
* NY Times Obit
* dolphin24.org

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Sparkman & Stephens naval architecture and yacht brokerage firm

Key people|

* Olin Stephens
* Roderick Stephens
* Bill Langan
* William Shaw
* E. W. Etchells

S&S designs|

| Nautor's Swan sailboats|

* 36
* 37
* 38
* 40
* 41
* 411
* 43
* 431
* 44
* 47
* 47-2
* 48
* 50 MS
* 55
* 57
* 65
* 76

|

Nautor motorsailers|

* 39
* 43
* 50

Hughes sailboats|

* 26
* 31
* 35
* 38-1
* 38-2
* 38-3
* 40
* 48

North Star sailboats|

* 38
* 48
* 80/20
* 500
* 600
* 1000
* 1500

Tartan sailboats|

* 27
* 27 Yawl
* 27-2
* 34-2
* 34 C
* Ten

Seafarer sailboats|

* 23 Kestrel
* 45
* 46
* 48

Other craft|

* Aura A35
* Cape Cod Mercury 15
* Catalina 38
* D&M 22
* Designers Choice
* Dolphin 24
* DUKW
* Ford GPA
* Hinckley 38
* Howmar 12
* Interclub Dinghy
* Lightning (dinghy)
* New Horizons 26
* Pilot 35
* PJ 30 1/2 Ton
* S&S 34
* Sauda-class mine countermeasures vessel
* SHE 36
* Shields
* Swift 40
* Weekender 24
* Yankee 38

Notable vessels|

* Brilliant
* Capricia
* Corsaro II
* Dorade
* Flyer
* Manitou
* Morning Cloud
* Sayula II
* Stella Polare
* Stormy Weather

America's Cup sailboats|

* Ranger (1937)
* Columbia (1958)
* Constellation (1964)
* Intrepid (1967/70)
* Courageous (1974/77)
* Freedom (1980)

Associated builders|

* Allied Boat Company
* Front Street Shipyard
* Hughes Boat Works
* Hylas Yachts
* Nautor's Swan

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data

Artists|

* KulturNav

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC
* Yale LUX

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