Patrick Shaughnessy is President, Director, Shareholder and Design Production Manager at Farr Yacht Design. Born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1970, Patrick began sailing and teaching in local junior sailing programs. He studied architecture and design at the University of Maryland and Anne Arundel Community College before joining our team as a draftsman in 1990.
Russell Bowler is Vice President, Director and Shareholder of Farr Yacht Design, Ltd. Born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1946, Russell's interest in sailboats was apparent at an early age when he quickly rose to dominate highly competitive dinghy class racing. Through his youth, participation in dinghy classes that permitted design variations within a restricted rule provided fertile ground for his ideas.
Bruce Farr is the Vice President, Director and founder of Farr Yacht Design, Ltd., the world's foremost designer of racing and cruising sailboats. Born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1949, Bruce first came to prominence sailing, designing and building in the very competitive and stimulating restricted dinghy classes in New Zealand through the 60s and 70s.
Jim Schmicker, Vice President & Senior Naval Architect
Jim Schmicker is a Vice President and Shareholder of Farr Yacht Design. He began his career at FYD in 1988 specializing in rating analysis and performance optimization. His experience in boat building and his knowledge of the IOR and IMS were invaluable to FYD during the late 80’s and early 90’s when world champion IOR 50’s, Whitbread Maxi’s, and One Tonner’s gave way to ILC Maxi’s, ILC 40’s and IMS Racers.
Britton Ward is a Senior Naval Architect and Shareholder at Farr Yacht Design. His responsibilities include the management and implementation of research projects that include tank and wind tunnel experiments, application of CFD and other simulation tools and development of our Farr Yacht Design VPP. Brit processes this data into useable information for conceptual design and hull shape development.
Luke Shingledecker is a Naval Architect and Shareholder at Farr Yacht Design. Luke joined the team as a full-time employee in the summer of 2000, having served as a design intern for FYD the previous winter. Luke was originally hired to assist with design related research and consulting tasks but his experience has also included detail drawing production and appendage design on a wide variety of projects. His current responsibilities include preliminary and concept design, sailplan development, and design research as well as rating analysis and optimization.
Alon Finkelstein is a Design Engineer and Shareholder at Farr Yacht Design. Alon joined our team in January 2003 and is responsible for research and design of appendages at FYD. Appendages for today’s hi-tech racing sailboats typically involve some combination of a canting keel, lifting keel (with a heavy bulb attached to a long and slender fin), movable canard, twin rudders that lift-up or kick-up.
Mark Bishop is a Design Engineer and Shareholder at Farr Yacht Design. Mark joined the team in 2003 specializing in composite structures of sailboats. Born in New Zealand, Mark graduated from the University of Auckland in 1991 with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. Mark previously worked for Southern Spars and with High Modulus in New Zealand gaining a good grounding in the application of engineering methods to the design of composite structures.
Bobbi Hobson's career with Farr Yacht Design began in 1983 when she came on board as Office Manager. For the past 24 years, she has seen the company grow from the initial group of 4 to our current staff of 17 multitalented and international designers and administrative staff. A native of New Jersey, Bobbi graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Textiles and Clothing.
Jennifer Emmet is an Executive Assistant at Farr Yacht Design. She began her career with team in 1990 after working with Beneteau USA for several years. From her early beginnings as Russell Bowler’s personal assistant, Jennifer’s role has continuously evolved to include support for Jim Schmicker and Luke Shingledecker in preparation of agreements and coordination of design/rating consultation work as well as assisting Patrick Shaughnessy with preparation of design agreements and project scheduling.
Ann joined the FYD team in September 2001 as an administrative assistant. Ann handles general inquiries and assists with public relations. She is responsible for both the Farr Yacht Design and Farr Yacht Sales websites. Ann organizes travel arrangements for the entire design team and provides general administrative support and office duties. She also assists Bill O'Malley at Farr Yacht Sales.
Mat Bird became a member of the Farr Yacht Design team in May 2004. He is a two-time America's Cup veteran, having worked on the 2003 challenge for Oracle BMW Racing in both Annapolis and New Zealand and the 2007 challenge for BMW Oracle Racing both in Annapolis and on-site for a year in Valencia, Spain.
Bryan Baker joined Farr Yacht Design after graduating in 2004 with honors from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Bryan also attended the College of Charleston and earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics with a minor concentration in mathematics. Bryan was a member of the design team for Oracle BMW Racing for the 32nd America's Cup.
Chris joined Farr Yacht Design in October 2005 as a Design Engineer. He previously worked as a naval architect for noted multihull designers Morrelli & Melvin, where he gained practical experience designing, engineering & racing on fast sailing craft. Originally from the Detroit area, Chris started racing keelboats while in high school. He soon began studying yacht design in his free time and worked at a sail maker to get experience in the marine industry.
Alan joined the Farr Yacht Design team in 2005. Alan's responsibilities include conceptual design and exterior styling, interior arrangements, mechanical systems, and computer rendering and animation. Alan comes to Farr Yacht Design with a broad background in design, project management and construction of diverse yacht and commercial vessel projects up to 90 meters.
Rob Coatney joined Farr Yacht Design in May 2008 as a Design Engineer primarily responsible for research and design of appendages. Originally from Juneau, Alaska, Rob earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana in 2006. Prior to joining our team, Rob worked in the aerospace industry and youth programs in Alaska.
Keith Carew joined Farr Yacht Design in June 2008 as a Design Engineer. His past experiences include work with production sailboat manufacturer Hunter Marine and mast manufacturers Sparcraft and Southern Spars. He has designed for 9 America’s Cup teams — two of them as a team member with Oracle Racing as well as projects such as Endeavour II, Speedboat, Mari Cha 4, Melges 20 and 32. Keith’s past work provides Farr Yacht Design with a wide range of experience from all aspects of the marine industry.
Emerson Smith joined Farr Yacht Design in July 2008 as a Naval Architect upon graduating from the Webb Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. His responsibilities include processing research data for conceptual design and hull development and conducting rating studies for design optimization.
Alan Boot is as a Design Engineer at Farr Yacht Design. Prior to joining our team in October 2008, Alan worked in the boat building industry as a production designer for Green Marine Offshore Composites and Neville Hutton Boat Builders on technically advanced projects such as Volvo Open 70s, Open 60s and RNLI Offshore Lifeboats.
