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Obituary: Bruce Kirby, designer of the Laser dinghy (1929 – 2021)

• James Wilkie Devoy
• July 27, 2021

Bruce Kirby, journalist, three-time Olympian and designer of the Laser dinghy, has died at the age of 92.

Bruce Kirby is best remembered as the designer for the Laser single-handed dinghy, now known as the ILCA. He was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1929 and began his journalism career in newspapers before writing for, and later becoming editor of One-Design Yachtsman (now Sailing World magazine).

Bruce Kirby Photo: Neil Rabinowitz

He began sailing at the age of six with his father and brother, and moved on to the International 14 class in his teens. Winning the world championship twice in this class in 1958 and 1961. He also represented Canada in three Olympic regattas sailing the Finn in 1956 and 1964, and a Star keelboat in 1968.

Kirby had no formal education in boat design and used the fairly modest skills he had developed in model boat carving to create his first International 14, which he called the Mark One. Kirby reminisced about his first design, “it did pretty well; we won regattas.”

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Kirby is famously quoted on his introduction to yacht design as saying: “I had a copy of Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design . If you can understand 50% of what’s in that book, you can design a boat. Design isn’t brain surgery. We should always pretend that it is, but it’s really not.”

Kirby’s most famous design, the Laser, was created in 1970. The story of the Laser’s creation has become a little embellished over time with claims that it was designed on the back of an envelope or even a dinner napkin.

The embellishment is only slight however; Kirby did do the first rough draft while on the phone with his business partner Ian Bruce and it really is just a doodle on a notepad.

The original concept was as simple as ‘we need a car topper’ from Ian Bruce, and history was born. Ian Bruce jokingly referred to Kirby’s sketch as “the million dollar doodle.”

The Laser went on to sell over 220,000 boats, becoming the world’s most popular one-design. Its high performance, combined with Kirby’s simple lines and rig, made the Laser a ubiquitous part of millions of sailors’ journeys and honed the skills of many future champions. That simple sketch managed to capture the essence of dinghy sailing: fast, fun, physical, and very rewarding.

Today it remains an Olympic class, and has been so for seven Games, while the smaller rigged Laser Radial is also the women’s singlehanded Olympic dinghy class.

It has been the proving ground of many of the most talented sailors in the sport, including Ben Ainslie , Robert Scheidt, Tom Slingsby, Glenn Bourke, Carolijn Brouwer and Marit Bouwmeester.

Beyond the Laser, Bruce Kirby designed many yachts, including the Sonar (a former Paralympic keelboat and his personal favourite of all designs), the Apollo, Kirby 23 and Kirby 25 to name a few.

He also designed two America’s Cup 12-Metre yachts, Canada in 1983 and Canada II in 1987, and was part of the committee that created the IACC boats which superseded the Twelves. Kirby remained a life-long fan of the America’s Cup , claiming he was “probably the only person left who remembers listening to the America’s Cup on the radio before the war.”

Kirby spent the last 50 years living in Connecticut with his wife Margo, where they raised two daughters.

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Bruce Kirby, Who Transformed Sailing With a ‘Doodle,’ Dies at 92

On yellow legal paper, Mr. Kirby, a self-taught designer and Olympic sailor, came up with an impromptu design for a lightweight craft that changed the face of sailing.

By Chris Museler

Bruce Kirby, a Canadian-born journalist, Olympic sailor and self-taught naval architect whose design for a lightweight fiberglass dinghy, originally sketched on a piece of yellow legal paper, changed the face of sailing, died on Monday at his home in the village of Rowayton in Norwalk, Conn. He was 92.

His wife, Margo Kirby, confirmed his death.

Dinghy racing in North America and Europe in the late 1960s revolved around the International 14, a lightweight, 14-foot, two-person craft, and by then Mr. Kirby had carved out a niche for himself moonlighting as a designer in the 14 sailing class, spinning off variations on the original design that would have the dinghy planing and skipping across the water’s surface. His day job was as editor of the sailing magazine One-Design & Offshore Yachtsman in Chicago.

He had also won renown racing 14s and was a three-time Olympian for Canada, though without winning a medal.

One day in 1969 he received a phone call from a friend, Ian Bruce, an industrial designer and boating enthusiast in Montreal who as a side job had been building complex wooden hulls to Mr. Kirby’s I-14 designs and selling them. But with little margin in that business, he was looking for a new small-boat design — an easy-to-build, fiberglass sailboat that a solo sailor could race and that would help keep his I-14 business rolling.

Grabbing a yellow legal pad, Mr. Kirby promptly drew one up, envisioning a lightweight fiberglass hull, just under 14 feet long. It would eventually be christened the Laser and become a worldwide phenomenon.

“When Ian called him in 1969, Bruce was doodling,” said Peter Bjorn, a former partner in Performance Sailcraft, the first manufacturer of the Laser. “Ian lofted it,” he added, referring to the drawing of final plans, “in the fall of 1970, and they tweaked it. There was snow on the ground when they finally put the molds together. Bruce came and sailed it. And that was it.”

The boat was rigged up for the 1971 New York Boat Show with a sticker price of $595 (about $3,780 today). Before the doors closed, 144 were sold.

“All of a sudden,” Mr. Bjorn said, “there was something that wasn’t quite a toy — they took a bit to sail — and you could take money straight out of your pocket to buy it and throw it on the roof of your car.”

Mr. Bjorn, who set up the first dealer network for Lasers, said the boat had originally been called the Weekender, then the TGIF. Its creators finally settled on the contemporary-sounding Laser, to capitalize on that latest technological advancement.

Coming in colors like orange, yellow, light blue and British racing green, the boat was an instant sensation. Its streamlined simplicity — with a teak tiller and a sail whose sleeve slid over an aluminum mast — made the Laser as basic in design as the Windsurfer and the Hobie Cat catamaran, both of which had arrived on the beach boat scene around the same time. What made the Laser different from them, however, was that it could be ideal both for cruising around with friends and for performance racing by a single sailor.

“It was a boat you could control with your body,” said Peter Commette, winner of the first Laser world championships, in 1974.

More than 250,000 of the boats have been built worldwide since 1970, making Mr. Kirby’s creation one of the most influential sailboat designs of all time. The Laser is used for men’s and women’s single-handed events in the Olympics.

Mr. Kirby came to call his original legal pad drawing the “million dollar doodle.” The royalties he received allowed him to leave his day job, launching him into an eclectic boat-design career that touched every corner of the sport, from the America’s Cup to junior sailing to cruising craft for shallow estuaries, and established him as one of the world’s pre-eminent boat designers.

Bruce Robert William Kirby was born on Jan. 2, 1929, in Ottawa into a nautical family with membership in the Brittania Boating Club in Ottawa (a grandfather was a club commodore). His father, David Patee Kirby, was in the building supply business. His mother, Eileen (Bruce) Kirby traced her lineage to Scottish kings, according to family lore. His paternal great-grandfather was Adm. Henry W. Bruce (1792-1863), a noted commander in the Royal Navy who was said to have participated in the War of 1812 early in his career.

The family’s wealth all but evaporated during the Depression, leaving the Kirbys with a 10-bedroom house, many boats and, for the children, practically no choice but to sail. “You just grow up doing it; it was like asking someone if they remember learning to talk,” Mr. Kirby told Nautical Quarterly magazine in 1982.

He followed in his father’s wake, racing small boats on the Ottawa River during Canada’s fleeting summers and devouring copies of Yachting magazine in the winter. The best small-boat sailors of the time raced International 14s, two-person boats, each usually built in the home or garage according to design specifications. Mr. Kirby began to travel and rake in trophies in the class.

If his first love was sailing, his second was journalism. A lung ailment kept him out of college, and through his father’s connections he became, at 20, a reporter for The Ottawa Journal for $25 a week (the equivalent of about $290 in Canadian money today).

His knowledge of sailing brought him reporting stints from an ocean sailing yacht in Europe. Moving to The Montreal Star, he joined its copy desk but also covered the America’s Cup. He headed for Chicago to become editor of One-Design & Offshore Yachtsman in 1965.

Never far from sailing, Mr. Kirby qualified for the 1956 Olympics, in Melbourne, Australia, in the single-handed Finn class. He went on to sail in the 1964 Games (in Tokyo) in the same class and in the 1968 games (centered in Mexico City) in the two-person Star class.

He worked out his designs using intuition and from reading Norman Skene’s “Elements of Yacht Design.” His I-14 designs were steppingstones to the Laser, which in turn opened doors, bringing him a host of design commissions, including one for a yacht named Runaway, Canada’s 1981 entry in the Admiral’s Cup international competition. Runaway put him on a global stage.

Then came Canada I, the 1983 Canadian entry for the America’s Cup, and its design lifted Kirby’s reputation to new heights.

“Bruce came up with a good boat,” said Terry McLaughlin, the skipper of Canada I, Canada’s first America’s Cup entry since the 1800s. “But Australia II was a breakthrough,” he added, referring to the Ben Lexcen design for the Australian challenger that year.

Though Canada I made the semifinals, the Canadians were no match for the Australians, who went on to break the longest winning streak in sports history — 132 years — by defeating the Americans that year for the cup.

Kirby designed another Cup boat, the Canada II, for the 1987 series. He also produced a total of 63 innovative and popular sailboat designs, including the 23-foot Sonar keelboat, which he created for the Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, Conn., where he was a commodore. The Sonar has been sailed on every continent and is used in the Paralympic Games.

His Laser was selected for the men’s single-handed sailing event for the 1996 Olympics and for the women’s single-handed event in 2008.

“For me the big thing I love about the Laser is the simplicity of design,” Sarah Douglas, a Canadian representative in this year’s Tokyo Olympics, said in a phone interview from Japan. “I grew up in Barbados. It’s the most accessible boat. If the Laser wasn’t in the Games, I don’t know how smaller nations can compete in sailing.”

Kirby, who became a naturalized American citizen, lived along the Five Mile River in Rowayton for 45 years, designing in his basement. He and Mr. Bruce were awarded the Order of Canada for their contributions to sailing, and Mr. Kirby was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2012.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Kelly Kirby and Janice Duffy, and two granddaughters.

In his final years Mr. Kirby spent time working on his autobiography and continuing to lend advice to young sailors at the Noroton Yacht Club, even as his health declined.

“Physically he was quite compromised,” Margo Kirby, his wife, said. “He blamed it on hiking for years on small boats. He said he’d do it all over again.”

An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to the use of Mr. Kirby's Laser sailboat in men's and women's single-handed events in Olympic competition. Men sail the craft in the Laser class, women in the Laser Radial class. It is not the case that they both compete in a class whose name was changed to ILCA, for International Laser Class Association.

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The story of the former Olympian who designed the world’s most beloved boat

By Andrew Blum

Updated on Jun 23, 2021 10:14 AM EDT

On a slate-gray day in September, 89-year-old Bruce Kirby leans against the ­pinstriped first-mate’s seat of Lulu as it motors in slow circles on Long Island Sound. Just outside the elegantly varnished cockpit, a fleet of small sailboats races by, its formation loose and shifting. Kirby follows the boats through a pair of binoculars. One, Jack , belongs to him; he’d be out there competing if it weren’t for his ailing back. But all of the boats are Kirby’s design.

Known as Sonars, Kirby drew their shape in 1979 with a day just like this in mind. The Noroton Yacht Club , Kirby’s home port in the suburban town of Darien, Connecticut, wanted a craft for its members to race—something nimble and fast, but also sturdy and well-behaved. The Sonar is a “one-design boat,” meaning its specifications and equipment are governed by strict rules to ensure that competing in one is a test of skill, not money. Sailing remains a sport of the wealthy, and left unchecked, they can take things to extremes. The superyachts of the America’s Cup have nine-figure R&D budgets, and crews who wear crash helmets and body armor to protect themselves at new limits of speed and performance. In contrast, a used Sonar can be had for under $10,000, and is stable enough that it’s been used by Paralympians since the 2000 games. Out on the sound that afternoon, 37 boats are ­vying for the Sonar North American Championship, with a few former Olympians among the skippers. The whole event is buoyed by ­Kirby’s presence.

Kirby is a world-class sailor and Olympian himself—he represented Canada in ’56, ’64, and ’68—but he is most famous as the designer of a slew of boats known for their swiftness, and also their clarity and simplicity. The epitome of his ethos was a blockbuster, one that defined his career and the course of sailing more broadly: the ­single-​­person racing dinghy known as the Laser.

Back on land, Kirby looks on as the competitors come off the water, windblown and skipping toward the toilets. A collision left one Sonar with a dinner-plate-size hole in its stern, and Kirby leans in for a closer look. The regatta’s press person asks him to do it again for the camera. During the awards ceremony, organizers call Kirby up to the stage for pictures with the winners, and the photographer makes everyone take off their shades, “­except the rock star; he can leave his on.” The teasing is apt; among sailors, there are few bigger celebrities than Bruce Kirby. He comes by their affection honestly. His boats are a blast. “Who wants to design a slow boat?” Kirby likes to ask. “Or own one, for that matter.”

The wheel was a Neolithic invention. It appeared on the scene 5,000 or so years ago, part of a suite of advancements in agriculture. Sailboats came earlier. Australia was settled at least 50,000 years ago, and the first humans didn’t arrive on the continent by foot. Three thousand years ago, Odysseus himself was “sailing the winedark sea for ports of call on alien shores.” Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic, by sail, in 1492—marking the start of several hundred eventful years of wind-powered global travel. Only in the past 200 years have the steamship, ­internal-​­combustion engine, and jetliner erased the sailing ship’s primacy as a means of transportation. Sailboats themselves, however, have held on, not as necessity but as sport.

No surprise then that in 1969, when Bruce Kirby got a call from his friend, the Montreal-based industrial designer Ian Bruce, about drafting a new sailboat, the brief was for a piece of recreational equipment—a “car-topper” to go along with a line of outdoor gear (tents, cots, camping chairs) for the Hudson’s Bay Company retail chain. “I didn’t even know what a car-topper was,” Kirby recalls. The craft had to be easy to transport and rig in order to make it as painless as possible to get out on the water.

The dinghy wasn’t the first boat Kirby had dreamed up, but he wasn’t designing them full time. He was working as an editor at a sailing magazine, living (like now) on the Connecticut shore. As a designer, he was self-taught, nicking a copy of Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design , originally published in 1904, from a family friend and understanding, he estimates, about a third of it. But Kirby had “three-­dimensional eyeballs,” as he describes it; he had no trouble envisioning the shape of a hull. And as a world-class racer of small boats, he knew what a fast one should feel like.

Kirby sketched on ruled paper as they talked. When they hung up, he brought it to his 7-foot drawing board and began to tinker. He knew he had to “get the numbers right.” His first consideration was what’s known as the prismatic coefficient, which defines the shape of the vessel. Is it a tub or a knife? Or, in the language of yacht design, is the hull “full” or “fine”? A rectangular barge has a prismatic coefficient of 1 because its hull entirely fills the prism made by its length, beam (or width), and draft (its depth). Most sailboats have a coefficient between 0.5 and 0.6, meaning about half that volume. If the prismatic coefficient is too high—if the boat is too fat—it will be slow, especially in light wind. But if the coefficient is too low—if the boat is too skinny—it will slice through the waves rather than ride up on top of them, or “plane.” A sailboat that planes well is fast, but more important, it’s fun. High up out of the water, wind and sail become more than the sum of their parts. Kirby settled on 0.55, a just-right number to make a well-balanced boat: fast but stable, neither too tippy nor too tubby.

But only if the sailor worked for it. Dinghies depend on “live ballast,” i.e., a person leaning, or “hiking,” out over the side. A big sail makes a boat zip, if its sailor can keep it flat. Basic physics says that their ability to do so depends on their weight, which of course varies from person to person. So, Kirby had a second number to choose: the ratio of sail size to the hull’s displacement, which depends on the weight of the boat plus its human. Kirby dialed in his ­dinghy to perform best with 180 pounds of flesh—in his words, “a good-size guy working like hell to go fast.” The decision was in part selfish; it described Kirby at the time.

Within a couple of weeks, Kirby had a sketch for Bruce. “He was in a bit of a hurry,” Kirby says. When Hudson’s Bay decided against selling a boat at all, Kirby told Bruce to hold on to the design: “I put a little more oomph in the boat than you asked for. It’s going to be a pretty hot little boat if we ever have a chance to build it.”

The chance came soon enough. In October 1970, Kirby’s magazine planned a promotional regatta for sailboats that cost less than $1,000, to be held at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Kirby and Bruce built a prototype of the car-topper and rigged it for the first time the day of the race. They came in second place. The bend of the mast didn’t match the shape of the sail, so they recut the cloth that night and won the next day’s contest. The little boat was fast and looked it, with a low profile that kept sailors close to the water. Spectators tried to buy it right off the beach.

Back home, the friends began work on a second prototype, mailing plans back and forth across the border. They built it with an adjustable mast so they could play with different configurations. By December, it was ready for final testing. Doing laps on Lake Saint-Louis near Montreal, they moved the mast forward a few inches, cut its height, and took a foot off the end of the boom, looking for just the right feel. By the end of the cold weekend, they decided their hot little dinghy—13 feet, 10½ inches long—was ready for market. All it needed was a name. At a celebratory dinner, a sailing friend—a McGill University student—​­suggested it should be something youthful and international. “Why don’t you call it something like ­‘Laser’?” he asked.

Ian Bruce had a small boatbuilding shop, and the men decided that he would manufacture the dinghy, while Kirby would receive royalties for the design. Bruce priced it at $695. At the New York Boat Show the next month, they collected orders for 144 Lasers. “We didn’t know what the hell was happening,” Kirby recalls.

There were societal factors at play. Postwar prosperity and the construction of new highways led to a boom in ­second-​home ownership in the 1960s and ’70s. Many of those new residences were along lakes and reservoirs, and there were more of those too: Between 1933 and 1968, the Tennessee Valley Authority created more than 10,000 miles of new shoreline, while the Bureau of Land Management created 200 reservoirs. A new swath of the middle class could afford a lake house and, apparently, were ready for an inexpensive sailboat to go with it.

As intended, the Laser was cheap and easy to transport, rig, and bang into a dock. “From a technology standpoint, it’s a very simple boat, and just a great, great boat to learn how to sail fast,” says Scott MacLeod, a sailor at the Noro­ton Yacht Club who twice won the North American collegiate Singlehanded Championship in a Laser—1983 and 1985—and topped out at seventh place in the Worlds.

Laser sailors first organized themselves into an international class in 1974, codifying Kirby’s design into strictly defined specs, and setting the craft on a path toward the Olympics, where it debuted in Atlanta in 1996. In the ’80s, the introduction of a smaller sail, known as the Radial, allowed lighter sailors to be competitive in heavy winds, and became the standard for women’s Laser racing. The sport of sailing is said to be in perpetual decline, but Laser racing has persisted. The 2018 Laser Masters World Championships, held in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, had 302 entries from 25 countries. (The apogee was the 1980 Laser Worlds, in Kingston, Ontario, a legendary event with 350 entries.) But there are also thousands of smaller weekend regattas, held everywhere from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York, to the Victoria Nyanza Sailing Club in Kampala, Uganda.

All told, more than 220,000 Lasers have been built by licensed manufacturers on five continents. (Ian Bruce sold his boatbuilding business in the 1980s. He died in 2016.) With the exception of alternative rigs with smaller sails, like the Radial, the Laser has hardly changed. There have been slight upgrades, each one documented and approved in a “construction manual” maintained by the International Laser Class Association, a kind of worldwide club of Laser sailors. Each Laser factory is audited for conformity.

“Because it’s such a one-design boat, it really comes down to the sailor,” says Sarah Douglas, a contender for the Canadian 2020 Olympic sailing team who recently came in sixth at the Laser Worlds. “It’s not equipment differences or sail differences; it comes down to what the sailor is able to do out on the water,” she says. “At the end of the day, you can’t blame your boat. It’s just you. It is all you.”

For decades, Kirby and his wife, Margo, lived in a house on Connecticut’s little Five Mile River, just upstream from where it empties into Long Island Sound. It had a deepwater dock out the back, and Kirby’s Laser—sail number 0—was laid out on the lawn. (It’s now at the Mystic Seaport Museum .) But recently they moved a few blocks away, to a more modest Colonial with a two-car garage. There are still moving boxes to unpack, yet the walls are already hung with old photos of Kirby sailing his designs, and boat models known as half hulls mounted on plaques. The Laser gets pride of place. Next to the front door, there’s a framed action shot of the “hot little boat” at its best: in the sail position known as a reach, with spray skirting off the bow as if it had a jet engine underneath.

The Laser’s simplicity makes it something like the platonic ideal of a sailboat, like a child’s drawing with a line and a triangle—but enabled by the postwar innovations of fiberglass (for its hull), aluminum (for its mast), and Dacron (for its sail). It is the sort of definitive and lasting design that comes around only rarely, such as the iPhone or five-pocket bluejeans. Except bluejeans and iPhones are constantly being tweaked, evolving along with human taste or ingenuity. Each change widens the aperture of possibility. The object does a new thing, looks a new way, or serves a new purpose.

But a Laser is a sailboat. It moves by the power of the wind along the surface of the water, a function that hasn’t changed in millennia. Granted, Lasers rarely go anywhere, except in circles. They satisfy a basic human desire for speed and competition, each high on the hierarchy of pleasures. It’s all the more remarkable, then, that among innumerable variations of small sailboats over all time, the precise design of the Laser has ridden up on the wave of history, and stayed there, for 50 years—and counting.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2019 Transportation issue of Popular Science.

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ASA Remembers Laser Designer Bruce Kirby

By: Lenox Grasso American Sailing Association

Following in the wake of the death of Frank Butler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Catalina Yachts, in Nov 2020 at age 92, boat designer and three-time Olympian Bruce Kirby, best known globally as the designer of the Laser 14 Olympic sailing dinghy, passed away at his home in Connecticut on 19 Jul 2021, also at age 92. In 1969, at the request of a friend calling from Montreal to design a “car-topper” sailboat, Kirby sketched a preliminary design for the Laser while still on the telephone with boat builder and fellow Canadian Ian Bruce. Kirby kept that faded sketch, which he called the “Million Dollar Doodle”, in a drawer of his waterfront home in Rowayton, CT, for over fifty years. “That sketch paid for our house”, says Margo, Kirby’s wife of 65 years. At the New York Boat Show in Jan 1971, 144 Lasers sold off the floor, a record number of sales that still stands today.

 Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1929, Kirby was a sailor and newspaperman before he garnered acclaim as a yacht designer. He enjoyed a lifetime as a competitive sailor beginning in International 14 dinghies at age 15. After being beaten at a Cowes Regatta in heavy wind, he drew the Kirby Mark 1 on a piece of shelf paper. It was fast upwind in a breeze. Kirby sold 40 of them. He went on to design several International 14s, 739 boats total, and won the World Championships in 1958 and 1961. Along the way, Kirby also jumped into the Finn class to sail for Canada in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Kirby skipped the 1960 Rome Olympics while he and Margo raised their two daughters, but he returned to Finn Class at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in Enoshima, the same venue for Tokyo 2020. At Tokyo 1964, he was in second place in heavy air when the Russian ahead of him broached, capsized, and collided. Kirby believed that he violated a race rule and asked Paul Elvstrom, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist (three consecutive in Finn Class) his opinion. Elvstrom deadpanned that, “A capsized sailor cannot hoist a protest flag!” Even so, Kirby disqualified himself to race officials. Kirby’s third and final Olympics was in Star Class at the 1968 Mexico City Games on Acapulco Bay.

In his early adult life, Kirby was also a journalist. He started work in 1949 as a reporter for the Ottawa Journal . In 1956, he married Margo and moved to the Montreal Star . By the mid-1960s Kirby was an editor of One Design and Offshore Yachtsman (now Sailing World ). In 1970, Kirby became editor of Yacht Racing where he stayed until 1975. By then, mounting Laser royalties enabled Kirby to become a full-time, self-taught, yacht designer. He designed the Apollo 16, Sonar 23, Blazer 23, San Juan 24, Ideal 18, and the Kirby 23, 25, and 30. For several years, after that Oct 1969 telephone call and “million-dollar doodle” that led to the Laser, Kirby jokingly urged Margo to answer every call, “because it might be someone who will ask me to design a 12-Metre”! That call actually did come in 1981, after Kirby served as both the designer and skipper of Runaway , one of three yachts in Canada’s 1981 Admiral’s Cup campaign. Kirby designed Canada One for the 1983 Cup, then turned her into the wing-keeled Canada Two for the 1987 Cup. “I remember listening to the America’s Cup on CBC radio with my father and brother at Lac Deschenes Sailing Club and at Britannia Yacht Club, both on the Ottawa River, before the war, in 1934 and in 1937 when Ranger beat Endeavor.”

 Today, Bruce Kirby is considered to be one of the great yacht designers of all time. The Laser is the first of the single-manufacturer one designs that are now prolific in the sport of sailing. Over a quarter-million have been built. Bruce Kirby was inducted into the Sailing Hall of Fame in 2012 and named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2017. Margo recalls her mother asking her new son-in-law, “When will you get sailing out of your system?” He never did.

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Bruce Kirby: Designer who transformed sailing with his work

Kirby’s invention of a low-slung fibreglass dinghy made waves in the boating world, article bookmarked.

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Doodling on a yellow legal pad in 1969, Bruce Kirby, who has died aged 92, designed one of the most beloved sailing boats in history, a low-slung fibreglass dinghy that became known as the Laser.

Light enough to be fastened to the roof of a car, yet stable and speedy enough to be used by weekend hobbyists as well as Olympic racers, the boat became a fixture of international competitions and local yacht clubs.

Its popularity established Kirby as one of the world’s pre-eminent sailing-boat designers and enabled him to leave his day job as editor of a yachting magazine to practice design full time. He had no formal training, but went on to create such influential sailing boats as the San Juan 24 and the Sonar, a 23ft keelboat now used in Paralympic competitions.

An accomplished sailor who competed in three Olympic Games for his native Canada, Kirby grew up in Ottawa, listening to radio broadcasts of the America’s Cup competition. He sailed his father’s 24ft boats up and down the river and began experimenting with hull design as a teenager, while carving a model boat from a piece of pine taken from his aunt’s kitchen cupboard.

By age 15, he was sailing in major competitions, racing a class of 14ft dinghy known as the International 14. After losing a 1958 regatta on the Isle of Wight, he began designing his own 14s, relying on intuition and a pilfered copy of Norman Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design , first published in 1904. “If you can understand 50 per cent of what’s in that book, you can design a boat,” he later said.

Kirby was 40, living on the Connecticut shore and editing the magazine One-Design & Offshore Yachtsman , when he got a call from his friend Ian Bruce, an industrial designer who enlisted him to design what became the Laser. An offshoot of the Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay wanted Bruce to develop a one-person sailing boat light enough to mount on a car. As they talked about the project over the phone, Kirby started sketching.

As he told it, he soon sent his design to Bruce, along with a note: “If your clients don’t want to build the boat be sure to hang onto the drawings because it might make us a buck someday.”

The retailer didn’t end up making the dinghy, and Kirby’s plans remained in a drawer until 1970, when he and Bruce built a prototype for a regatta in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Aided by Hans Fogh, an Olympic sailor from Denmark who provided a sail and served as the skipper, they won a race and began fielding offers from spectators on the beach.

At the time, their boat was known as the Weekender, a name that was reinforced by the large block letters on its sail: TGIF. It acquired a new, modern name – Laser – before being unveiled at the 1971 New York Boat Show, where Kirby and Bruce sold 144 Lasers off the floor. Nearly 14ft long, with a 58kg fibreglass hull and aluminium mast, the boats sold for $695 each and soon became a global phenomenon.

“From a technology standpoint, it’s a very simple boat, and just a great, great boat to learn how to sail fast,” Scott MacLeod, who won North American collegiate championships in a Laser, told Popular Science in a 2019 interview.

More than 250,000 Lasers have been built, according to the National Sailing Hall of Fame, which inducted Kirby in 2012. The 1980 Laser world championships in Kingston, Ontario, drew 350 entrants, and the boats have been used at the Olympics since 1996, when organisers reportedly added the Laser sailing class to make it easier for younger racers to compete without having to buy a more expensive boat.

“It’s very affordable. You don’t have to worry about crew, and the boats are simple,” Jim Brady, an American sailor who won a silver medal at the 1992 Games, told The Washington Post in 1993. “It’s going to make it easy for a lot of younger people to do much better with a lot less money than ever before.”

Indeed, the Laser is now used in World Sailing’s Emerging Nations programme, which promotes sailing around the world. In a statement last week, the organisation’s president, Quanhai Li, called Kirby “a tremendous ambassador for the sport”, adding that he had “paved the way for generations of sailors who raced and enjoyed his creations”.

The second of three children, Bruce Robert William Kirby was born in Ottawa on 2 January 1929. His mother was a homemaker. His father served in the Canadian army during the Second World War, ran a building supply company, and encouraged his children to join him on the water.

Kirby, who never graduated from college, got his start in journalism working as a reporter for The Ottawa Journal before becoming an editor at The Montreal Star . “When there were lulls,” he later told Sailing World magazine, “I would draw boats on these pads that you put headlines on.”

All the while, he continued to sail. Kirby made his Olympic debut at Melbourne in 1956 – he came in eighth sailing a single-handed Finn, his best finish at the Olympics – and later competed at the 1964 Games in Tokyo and the 1968 Games in Mexico City.

His more than 60 boat designs included Canada I, a 62ft sailing boat that reached the semi-finals of the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup, and Canada II, which competed for the cup four years later in an unsuccessful bid to challenge for the America’s Cup. He received the Order of Canada in 2018 for his contributions to sailing.

By Kirby’s own account, he made “quite a lot of money” from the Laser but stopped receiving royalty checks about a decade ago, leading to a prolonged trademark and royalties dispute with the boat’s European manufacturer. A jury awarded him nearly $7m in damages last year. As a result of the trademark fight, the Laser is known in official competitions as the ILCA, which stands for International Laser Class Association.

In addition to his wife of 65 years, Margo (nee Dancey), survivors include two daughters, a sister, and two granddaughters.

Kirby’s wife said he continued to race until about two years ago, following a long battle with knee and back pain. He blamed the ailments on years of hiking, a technique in which a sailor leans far outside the boat, almost parallel to the water, to maintain speed. But he said he found it hard to quit, especially when it came to sailing his beloved Sonar keelboat, which he called his favourite design.

“Once I’m in my Sonar,” the National Sailing Hall quoted him as saying, “the aches and pains go away.”

Bruce Kirby, sailing boat designer, born 2 February 1929, died 19 July 2021

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Bruce Kirby, sailboat designer whose Laser dinghy became a global phenomenon, dies at 92

Doodling on a yellow legal pad in 1969, Bruce Kirby designed one of the most beloved sailboats in history, a low-slung fiberglass dinghy that became known as the Laser.

Light enough to be fastened to the roof of a car, stable and speedy enough to be used by weekend hobbyists as well as Olympic racers, the boat became a fixture of international competitions and local yacht clubs.

Its popularity established Mr. Kirby as one of the world’s preeminent sailboat designers and enabled him to quit his day job as editor of a yachting magazine to practice design full-time. He had no formal training but went on to create such influential sailboats as the San Juan 24 and the Sonar, a 23-foot keelboat now used in Paralympic competitions.

Mr. Kirby, whose original Laser sketch entered sailing lore as the “million-dollar doodle,” was 92 when he died July 19 at his home in Norwalk, Conn. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his wife, Margo Kirby.

An accomplished sailor who competed in three Olympic Games for his native Canada, Mr. Kirby grew up in Ottawa, listening to radio broadcasts of the America’s Cup competition. He sailed his father’s 24-foot boats up and down the river and began experimenting with hull design as a teenager, while carving a model boat from a piece of pine taken from his aunt’s kitchen cupboard.

By age 15, he was sailing in major competitions, racing a class of 14-foot dinghy known as the International 14. After losing a 1958 regatta on the Isle of Wight, he began designing his own 14s, relying on intuition and a pilfered copy of Norman L. Skene’s “Elements of Yacht Design,” first published in 1904. “If you can understand 50 percent of what’s in that book, you can design a boat,” he later said.

Mr. Kirby was 40, living on the Connecticut shore and editing the magazine One-Design & Offshore Yachtsman, when he got a call from his friend Ian Bruce, an industrial designer who enlisted him to design what became the Laser. An offshoot of the Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay wanted Bruce to develop a one-person sailboat light enough to mount on a car. As they talked about the project over the phone, Mr. Kirby started sketching.

As he told it , he soon mailed his design to Bruce, along with a note: “If your clients don’t want to build the boat be sure to hang onto the drawings because it might make us a buck some day.”

The retailer didn’t end up making the dinghy, and Mr. Kirby’s plans remained in a drawer until 1970, when he and Bruce built a prototype for a regatta in Lake Geneva, Wis. Aided by Hans Fogh, an Olympic sailor from Denmark who provided a sail and served as the skipper, they won a race and began fielding offers from spectators on the beach.

At the time, their boat was known as the Weekender, a name that was reinforced by the large block letters on its sail: TGIF. It acquired a new, modern name — Laser — before being unveiled at the 1971 New York Boat Show, where Mr. Kirby and Bruce sold 144 Lasers off the floor. Nearly 14 feet long, with a 130-pound fiberglass hull and aluminum mast, the boat sold for $695 each and soon became a global phenomenon.

“From a technology standpoint, it’s a very simple boat, and just a great, great boat to learn how to sail fast,” Scott MacLeod, who won North American collegiate championships in a Laser, told Popular Science in a 2019 interview .

More than 250,000 Lasers have been built, according to the National Sailing Hall of Fame, which inducted Mr. Kirby in 2012 . The 1980 Laser world championships in Kingston, Ontario, drew 350 entrants, and the boats have been used at the Olympics since 1996, when organizers reportedly added the Laser sailing class to make it easier for younger racers to compete without having to buy a more expensive boat.

“It’s very affordable. You don’t have to worry about crew, and the boats are simple,” Jim Brady, an American sailor who won a silver medal at the 1992 Games, told The Washington Post in 1993. “It’s going to make it easy for a lot of younger people to do much better with a lot less money than ever before.”

[ Laser beams in new age of sailing ]

Indeed, the Laser is now used in World Sailing’s Emerging Nations Program, which promotes sailing around the world. In a statement last week, the organization’s president, Quanhai Li, called Mr. Kirby “a tremendous ambassador for the sport,” adding that he “paved the way for generations of sailors who raced and enjoyed his creations.”

The second of three children, Bruce Robert William Kirby was born in Ottawa on Jan. 2, 1929. His mother was a homemaker. His father served in the Canadian army during World War I, ran a building supply company and encouraged his children to join him on the water.

Mr. Kirby, who never graduated from college, got his start in journalism, working as a reporter for the Ottawa Journal before becoming an editor at the Montreal Star. “When there were lulls,” he later told Sailing World magazine , “I would draw boats on these pads that you put headlines on.”

All the while, he continued to sail. Mr. Kirby made his Olympic debut at Melbourne in 1956 — he came in eighth sailing a single-handed Finn, his best finish at the Olympics — and later competed at the 1964 Games in Tokyo and the 1968 Games in Mexico City.

His more than 60 boat designs included Canada I, a 62-foot sailboat that reached the semifinals of the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup, and Canada II, which competed for the cup four years later in an unsuccessful bid to challenge for the America’s Cup. He received the Order of Canada in 2018 for his contributions to sailing.

By his account, he made “quite a lot of money” from the Laser but stopped receiving royalty checks about a decade ago, leading to a prolonged trademark and royalties dispute with the boat’s European manufacturer. A jury awarded him nearly $7 million in damages last year. As a result of the trademark fight, the Laser is known in official competitions as the ILCA, or the International Laser Class Association.

In addition to his wife of 65 years, the former Margo Dancey, of Norwalk, survivors include two daughters, Janice Duffy of Bethel, Conn., and Kelly Kirby of Wallingford, Vt.; a sister; and two granddaughters.

Mr. Kirby’s wife said he continued to race until about two years ago, following a long battle with knee and back pain. He blamed the ailments on years of hiking, a technique in which a sailor leans far outside the boat, almost parallel to the water, to maintain speed. But he said he found it hard to quit, especially when it came to sailing his beloved Sonar keelboat, which he called his favorite design.

“Once I’m in my Sonar,” the National Sailing Hall quoted him as saying, “the aches and pains go away.”

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Remembering Bruce Kirby — Designer, Three Time Olympian Sailor & Journalist

Bruce Kirby may be best remembered for his design of the Laser in 1970, which began as a sketch, described as a “doodle,” made while talking on the phone. More than 250,000 of the boats have been built worldwide since 1970, making Kirby’s creation one of the most influential sailboat designs of all time. The Laser, now called the ILCA, for the International Laser Class Association, is used for men’s and women’s single-handed events in the Olympics.

Sail-world comments that the Laser proved to be one of only three iconic designs in sailing history, which had a dramatic impact on the sport, the other two being the Windsurfer and Hobie Cat.

The New York Times notes that Mr. Kirby came to call his original legal pad drawing the “million dollar doodle.” The royalties he received allowed him to leave his day job, launching him into an eclectic boat-design career that touched every corner of the sport, from the America’s Cup to junior sailing to cruising craft for shallow estuaries, and established him as one of the world’s pre-eminent boat designers. 

Kirby died at his home in the village of Rowayton in Norwalk, Conn.  His wife, Margo Kirby, confirmed his death.

Thanks to Larry Witmer for contributing to this post.

Remembering Bruce Kirby — Designer, Three Time Olympian Sailor & Journalist — 2 Comments

What is fun is that all three icons got their PR boost at the America’s Teacup Regatta, Bruce’s answer to the America’s Cup when he was editor of One Design. The Laser debued there sailed by Canadian Olympic Funn champion Hans Fogh. I think it went out as the TGIF as the prototype had been built in a week. It was a success, Kirby wrote it up and it took off. The Windsurfer and the Hobie 14 had come out a little earlier but didn’t have the PR boost. Hard to do in the days before social media.

Iconic designs: What about the Wayfarer or the RS?

Obituary: Ottawa-born Bruce Kirby, a three-time Olympian, designed the iconic Laser sailboat

Kirby worked as a newspaper reporter at the Ottawa Journal, and later became an editor at the Montreal Star, but his passion for sailing never left him. When the copy desk was quiet, he sketched boat designs on notepads.

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Bruce Kirby grew up on the Ottawa River where he learned to sail small boats, to race them, and to obsess about their every detail.

“It was like asking someone if they remember learning to talk,” Kirby once said of learning to sail.

His family belonged to what was then known as the Britannia Boating Club, and it was the centre of their summer lives. Bruce followed radio broadcasts of the America’s Cup, whittled model boats from blocks of pine, and watched how sailboats moved through the water from beneath the surface of the waves.

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“My mother used to say that if you cut his head open, the boats would fall out,” said Kirby’s sister, Beverley Brown, of Ottawa.

In 1969, one of his sketches — drawn during a phone conversation — would form the basis for a boat that was light, cheap and sensationally fast. The Laser, a single-person dinghy made of fibreglass and aluminum, would introduce sailing to many thousands of young people, become a regular part of Olympic racing – and make Bruce Kirby an international star of the sailing world.

Kirby, a three-time Canadian Olympian, died last month at his home in Rowayton, Conn. He was 92.

“Bruce has a huge sailing legacy, but his homerun was the Laser,” said Hugh McGugan, board chair of Sail Canada, the country’s governing body for the sport of sailing. “It was the right concept at the right time: It was small, simple and tightly-controlled.”

Bruce Kirby was born into a nautical family on Jan. 2, 1929: His father and grandfather were both accomplished sailors. Every spring, Kirby’s entire family moved from their Golden Triangle home to a cottage in Britannia, close to the yacht club.

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His father built a small sailboat for Bruce and his older brother, David, when they were six and eight years old.

Rod Miller, 88, a retired teacher, was part of a group of boys, including the Kirby brothers, who hung out at the yacht club, where they’d offer to crew on larger boats. “It was a really good life,” he said. “We grew up on the river.”

During the Second World War, Miller said, the boys collected hollow military shells from along the shoreline — they were lobbed onto the ice of Shirleys Bay by flying boats taking target practice — to mine them for their nose lead. They melted the lead to refashion the material so that it could weigh down the keels of their boats.

Bruce took to racing and was constantly studying sailboats to understand what made them fast. “I used some of his high school textbooks after him,” said Brown, “and the margins were full of little drawings of boats. I think he used to daydream quite a bit.”

After graduating from Lisgar Collegiate, Kirby secured a job as a reporter in the sports department of the Ottawa Journal. He left the paper for a job at the Montreal Star in 1956 when his editors refused to take him off the night shift following his marriage to Margo Dancey, whom he met at the yacht club.

All the while, Kirby continued to compete in elite sailing regattas, including the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, where he finished eighth in the one-person dinghy event. (He would also compete in the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico City Games.)

Kirby raced a dinghy known as the International 14, and in the late 1950s, he began to design his own improved versions of the boat. He relied on his experience and observations, and on a single book, Elements of Yacht Design, first published in 1904. He had no formal training in naval architecture since, by his own admission, he was “never any damn good at all in math.”

In 1965, Kirby moved to Chicago after being offered a job as editor of a sailing magazine, and it was there, in November 1969, that he received a fateful phone call from his friend, Ian Bruce, a Montreal-based boat builder. He told Kirby that he had been asked by the Hudson’s Bay Company to come up with a light sailboat, a “car-topper,” that families could take with them to the lake.

Kirby sketched an idea as the two spoke on the phone. During the next few weeks — “Best few days I’ve ever spent,” he once said — he refined his doodle: He wanted a boat skinny enough to find speed in a light breeze, but wide enough to offer stability on top of the waves. Kirby also opted for a relatively large sail that would require sailors to lean far over the side — a manoeuvre known as “hiking” — to keep the boat flat and fast on water.

“It’s going to be a pretty hot little boat if we ever have the chance to build it,” Kirby told Bruce.

Hudson’s Bay ultimately decided against the project, so Kirby and Bruce built a prototype on their own and entered it in a Wisconsin regatta in October 1970. Initially called the Weekender, it proved a sensation: people wanted to buy the hot little boat on the spot.

Kirby, Bruce and sail designer Hans Fogh made some refinements and brought their creation to the 1971 New York Boat Show. Priced at $695 and renamed the Laser — to appeal to a younger crowd — they received 144 boat orders in one week.

A global phenomenon had launched. “We didn’t know what the hell was happening,” Kirby later said.

Sailors liked the boat because it was fast and responsive, and reflected the skill of its handler, not the cost of its equipment. The Laser was introduced into Olympic competition in 1996, and was used to promote sailing among emerging nations.

More than 250,000 Lasers have been sold around the world.

“The Laser’s simplicity made it something like the platonic ideal of a sailboat,” author Andrew Blum wrote of the famed dinghy. “It is the sort of definitive and lasting design that comes around only rarely, such as the iPhone or five-pocket blue jeans.”

Design royalties from the Laser made Kirby rich, and allowed the father of two to leave journalism for boat design. During the following decades, he designed more than 60 boats, including Canada I and Canada II, 12-metre yachts that competed in the America’s Cup.

In 2018, he returned to Ottawa to be invested in the Order of Canada for his contribution to sailing. He’s also one of the only people ever inducted into both the Canadian and U.S. sailing halls of fame.

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Bruce Kirby

A Canadian newspaperman and former editor of Yacht Racing (predecessor to Sailing World), Bruce Kirby is best known for designing the Laser. Kirby started as a reporter in Montreal before editing Yacht Racing and, in his spare time, taking up yacht design and drawing the Laser. In 1970 Kirby became editor of Yacht Racing & Cruising (later Yacht Racing) where he stayed until 1975. Despite his duties with the magazine, Kirby was still designing boats which began with the International 14 class. Kirby designs won the world championships in 1958 and 1961. It was in 1969 that Kirby drew the Laser, one of the most successful sailboats ever. More than 200,000 have been built and it is currently an Olympic class. Kirby represented Canada at the Olympics games in 1956, 1964, and 1968. Among his other designs are two America’s Cup 12-Meters, Canada I and II, the Apollo, Sonar, Kirby 25, and 30, and Ideal 18 and San Juan 24. The latter with over a thousand built since its debut. Kirby also served as both designer and skipper on Runaway, Canada’s entry in the 1981 Admirals Cup.

33 Sailboats designed by Bruce Kirby

Laser (International)

San Juan 24

San Juan 30

Trapper 300

Seidelmann 24-1

Fox 18 (Kirby)

Kirby 1/4 T

Nightwind 35

Mystic mini-ton.

Ticon 34 CB

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San juan 23-2, north castle 30.

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Kirby torch, laser radial, mirage 30 sx.

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Olympian and Laser designer, Bruce Kirby, dies aged 92

Thursday, July 22nd, 2021

Written by: Marine Industry News

Journalist, Olympian and Laser designer Bruce Kirby passed away on 18 July, aged 92.

Canada born, Kirby was first a newspaper journalist in Ottowa before specialising in sailing journalism and yacht design.

Kirby was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2012. According to his induction page, after being beaten in a regatta at Cowes in heavy wind, ‘he drew the Kirby Mark I on a piece of shelf paper. He sold 30 of the Mark I.

Untrained, Kirby began designing by observing. “I had a copy of Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design . If you can understand 50 per cent of what’s in that book, you can design a boat. Design isn’t brain surgery. We should always pretend that it is, but it’s really not.”’

In 1964, Bruce moved to Finns and made the Canadian Olympic team. ‘He didn’t quit his day job,’ his inductee page on the USA Hall of Fame reads. ‘By the mid-1960s, he had become editor of One Design Yachtsman (now Sailing World). He jumped into a Star boat in 1968, and again represented Canada in the Olympics.’

Kirby’s most widely recognised contribution to the sport of sailing was his design of the Laser dinghy, which began life as a sketch while he was on the phone. More than 220,000 Lasers have since been built.

His design career includes a raft of other classes such as the Sonar, Kirby 25 and Ideal 18, America’s Cup Twelve Meters; production racer/cruisers including the San Juan 24 and 30, and offshore racing boats such as the Admiral’s Cup 40’ Runaway.

In 2011, aged 82, Kirby sailed in the Sonar European Championships held in Scotland. He won two races.

Bruce is a member of the US National Sailing Hall of Fame, the International Yacht Racing Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame, and the City of Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.

Lead image courtesy of Bradley E. Clift / For Hearst Connecticut Media. Inset image Bruce Kirby at Kiel Week in 1972, courtesy of Dick Enersen.

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Roderick (Rod) Coleman Miller

1933 - 2024.

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Obituary of Roderick (Rod) Coleman Miller

Rod was the only child of Harold and Lily Miller of Ottawa.  Rod and his first wife, Bernice, had two children.  He was the loving father of Carolyn (Tom) and James (Aline).  He was also the very proud grandfather and biggest fan of Claira, Julia and Jonathan. 

Rod’s early years were idyllic – winters at home in the Glebe at Bank and Second Avenue with family, friends, school and sports (not always in that order) and summers at the Brittania Beach cottage.  It was here that, with his father’s guidance, he developed his life-long love of sailing.  His devotion to the Britannia Yacht Club (BYC), or the Britannia Boating Club as it was called in 1943 when he first joined, has been unwavering.  Even more unwavering is the value Rod placed on the many friendships developed over the years.  Some of these friendships having started in childhood or through is teenage years. 

Growing up, Rod excelled at and loved both football and hockey.  He played hockey for the Ottawa Senators Junior B team and was quarterbacked the Ravens football team while attending Carleton University earning the award for Male Athlete Of The Year.  Rod became a teacher and was part of the staff of DND elementary schools at Uplands for his entire career.  Although offered a fast-track career in Toronto, he chose to stay in the city he loved. 

Rod knew where every rock and sand bar was on Lac Deschenes, part of the Ottawa River, this came from countless hours sailing.  He loved regattas as much as he loved sailing for fun.  He was serious about the sport and became known as one of the best International 14 crew in Canada.  Bruce Kirby was his greatest fan. 

Rod was humble about his accomplishments but there were many.  He was the team leader of the Canadian National Sailing team for several years. He led the team to the Pan Am Games, international regattas and to the Olympics.  The Los Angeles games in 1984 were a source of great pride and satisfaction for him, particularly after the Moscow games had been cancelled.  Walking into the Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles with the Canadian team in 1984 was a highlight of his life, he was very proud of the team bringing home three medals.  That wasn’t his only Olympica experience; in 1976 in Kingston, Rod was a race committee chairman.  He also served as an international judge and instructor evaluator. 

In 1974 Rod was given a Special Achievement Award by the Provincial Government “In Grateful Recognition of a distinguished contribution to the field of fitness and amateur sport”.  He has always taken a special interest in youth sailing and was one of the architects of the national Learn to Sail Program. 

Rod and Marion have been partners for forty years and shared travelling, cruises, skiing and many happy hours with friends at BYC.  Rod loved his glass of wine and chat at the end of the day.  An extended family, Mary Lynne (Randy), Bruce (Debbie), Michael and Kate were a happy part of Rod’s life.  Michael was like a much-loved grandson.  Visits to Albany and Harvest Moon Orchard were always enjoyable. 

Rod will be greatly missed by his family and friends.  His smile and wry sense of humour will be remembered with much affection. 

Rod’s family and friends want to thank the physicians and nurses at Arnprior & District Hospital for the excellent care he received.  Special thanks to the team at The William and Maureen Shenkman Palliative Care Unity (St. Vincent’s Hospital) for the kind, caring and excellent care he received there.

A reception to celebrate Rod’s life and contributions will be held at the Britannia Yacht Club (2777 Cassels St, Ottawa ON K2B 6N6) on Friday, October 4 th , 2024 from 1 pm to 3 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Colin Blandy Fund, Britannia Yacht Club at 2777 Cassels St., Ottawa, ON, K2B 6N6, would be appreciated. The Colin Blandy Fund was established in 1977 by members of BYC to provide financial assistance to young sailors. 

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Andrey Likhanskiy - Brief Biography

Andrey was born in Moscow, Russia, and studied mechanical engineering in Moscow. In 1998 he became interested in diving and received the status of Diving Instructor. He worked as a diving instructor in Malta and later as a commercial diver.

In 2016 he started working at Triton as a submarine technician. and in 2019 he became a Submarine Field Technician. His current role involves working on mechanical assembly as well as air, oxygen and hydraulics systems.

Oriol Povill - Brief Biography

Oriol joined Triton Submarines EMEA in 2018 as an intern, where he quickly made his mark by designing and developing an underwater robotic arm for submersibles. His impressive work led to a full-time position the following year, where he played a crucial role in the design, development, and assembly of the first Deep View 24 submersible made in Barcelona.

Currently, Oriol is responsible for design, 3D modeling, and mechanical drawings at Triton Submarines EMEA. With an extensive number of dives in Spain, France, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Belize, Oriol has officially completed training to become a Surface Officer for manned submersible operations. His technical expertise and innovative approach are vital to the ongoing success of the team.

Oriol’s passion for engineering and the ocean drives his dedication to Triton’s mission. Outside of work, he enjoys exploring new technologies and spending time in the vibrant city of Barcelona. Oriol’s commitment and creativity make him an invaluable member of the Triton team.

Borja Hidalgo - Brief Biography

Borja studied Aerospace Engineering in Madrid. After completing a MSc in Beijing, China, he specialized in space thermal design and analysis working for 5 years in different satellite projects for top European space companies like Airbus and OHB. He developed his entrepreneur facet by setting up a trading business related to consumer electronics and technical service. After selling his business in 2018, he joined Triton Submarines EMEA as Production Manager, becoming part of the team that built the DeepView 24 submersible, as well as managing the production and quality of pressure hull components for other Triton submersibles.

Joan Bigas - Brief Biography

Born and raised in Barcelona, the technological and engineering world has always interested Joan. He studied aeronautical engineering and started working in an AIRBUS subsidiary where he developed the skillset to manage purchasing which he has later on developed at Triton Submarines. His technological background and ambition has helped him manage the procurement for the first submersible built in the Barcelona facility as well as other projects that are currently under development.

Hugo Marrero - Brief Biography

Hugo operates as the Quality Manager and brings over 30 years of expertise in Offshore Marine & Submersibles for Science & Passenger Operations. He holds an AS in Electrical Engineering Technology from the University of Puerto Rico and a Commercial Diving Technology Certificate from Santa Barbara City College. Hugo is also licensed by the USCG as a 100 Ton Captain with Manned Submersible Endorsements for Atlantis 48 Pax Submersibles.   

Since 1991, Hugo has served as a Pilot and Maintenance Technician for a variety of submersibles, including Atlantis 1, Atlantis 4, Atlantis 7, Atlantis 10 submersibles, Looking Glass Submarine, COMEX Submarine, Perry PC1205 & Perry PC1203. Additionally, he has also spent five years as the Operations & Maintenance Manager for Atlantis Submarines Hawaii and has been a Pilot with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, operating the JSL1 and JSL2 submersibles.  

Hugo is certified in SD3000 & MV7000 Alstom / GE Propulsion Control Systems, underscoring his extensive proficiency and commitment to quality in marine operations.   

Tim Houseman - Brief Biography

Having relocated from Crescent, Oklahoma, Tim brings a rich and diverse background to our team. Previously, he served as a High School Science teacher, imparting knowledge and inspiring young minds in his local community. Before embarking on a teaching career, he dedicated 18 years to Cox Communications, where he honed his technical skills and expertise. During his tenure at Cox Communications, Tim took a brief leave of absence to serve in the U.S. Navy, specializing in aviation. He worked on the F18 Super Hornets and the MH 53E, Sea Dragon helicopter, showcasing his commitment to service and technical proficiency.  

Tim is excited to embrace the coastal lifestyle in Sebastian, where he and his family—spouse April and daughters Jorja and Scarlett—are putting down roots. Married for 13 years, he and April met in the Navy and shared a passion for adventure and community. Their household also includes a lively 2-year-old Golden Retriever. In his leisure time, Tim enjoys relaxing around a campfire, sharing stories of the past, and looking forward to the future. He is eager to contribute his skills and experiences to our team and community.  

Cameron Copeman - Brief Biography

In 2021   after graduating from Florida Tech with a B.S. in Ocean Engineering,   Cameron   joined Triton as an Engineering Administrator working with the company’s BRP software. He started production engineering work within a few months,   and before his first year, was promoted to engineer .   Since then, he’s been involved in production design, drafting,   and documentation   for several projects.

Cameron is a Florida native who grew up fascinated with underwater technology. He takes pride in the prestige of working at Triton and continues to push the industry forward. He particularly enjoys designing and placing the non-skid patterns   for each sub. This has earned him the moniker “Tread Master.”   

Steven Ulrich - Brief Biography

Growing up in central Pennsylvania, Steve acquired a Bachelor of Science Degree in Horticulture/ Hort Business Management from Penn State University.  After graduation, he spent 22 years at  Hydrofarm  Horticultural products serving as their East Coast Operations Manager, overseeing all operations and supply chain functions for their 3 East Coast distribution centers. Soon after resigning, Steve moved his wife and twins to Florida where his kids were planning to attend college, and where he could pursue a more fulfilling career.  Shortly thereafter, he took on his  current supply chain role at Triton! Triton has been a great fit and Steve is looking forward to continuing to grow with the company.  

Jon Engen - Brief Biography

Jon proudly displays a photograph in his office of the day he was born, placed in a submarine in Grand Cayman. His connection to the ocean has been a lifelong journey, spanning residences in the Caribbean, Florida, and Europe. Jon’s professional path began as an intern with Triton in 2011, and he has remained deeply involved with the company ever since, contributing in various capacities from designing new components to responding to submarine emergencies.  

Jon holds a degree in mechanical engineering from England and has extensive experience in developing underwater equipment and technologies for commercial, recreational, and defense purposes. His projects have included torpedo upgrades for the US and Australia, search-and-recovery ROVs, underwater stationary sonar arrays, and submersibles for both military and civilian use.  

Jon takes pride in contributing to Triton’s dedicated team, as well as mentoring and supporting newer engineers.  

Niko Pietrzak - Brief Biography

With a focus on the external structures of submersibles, Niko is a dedicated Mechanical Engineer at Triton. Specializing in primary structure systems and the lifting of submersibles, he brings precision and expertise to every project.  

Niko has been with Triton for over three years. He began his journey here as an intern in 2018-19 while attending Florida Institute of Technology. After being awarded a scholarship to Florida Tech at science fair, his love of automotive engineering led him to become the first freshman intern at Larsen Motorsports. Niko became part of the Larsen Motorsports jet dragster team, creating a jet engine test cell capable of handling 5,000lb of thrust. He continues to support all his vehicles mechanically in his spare time.  

Being a Florida Native, Niko is an avid boater as well and enjoys spending time with his family and dogs on the ‘island’ of Melbourne Beach.  

Will Norman - Brief Biography

Will has been a vital part of our electrical department for the past two years. With a degree in computer engineering, Will excels in both software development and electrical systems design, specializing in PLC programming and circuit board programming.  

As a Software Engineer, Will’s favorite aspect of working at Triton is the operational side. He has participated in numerous service jobs and sea trials, demonstrating his commitment to hands-on, real-world applications. An adventurer at heart, Will has traveled extensively with Triton and even completed a few dives to 1,000 meters.  

Will’s passion for exploration and technical excellence makes him an invaluable member of our team.  

Alex Aldrich - Brief Biography

Alex Aldrich joined Triton in June 2023, bringing a dynamic approach to the Salesforce and marketing teams. With a Marketing degree from Florida State University (2016), Alex has been instrumental in revitalizing Triton’s Salesforce platform, transitioning it from dormancy to a vital tool that enhances the team’s efficiency and productivity.  

Growing up in Palm City, Florida, Alex developed a deep-rooted passion for sports, both as a fan and an active participant. Whether it’s golf, fishing, spearfishing, or hunting, he enjoys staying active and spending time outdoors.  Alex’s adventurous spirit extends to his love for ocean exploration and submarines, mirroring his affinity for outdoor sports.  

Before joining Triton, Alex worked in the Brewing industry and eventually moved to the East Coast in search of new opportunities. His commitment to excellence and teamwork has made him a valued member of Triton’s marketing team.  

On Sundays, you can often find Alex enjoying sandbars or a golf course, a testament to his love for the sun and sea. His journey from the brewing industry to becoming a pivotal part of Triton’s sales and marketing efforts reflects his adaptability and drive for success .  

Joaquin Ares - Brief Biography

Joaquin is an integral part of Subsea Import LLC, where he helps manage operations and contributes to the manufacturing of underwater telephones for submarines worldwide, including customers in India. With a hands-on approach, Joaquin is always present in the shop, stepping in wherever needed to ensure smooth production processes.  

Joaquin began his journey with Triton as an intern in 2021 while completing his studies at Florida State University, from which he graduated in 2022. Having been with Triton for over a year and a half, he brings a passion for the building process and a dedication to excellence in his role.  

Growing up, Joaquin developed a love for the ocean, engaging in activities such as fishing, diving, and surfing. His fascination with submarines and underwater technology was nurtured through years of scuba diving during his childhood. This lifelong interest now fuels his enthusiasm for his work at Triton.

Richard Stott - Brief Biography

Richard Stott joined Triton in July 2020, bringing his extensive background as a machinist and TIG welder for the marine industry. At Triton, Rich plays a vital role in service, operations, and manufacturing, contributing his technical expertise to the production and maintenance of luxury submersibles.  

Rich’s curiosity about personal luxury submersibles was sparked during his time in the machining industry, leading him to apply for a position at Triton as soon as an opportunity arose. His passion for exploration, travel, and the ocean perfectly aligns with Triton’s mission.  

Outside of work, Rich enjoys riding motorcycles and spending time with his blue heeler dog, Leroy Brown. His diverse interests and technical skills make him a valuable member of the Triton team.  

Jimmy Conlan - Brief Biography

Jimmy Conlan has been a valued member of the Triton team for a little over a year, bringing over a decade of purchasing experience to his role. As a Purchasing Administrator Jimmy ensures that all items needed to build submersibles are ordered and manufactured in a timely manner, contributing to Triton’s cutting-edge marine exploration technology.  

Jimmy’s interest in the marine world began with yearly vacations to the shore, where he found comfort in the beach environment. This passion now fuels his enthusiasm for his work at Triton. Before joining Triton, Jimmy was a product specialist for an electrical distribution company, honing skills that now benefit Triton’s procurement processes.  

Outside of his professional life, Jimmy is a dedicated husband and father of three. In his leisure time, he enjoys creating music, playing the piano, drums, and other percussion instruments, and singing in several languages, including Italian, French, and German. His diverse interests and extensive experience make him a crucial part of Triton’s team.  

Kristine Mattson - Brief Biography

Kristine Mattson joined Triton on October 9, 2023, after being recruited for her extensive experience and expertise. As the Service Manager, Kristine is the go-to person for clients needing service work, submersible surveys, and parts for their submersibles. Her favorite aspect of working at Triton is the opportunity to engage with the various innovative designs of submarines.  

With a remarkable 28-year career in the car service business, Kristine brings a wealth of knowledge and a customer-focused approach to her role at Triton. Outside of work, she enjoys shopping, visiting breweries, savoring great food, and taking road trips. Kristine’s dedication and diverse interests make her an invaluable member of the Triton team.  

Roger Allen - Brief Biography

Roger has been a dedicated machinist at Triton since January 3, 2023, bringing over a year of experience and enthusiasm to the team. Working in the machine shop, Roger handles various tasks, including the maintenance of the tank used for dunking submarines.  

Originally from New Jersey, Roger has an extensive background as a mechanist, with 18 years of experience, including a tenure at NJ Transit, a passenger railroad. Originally, he worked in machine operations, but now is training in machine setup at Triton. His passion for water, boats, and fishing led him to Triton, where he is thrilled to be part of the submarine industry. He discovered Triton through his pastor and has since embraced the company’s mission and collaborative culture.  

Griselda Robledo - Brief Biography

Griselda is an essential part of the Triton team. Her job is ensuring the office spaces, shop floor and cafeteria have a smooth operation through meticulously organizing and cleaning. However, Griselda’s role extends beyond maintaining cleanliness. She assists in inventory management and orders several essential office supplies. Griselda is known for her willingness to assist on the shop floor by doing various critical tasks. She is a team player and loves to learn more and more about the manufacturing process.  

Griselda is originally from Mexico, Mexico City and has lived in the United States for several years. Before joining Triton, she worked as a salesperson in a furniture store in Mexico City has done an assortment of different jobs regarding cleaning and organizing. Outside of work, Gris enjoys going to the beach, reading, and shopping. She was drawn to Triton because of the opportunities it offered her. Griselda takes pride in the work being done at Triton and appreciates the mutual respect among her colleagues. She finds great satisfaction in being part of the Triton team.  

Chad Imboden - Brief Biography

Chad works in production assembly at Triton. With aspirations to become a field technician, his extensive experience and passion for nautical ventures make him a valuable addition to Team Triton.  

Chad is originally from Athens, Ohio and moved to Lahaina Valley in Hawaii at age 24 before finding a career in Florida at Triton. Chad offers an extensive amount of expertise through being a boat captain and working on submarines for Atlantis for 20 years. Leaving his hometown while studying communications and broadcasting, Chad jumped at the opportunity to be a vital part of ocean exploration. Chad’s love for the ocean led him to be a submarine pilot and trainer and has piloted well over 16,000 dives over the course of his career.      

When not at work, Chad enjoys photography and travel. Having visited 30 countries with a goal of reaching 100, he enjoys road trips in his kitted-out van. When not in the van, Chad has clocked over 8,000 miles on his one-wheel board. For Chad, working at Triton is a privilege and an amazing opportunity. He enjoys the diverse aspects of the job and admires Triton’s contributions to ocean exploration.  

Jason Peruzzi - Brief Biography

Jason Peruzzi is originally from Atlanta, GA, and has called Vero Beach home for the past 32 years. As Triton’s Inventory Central Specialist, he leverages his extensive automotive experience to manage parts and ensure operational efficiency. Jason earned his GED and spent 30 years in the automotive industry, including a significant role in assisting the engineering department at Piper airport.

Outside of work, Jason enjoys hiking and biking at Blue Ridge, Georgia, his favorite spot for outdoor activities. He also loves fishing and unwinding with simulation race cars. Jason joined Triton to explore a different industry, and he thrives on the excitement of learning something new. He values the camaraderie among his colleagues, and his dedication and expertise make him a crucial part of the Triton team.

Sharon Wolfe - Brief Biography

Sharon Wolfe assists and supports the CEO and the Executive Team. She also manages meetings, liaise with clients and Contractors, manages the crew houses and coordinates travel for the company.  Sharon takes care of Human Resources, ensuring compliance with federal and state labor laws, facilitating open communication between staff and management posting jobs, screening candidates, and onboarding all new employees.

Originally from Florida, Sharon grew up in Brevard County and moved to Indian River County to enter the healthcare field. She graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and business, then continued on to ultimately finish her post graduate studies in advanced biological sciences (pre- med). Sharon had a career in nursing and operations spanning over 12 years then continued running small businesses and consulting, bookkeeping, office management, and human resources.

In her free time, Sharon loves to travel, visit her son in Atlanta, relax at the beach with her daughter, or tend to her yard. Her passion for the ocean and science led her to Triton, which she discovered through a documentary.

Elizabeth Zaruba - Brief Biography

Elizabeth oversees Triton’s accounting, human resources, information technologies, and legal work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business accounting from the University of Central Florida.  

Originally from Melbourne, Florida, Elizabeth previously worked in satellite communications and electronics manufacturing. Outside of work, she enjoys attending music festivals and creating beaded jewelry, a craft she learned from her mother in celebration of her Native American heritage as a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe.  

Elizabeth appreciates working at Triton for the ethical management practices she brings to the organization. She feels inspired and enthusiastic about Triton’s projects and enjoys applying her extensive skill set to special projects and problem-solving with the team.  

Ari Harsan - Brief Biography

Originally from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Ariadna has been living in the United States since 1999 and relocated to Florida over 10 years ago. She has 5 years of experience in shipping and receiving followed by 10 years of experience at Sikorsky Aircraft / Lockheed Martin as an electrical inspector on Black Hawk helicopters.

Ariadna joined the Triton team in the beginning of 2020 as the Shipping and Receiving Supervisor

Chris Devoe - Brief Biography

Originally from Connecticut, Chris relocated to Florida in 2008. He has 10 years of experience in construction followed by 10 years at Lockheed Martin as a senior electrical installer, which included building Black Hawk helicopters. In 2019 Chris joined our shop assembly team at Triton’s headquarters in Sebastian, FL.

Steve Chappell - Brief Biography

Steve Chappell is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience and more than 20,000 logged dives. Specializing in tourism and hospitality, Steve brings a unique perspective to Triton’s Operations & Assembly team, with a focus on creating exceptional experiences for clients. Steve is also a vessel captain, divemaster, marine commentator and holds a USCG 100 ton license and FCC marine operator permit.

Steve’s expertise includes AVA integration training and the construction and delivery of the Deepview, the first tourist submersible. He also wrote the comprehensive training program for pilots and copilots, ensuring high standards of safety and performance.

Dedicated to representing the hospitality industry, Steve’s extensive background and passion for underwater exploration make him an invaluable asset to the Triton team.

Shonna Vanarsdale - Brief Biography

Shonna specializes in working with fiberglass through expertly cutting out various molds for submersibles at Triton. Her attention to detail and passion is critical for quality control in every project she undertakes.   

Shonna is originally from Nuremberg, Germany, and moved to Florida when she was 10 years old. Her career background includes building sport fishing boats, driven by a lifelong interest in fixing things, influenced by her father, who is an Army Veteran & contractor.  

In her free time, Shonna enjoys hunting for fossils and snorkeling in Peace River, where she has discovered several treasures like various shark teeth and other fossils. She joined Triton to explore new opportunities in fiberglass work and loves the flexibility and hard work the job entails. Shonna enjoys working at Triton because she appreciates being able to work at her own pace while contributing to the innovative projects at Triton.  

Frank Lombardo - Brief Biography

Frank Lombardo is a seasoned professional with over six years of dedicated service at Triton, specializing in Submersible Operations and Electronics. His expertise is particularly notable in his work with Subsea Imports, a company renowned for producing wireless underwater communication equipment. Frank’s role involves not only expert management but also hands-on development, reflecting his deep understanding of the intricacies of underwater communication technologies.

Before joining Triton, Frank honed his skills as a sub pilot for 16 years at Harbor Branch Oceanographic, where he developed a profound understanding of underwater exploration. His seven-year tenure in offshore oil subsea operations further solidified his technical acumen and operational excellence.

An avid outdoorsman, Frank is a certified dive master who finds solace in the serenity of fishing and the thrill of hunting. His love for adventure is matched by his commitment to outdoor activities, embodying the spirit of exploration that Triton values.

Ticer Pfeifer- Brief Biography

Ticer Pfeifer, an alumnus of the Florida Institute of Technology, embarked on his Triton journey immediately after graduation. His initial role involved working on the 1K2-002 submersible, affectionately known as Nomad, where he gained comprehensive insights into the manufacturing process—from design and procurement to installation and testing.

Ticer’s hands-on experience as a sub crew member on Nomad paved the way for further adventures with the 36K2 submersible. His participation in the historic dives to the Mariana Trench was not only a testament to human ingenuity but also a personal milestone that he cherishes deeply. These field experiences have been instrumental in shaping his current role as an electrical engineer and team lead. Ticer is responsible for creating, updating, and managing schematics and documents, building Bills of Materials (BOMs), and orchestrating the efforts of the electrical and mechanical teams to bring complex projects to life.

The mentorship and guidance he received at Triton have been pivotal in his professional development, opening doors to unparalleled opportunities within the field of luxury submersibles.

Beyond the depths of the ocean, Ticer enjoys an active lifestyle, engaging in various sports such as volleyball, tennis, pickleball, and golf. He’s also an avid surfer, reader, 3D printing enthusiast, and gamer—diverse interests that reflect his dynamic personality and contribute to his multifaceted role at Triton.

Charlotte Van Loo- Brief Biography

Charlotte Van Loo is an Accounting Manager at Triton Submarines EMEA S.L. Originally from Belgium, Charlotte brings a diverse skill set to her role, managing an assortment of general administrative, HR and Finance tasks. She holds a diploma in office administration and has studied law at the University level and psychology at the College level, further enhancing her broad knowledge base. Before joining

Triton, she gained valuable experience as an office manager in the private submersible and super yacht industry.

Outside of her professional life, Charlotte enjoys playing tennis, relaxing at home with her cats, and dining out with friends. She appreciates the enjoyable atmosphere at the office and enjoys working with her colleagues. Her dedication and multifaceted expertise make her a critical part of the Triton team.

Inma Ortigosa- Brief Biography

Inma Ortigosa is an Engineering Manager of the EMEA Engineering Team at Triton Submarines. She brings extensive expertise and passion to the Triton team. Originally from Barcelona, Inma now resides in a small town by the sea. She studied physics at the University of Barcelona and pursued naval architecture and marine and ocean engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Inma later earned a PhD in naval architecture from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona. Before joining Triton, Inma dedicated 15 years to lecturing on naval architecture, marine engineering, and mechanical engineering.

Outside of work, Inma loves to sing, dance, act, and swim, often singing Disney songs to her kids. Her academic background aligns with Triton’s mission of designing and operating submersibles, making her role a dream come true. Inma finds the work exciting and enjoys the camaraderie and positivity within her team.

Marta Creus- Brief Biography

Marta Creus is a Service Manager at Triton Submarines. She organizes board and sea operations in Barcelona and calculates submersible stability for DNV certifications and takes the lead on after-sales service for our many clients. She showcases Triton submarines at boat shows, providing technical information to potential customers.

Originally from Barcelona, Marta studied naval architecture and maritime engineering and is pursuing a master’s degree in naval and oceanic engineering with a specialization in yacht design. Her previous role as a coordinator for FC Barcelona’s football activities speaks to her diverse skill set that she brings to team Triton. When not at work, Marta enjoys playing volleyball and coordinating beach cleanups with her friends. Marta is also a fierce advocate for women’s rights, attending conventions to empower women in their personal and professional lives. She also champions women’s representation in engineering by giving talks at schools, colleges, conferences, and interviews.

Marta was drawn to Triton by her love for the ocean and curiosity about submersible engineering. She enjoys the continuous learning processes and the uniqueness of each project, finding excitement in the constant innovation at Triton.

Santiago Gutierrez- Brief Biography

Santiago Gutierrez manages Triton’s warehouse in Barcelona. He has a master’s degree in supply chain management and extensive experience in transportation and logistics, specializing in managing large warehouses.

Living in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, a small town near Barcelona, Santiago is passionate about wood and traditional sailing vessels. He is a member of an association dedicated to restoring traditional wooden boats and another group managing a nearly 100-year-old wooden sailboat. Outside of work, he enjoys these hobbies that closely connect to his professional interests.

At Triton, Santiago brings innovative ideas to warehouse management, aiming to make operations more professional, efficient, and effective.

Xavier Aguilar- Brief Biography

Xavier, born and raised in Barcelona, handles logistics, purchasing, and supply chain management at Triton, ensuring smooth operations and timely deliveries. Xavier studied Law at the University of Barcelona (UB – Universidad de Barcelona). He has worked in a law office and spent four years at a logistics company in Switzerland. With 16-17 years of experience in logistics, Xavier brings a wealth of knowledge to Triton.

Outside of work, Xavier enjoys running, biking, and swimming. He is also a talented artist, creating many different cartoon characters and selling them online. He loves expressing his creativity and often leaves cartoon drawings around the office, bringing joy and laughter to his colleagues. Xavier loves the exciting atmosphere at Triton and enjoys his job immensely.

Oriol Marce - Brief Biography

Oriol Marce Canal joined Triton Submarines EMEA in February 2024, bringing a strong background in materials engineering and quality assurance. At Triton, Oriol plays a crucial role in quality control, ensuring that parts and processes meet the highest standards and contributing to the continuous improvement of the production system.  

Oriol’s fascination with technology led him to study materials engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. This passion for precision and excellence guided Oriol to a position at Applus, an international certifying company, where he tested construction materials.   When the opportunity to join Triton Submarines EMEA arose, Oriol eagerly embraced the chance to apply his expertise in a new and exciting field. His dedication to quality and innovation aligns perfectly with Triton’s mission.  

Outside of work, Oriol enjoys hiking, CrossFit or reading a good book. His diverse interests and technical skills make him a valuable member of the Triton team.  

Adrian Bermudez - Brief Biography

Adrián Bermúdez, born in Barcelona, Spain, is a Principal R&D Engineer and Inventor at Triton Submarines. Adrián specializes in developing power electronics and batteries, while also investigating new products and opportunities in oceanic exploration. His passion for electrical engineering began at a young age, inspired by his experiences in his uncle’s and father’s electrical lab. Despite a few childhood mishaps with electrical shocks, his enthusiasm never waned.

Adrián pursued his education in electrical engineering at Universitat Ramon Llull, earning his bachelor’s degree. He began his professional career at HP, working on 3D printers for two and a half years before transitioning to Igtinue, a submarine company in Barcelona, where he developed pressure-tested batteries. His journey eventually led him to Triton, where he thrives on the innovation and freedom to create that the company offers.

Outside of work, Adrián is a talented pianist, having played since the age of six. He finds joy in performing pieces by Mozart and Chopin, balancing his technical pursuits with his love for music. Adrián values the opportunities at Triton and is driven by the innovative environment and the ability to explore new horizons in ocean technology.

Ignacio Menarguez Fuertes - Brief Biography

Ignacio Menarguez Fuertes joined Triton Submarines EMEA in 2022 as a Design Engineer, bringing his lifelong passion for vehicles and extensive experience in design.   Ignacio’s fascination with vehicles began in his childhood, where he spent countless hours building model planes, cars, and ships. He pursued his studies at UADE University in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before joining Triton, Ignacio worked as a freelancer for various design studios, creating parts for bikes and even contributing to an Argentinian rally car prototype.  

At Triton, Ignacio thrives on seeing projects through from conception to development. He takes great pride in having the opportunity to see his designs installed and in use within Triton’s luxury submersibles.  

Outside of work, Ignacio enjoys go-karting with friends, sailing, and indulging in board games and barbecues. His diverse interests and dedication to his craft make him a valuable member of the Triton team.  

Sergi Quesada - Brief Biography

Sergi Quesada is an electrical engineer at Triton, assisting in submarine drawings, system integrations, and software development. He holds a degree in industrial engineering with specializations in Industrial Electronics and Automatics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).  

Originally from Barcelona, Sergi has worked in companies designing, programming, and building prototypes of ROVs, underwater cameras, offshore communications to base in port, and internet telemetry transfer data. He has also been involved in designing and programming medical machines, setting up small Dynamic Positioning systems, and integrating client systems to vessel systems. He has expertise in software, mechanical, and electrical design, and is an ROV and drone pilot.  

At Triton, he is involved in GUI development and modifications, including the 7K3 GUI, and functionality improvements. He also works on fixing PLC bugs and adding small functionalities for the 7K3 vehicle and developing a PLC-based test tool to simulate a Submarine EEJB and IEJB for comprehensive testing.  

In his spare time, Sergi enjoys driving his 4×4 Land Rover into the mountains, mountain biking, hiking, flying his drone, and scuba diving. He also likes to implement technological modifications and automations in his home. Sergi loves contributing to the development of ocean exploration vehicles at Triton and is excited about learning new technologies and being a Sub Test Pilot.  

Marc Diaz - Brief Biography

Marc Diaz is a Mechanical Technician at Triton Submarines, specializing in safety protocols and management. Originally from a small town near Barcelona, Marc’s passion for naval mechanics led him to study and work in various roles, including technician mechanic and deckhand on a tuna fishing ship, commercial diver, and diver supervisor. His extensive experience includes inspections on power plants, renewable energies, and work on large ships.

Outside of work, Marc enjoys biking with friends, reading, watching films, rock climbing, and hiking. His fascination with Triton began at an early age of 10 after watching a documentary about submarines. His lifelong dream of working with submersibles has been realized at Triton, where he values the team’s commitment to safety and ocean exploration. Marc’s passion and tenacity drives his contributions to Triton’s innovative projects.

Javier Gomez Guindos - Brief Biography

Javier Gomez Guindos was born in Terrassa, Spain. He joined Triton Submarines, bringing his extensive background as an electrical technician. At Triton, Javier plays a vital role in the assembly and wiring of the submarines’ electrical systems, contributing his technical expertise to the production and maintenance of luxury submersibles.  

Javier’s passion for electrical systems was sparked during his studies at the Salesians of Terrassa, leading him to work in various industries, including food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and metallurgy. His diverse experience and dedication to continuous improvement perfectly align with Triton’s mission.  

Outside of work, Javier enjoys spending quality time with his family, including his wife and two children. He is also an avid sports enthusiast, particularly in soccer and Padel, which he practices every week. His diverse interests and technical skills make him an important member of the Triton team.  

Craig Barnett - Brief Biography

Working in yachting media for the last two decades, Craig’s role in journalism and editorial content generation has led him from his native Wales, through extended stints living in the Middle East and Florida, to joining the Triton team in Barcelona. Just one dive in a Triton submersible off the Bahamas was all it took to convince him that the team and product are where his passion and professional future lies.

From personal watercraft through to megayachts and as the founding Editor in Chief of INVICTUS Magazine, Craig has acquired a wide-aspect view of the leisure marine sector, from concept and design, through construction, operation, the yachting lifestyle and interaction with yacht owners, equipping him to contribute to the development of Triton’s communication, global visibility and the generation of sales.

Rhonda Darling - Brief Biography

Sohphie bentham-wood - brief biography, r. monroe roos - brief biography.

Although born in Florida, Monroe’s family is from Aruba where he was raised. He has always been connected to the ocean and was a competitive swimmer in his youth. His career history includes working as the Captain of whale watching tour boats in Alaska and completing submarines refits. Monroe is also another Triton employee with an extensive background in operating submersibles. He began as a Sub Technician with Atlantis Submarines in 2005, became a submarine pilot for them in 2009 and accumulated over 1,500 dives working in Hawaii and Guam.

Jon Pugh - Brief Biography

Jon joined Triton part time in January 2020 while pursuing his Ocean Engineering Degree at Florida Institute of Technology. He began working at Triton full time as a part of the engineering team in May of 2020 having completed his bachelor’s degree in Ocean Engineering. He was then sent to be a part of the Marianas dives in June on Pressure Drop. Since then he has been a part of the engineering team on Triton’s 3300/6 submersible build.

David Stott - Brief Biography

Like quite a few Triton employees, Dave is originally from the UK but moved to the Treasure Coast in 1995. His background includes working at Burnley Engineering Products in the UK, working as an Engineering Manager for Vero Machine Industries for 13 years and working as a Production Manager for Dettmers Industries – altogether more than 36 years in manufacturing and engineering. That experience and skill is now part of the submersible assembly team here at Triton.

L Bruce Jones - Brief Biography

L. Bruce Jones is a Co-founder of Triton Submarines and acted as its CEO from the company’s inception in 2007 until August, 2022. He initially became a consultant for the tourist submarine industry in 1987 and formed U.S. Submarines, Inc. in 1993. U.S. Submarines developed diesel electric luxury submarine designs as well as the DeepView acrylic tourist submarine. That company designed and built the first two Tritons, both 1000/2 models. Bruce developed the Poseidon Undersea Resort concept as well as plans for a series of undersea residences and related structures. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology from Trinity University, attended the MBA program at St. Mary’s College and did interdisciplinary Doctoral work in Mineralogy, Solid State Physics and Analytical Chemistry. He is an avid pilot, yachtsman and former U.S. Collegiate National Skydiving Champion.

Ken Aldrich - Brief Biography

Ken Aldrich has been a vital part of the Triton team for 8 years, overseeing the purchasing, shipping, and receiving processes in the warehouse. His journey into the marine manufacturing industry and Triton was driven by his passion for the environment and oceans. Ken has had more than 20 years of experience working in a variety of technological and energy sector corporations as a buyer and purchasing manager, including the Grumman Corporation (now Northrop/Grumman), Voight Aircraft and Power Systems Manufacturing.

Born and raised in Huntington, New York, Ken’s love for the outdoors is evident in his hobbies, which include hiking, golf, and boating. He also enjoys the sunny Florida weather, which complements his active lifestyle. Before joining Triton, Ken was a purchasing manager for Aerostructures, where he honed his skills in procurement and logistics.

Ken’s extensive experience and dedication to his role ensure that Triton’s warehouse operations run smoothly, contributing to the company’s overall success.

Patrick Lahey - Brief Biography

Patrick Lahey is the co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines. Patrick began diving in 1975 and he is a fully qualified air, mixed-gas, and bell saturation diver. During his year career, Patrick has participated in the design, manufacture, testing and operation of numerous underwater vehicles and diving systems including more than 60 human occupied submersibles. Patrick has overseen development of the entire range of products at Triton, including the first and only full ocean depth rated submersible certified by an internationally recognized third party classification society. Patrick has made five dives in the

Mariana Trench, including a certification dive in 2019 when he successfully completed the world’s deepest ever salvage at a depth of 35,865 feet (10,932 meters). Patrick is an ardent ocean advocate and passionate supporter of all initiatives aimed at furthering our knowledge and understanding of the Ocean.

Kelvin Magee - Brief Biography

Originally from Canada, Kelvin has spent much of his professional career traveling the world in a wide variety of dive projects from the surface to 13,000 feet. Kelvin’s dive world spans from Scuba to Mixed Gas, to Technical Diving, ROV operation and submersibles.

Ron Stamm - Brief Biography

Following 10 years’ experience as an FCC licensed Avionic and Marine Electronic Technician, Ron earned an BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. While working as electrical engineer for such companies as Harris – RF Communications, and Panasonic (MECA), Ron completed an MBA from Rutgers University specializing in New Product Development and Strategic Marketing. Since then Ron has spent 12 years in both project and engineering management at Nokia and Verizon Wireless, before joining Triton Submarines in 2014. Although initially in an engineering position, Ron’s role has expanded to include both Project and Contracts Management and now specializes in product quality, process and business management. Ron is an avid SCUBA diver, boater and fisherman.

Jarl Stromer - Brief Biography

Jarl manages the company’s classification and testing program. He makes sure every aspect of the submersible is designed, fabricated, tested, inspected, operated, and maintained in accordance with recognized and accepted standards. He’s also a subject matter expert on acrylic pressure vessel technology, presiding over several significant advancements in the state of the art of acrylic pressure vessel technology, including new procedures for design by analysis (DBA) of acrylic PVHOs.

Jarl has an in-depth [pun intended] knowledge of the ASME PVHO-1 Safety Standard, ASTM and ISO/EN specifications, as well as ABS and DNV Classification Rules.

Previously, Jarl was responsible for classification of manned submersibles at the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) spanning the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, a time of explosive growth in the submersible industry, particularly tourist submersibles.

Cory Young - Brief Biography

Before coming to Triton, Cory was a professional  artist who attended CalArts and in the late 80’s was instrumental in bringing South Florida’s commercial art and publishing industry into the digital age. His versatile talents are now appreciated at Triton in a multitude of fields.

Mike Haley - Brief Biography

Michael Haley has a wide variety of experience in several marine related fields. He has a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California and spent two decades teaching and conducting university research in marine biology, including seven years as the Director of the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory in Jamaica.

More recently, he has installed ceramic based artificial reefs at several locations in the Caribbean and the Arabian Gulf and he has also worked as an environmental consultant in the marine salvage industry. He is experienced in the use of subs for marine research, starting back in the 1980s with Perry-class submersibles and heads Triton’s focus on developing options packages to facilitate biological, chemical, geological and archaeological research.

Mike Sullivan - Brief Biography

Mike graduated from Indian River College locally with a degree in electronic engineering. He spent years at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) as the lead electronic technician of the Johnson Sea Link Manned Submersible. His duties, working with his brother Jim (another Triton employee) included installation and maintenance of all electronic equipment and sub crew members making hundreds of dives during scientific expeditions. Mike also worked as the electronic technician on the Aquarius 2000 Underwater Saturation Habitat and Laboratory and brings an enormous amount of experience to the table here at Triton.

Joshua Harrison - Brief Biography

Joshua works at Triton as part of the shop assembly team. As an experienced commercial driver, he is a critical part of the quality control and certification team, delivering assembled subs to the facility in Texas for external pressure testing and facilitating proper certification procedures. He has also traveled with Triton to complete build procedures and certification to locations that include the Bahamas, Tahiti, Australia, and Malta.

Colin Quigley - Brief Biography

Colin has been with Triton since 2010 and is part of the shop assembly team at the Sebastian site. He has more than 43 years experience as a diver and is also part of the in-house group involved in the initial sea trials of new Triton subs. He has traveled to Japan twice and the Bahamas on numerous occasions, working as a swimmer in surface based operations during critical launch and recovery procedures.

Dave 'Sparky' Ahlgreen - Brief Biography

Dave is a valued member of the electrical assembly team at Triton, bringing over 35 years of experience as a commercial electrician. For the past 14 years, Dave has been instrumental in installing both internal and external electrical junction boxes, contributing significantly to Triton’s final assembly work.

Throughout his tenure, he has traveled globally, working in locations such as Seattle, Dubai, Australia, Los Angeles, Japan, Guam, Argentina, and Malta. His extensive experience includes assembling more than 20 submarines, with refits done to nearly all of them. Dave has had the privilege of working alongside some of the world’s best submarine pilots and scientists, making him an integral part of Triton’s continued success and innovation in submarine technology.

Kelvin McGee - Brief Biography

Born in New Zealand, Kelvin’s family moved to Vancouver Island in Canada when he was young. He has an extensive maritime background, having been a commercial diver for more than 25 years and also piloting Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROVs) all over the world. He has been involved in an extensive range of dive projects from the surface to 13,000 ft and also spent more than 10 years working with Deep Rover submersibles. Kelvin has worked at Triton since 2011 and is a critical part of the operations team, piloting subs and training clients who purchase Triton subs. Additionally, he is involved in assembling the subs themselves in Sebastian.

Tiffany Lantier - Brief Biography

Tiffany is born and raised in Vero Beach and has over 17 years of experience in accounting and office management. She oversees the financial management and documentation of Triton’s accounts and plays a critical role in overseeing the purchasing of vendor supplied components that are incorporated into every submersible build.

Marvin Poole - Brief Biography

Marvin is part of the shop assembly team and has experience few can match. He served in the US Army and was then recruited by NASA in its fledgeling stages to work on the lunar lander. Afterwards he spent 10 years working on underwater life support systems for the Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras, diving to the bottom of oil platforms. He then went to work for Atlantis Submarines, the tourist submarine company, as a maintenance supervisor in Grand Cayman. Next he oversaw new submarine construction in Vancouver, including the construction of a 64 passenger sub, the largest tourist submarine to date. Since 2007, Marvin has worked for Triton and has been an integral part of every Triton sub model constructed since the formation of the company.

John Ramsay - Brief Biography

John is responsible for the design and creation of every new Triton. He has been a lead engineer on more than 20 new-build submersibles, including both military and commercial projects and vehicles built to ABS, Lloyds and DNV-GL classification.

With over 18 years of experience of all aspects of submersible design, John’s innovative and groundbreaking, yet deceptively simple concepts and solutions, have pushed the boundaries of what submersibles are capable of, in many cases rewriting the rulebooks for PVHOs and submersibles in general.

A career highlight was undoubtedly becoming the ‘deepest diving British person in history’ in May 2019, when he got the opportunity to dive to 10,907 meters depth in the Mariana Trench inside the Triton 36000/2 FOD submersible that he designed for the Five Deeps Expedition, piloted by one of his closest friends, Triton’s president Patrick Lahey – the ‘deepest diving Canadian in history’.

Paul Moorhouse - Brief Biography

Paul began developing submarines in 1986, following a career in aero engines, nuclear submarines, and kit car production. Today, Paul has been involved in the design, engineering, and construction of over 20 subs including 5 diesel-electric subs and the first Triton 1000/2’s and 3300/3. At MSubs, Paul created several advanced military subs for US Special Forces. At James Fischer Defense, Paul designed rescue subs for the Swedish and Indian Navies as well as a swimmer delivery vehicle for the UK Ministry of Defense.

In 2018, Paul re-joined Triton to design and engineer the entirely unique and modular Deepview 24, which was the first contemporary tourist sub created in more than 30 years. Today, as our full-time Principal Designer and Lead Mechanical Engineer, Paul is responsible for developing the next generation of innovative and ground-breaking new products at Triton.

Paul is a practical, hands-on engineer who understands the importance of working collaboratively with the engineering team he leads and those responsible for building the designs they create together. Paul has a natural and intuitive engineering sensibility, which ensures his designs are practical, reliable, and simple but also inspired. In his spare time, Paul enjoys building mini subs to test new ideas and concepts and challenge him to develop solutions for them.

Tom Blades - Brief Biography

Born in the UK, Tom began his career working for the UK Submarine Rescue Team and has had more than a decade of experience developing and integrating electrical systems for submersible vessels for both the military and leisure markets.

In his role at Triton Submarines, Tom has been involved in testing and commissioning the entire range of submersibles, including the record-breaking Triton 36000/2 , a.k.a. ‘Limiting Factor’ – the first two-manned submersible capable of repeatedly diving to the deepest depths of the world’s oceans.

Tom was responsible for running surface tracking and communications for the 2018-19 round-the-world Five Deeps Expedition, including the historic dives to Challenger Deep. A highlight of 2020 for Tom was testing a new navigation system on the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea during a dive to 1700 m.

Hector Salvador - Brief Biography

After years supporting space education, microgravity research and international cooperation at LEEM, the European Space Agency or the International Astronautical Federation, he decided to shift the focus of his passion for exploration from outer to inner space, becoming a dive instructor and a submersible pilot in 2012.

Hector has operated 10 submersibles from different manufacturers and has trained more than 35 new pilots and surface officers from various nationalities. He was the Manager of Field Operations of U-Boat Worx B.V. until 2015 and joined Triton Submarines in 2016.

Paris Birch - Brief Biography

Originally from San Francisco California, Paris is now living permanently in Sebastian, Florida.

Paris holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Computer Arts from Platt College in San Diego, CA. Both her parents worked for the international airlines which allowed her to travel extensively from a young age. She has over ten years’ experience working in the Yacht and Charter industry in different capacities. As First & Second Mate, Paris has sailed US West & East Coast, Bahamas, Caribbean & South America. As Operations Manager she was responsible for administration, crew and event planning, scheduling of charters and supervision of deck crew.

Now at Triton, Paris handles the high volume of shipping and receiving needs at our headquarters in Sebastian, FL.

Brian Cornell - Brief Biography

From Chicago previously, Brian was a general contractor by trade, having established a remodeling/installation company that serviced the Chicagoland area for 15 years.  Then moving to Florida in 2003 to build over 100 homes and also focus on kitchen and bath remodels until 2012.

Since that time, Brian has focused on using his IT skills to set up and scale up IT networks and small business systems, helping growing companies like Triton to put digital organization and processes to work in order to maximize efficiency and collaboration.

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