Michael William Langan, (Bill Langan), (June 9, 1955 – December 31, 2010) was an American yacht designer who practiced his trade in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. His designs, both as chief designer at Sparkman & Stephens and later as the principal at Langan Design, numbered in the hundreds.
Having obtained his engineering degree at Webb Institute he was accepted for an internship at Sparkman & Stephens. Noticed by Olin Stephens he was hired shortly after his graduation, named in 1980 by Olin as chief designer, a position he held until his departure in 1996. [1]
In 1997 Bill set up his own Langan Design firm in Newport, RI which he ran until his death at the end of 2010, afterwards owned and operated by his former associates. [2]
Bill Langan was responsible for the design of hundreds of vessels of all sizes, including:
The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. The designation "12 Metre" does not refer to any single measurement on the boat, and is not referencing the vessels overall length, rather, measures the sum of the components directed by the formula which governs design and construction parameters. Typically 12 Metre class boats range from 65 to 75 feet in length overall; they are most often sloop-rigged, with masts roughly 85 feet tall.
Intrepid is a 12-metre class racing yacht which won the America's Cup in 1967 and again in 1970.
Freedom is a 12-metre class racing yacht and winner of the 1980 America's Cup, defeating the challenging yacht Australia under skipper Dennis Conner. Freedom was designed with an alloy rather than a wood hull by Olin Stephens and Bill Langan, and constructed at Minneford Yacht Yard. She was skippered in the Cup by Dennis Conner.
The Pearson Invicta is a 38-foot (12 m) sailboat designed for ocean racing. It has a fiberglass sloop with wood trim. Sailboats were once made solely of wood however, the Invicta was the first sailboat produced with a fiberglass hull to win a major ocean race, being placed second overall in the 1962 Newport to Bermuda Race. It was its first in its class and first overall. Thus permanently influencing the course of sailboat design. The Pearson Invicta was designed by noted naval architect William H. Tripp Jr and was produced by Pearson Yachts located in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Sparkman & Stephens is a naval architecture and yacht brokerage firm with offices in Newport, Rhode Island and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. The firm performs design and engineering of new and existing vessels for pleasure, commercial, and military use. Sparkman & Stephens also acts as a ship and yacht brokerage. The firm offers similar design and engineering services for the performance optimization of existing yachts.
Olin James Stephens II was an American yacht designer. Stephens was born in New York City, but spent his summers with his brother Rod, learning to sail on the New England coast. He also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a term.
Geerd Niels Hendel was a naval architect and native of Germany. He found success in the United States becoming a prominent yacht designer who had a hand in an America's Cup victory in 1937.
Kialoa was a maxi yacht campaign founded and led by Jim Kilroy spanning from 1956 to 1989.
John Pierce Rousmaniere is an American writer and author of 30 historical. technical, and instructional books on sailing, yachting history, New York history, business history, and the histories of clubs, businesses, and other organizations. An authority on seamanship and boating safety, he has conducted tests of equipment and sailing skills and led or participated in fact-finding inquiries into boating accidents. He has been presented with several awards for his writing and his contributions to boating safety and seamanship.
Stormy Weather is a 54 feet (16 m) ocean-racing yawl that was designed by Olin Stephens when he was only twenty-five, and launched from the Henry B. Nevins yard in New York on 14 May 1934.
Roderick Stephens, Jr. was one of America's best known and respected sailors. In 1933 he became Associate Designer, later promoted to President, of Sparkman & Stephens naval architecture and yacht design firm, a company founded in 1929 by his brother Olin Stephens and Drake Sparkman.
Dorade is a yacht designed in 1929 by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens and built 1929–1930 by the Minneford Yacht Yard in City Island, New York.
Charles Ernest Nicholson was a British yacht designer.
John Gale Alden (1884–1962) was an American naval architect and the founder of Alden Designs.
The Swan 65 is a large fibreglass fin+keeled masthead ketch- or sloop-rigged sailing yacht design, manufactured by Nautor's Swan. It was introduced as the new flagship of Nautor in 1973. At the time of its launch it was the largest glass reinforced plastic (GRP) constructed yacht in the market and because of its excellent racing history, one of the most famous Swan models ever built. The first 65-footers were delivered to owners in 1973, and the production continued until 1989 with 41 hulls built in total.
Liberty (US-40) was an American racing yacht in the 12-metre class that unsuccessfully defended the 1983 America's Cup.
The Swan 57 is a Finnish sailboat that was designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens as a racer-cruiser and first built in 1977. The boat is Sparkman & Stephens' design #2297 and was their last Swan boat designed.
The C&C 61 is a Canadian sailboat, that was designed by Cuthbertson & Cassian and first built in 1970.
William H. Tripp Jr (1920–1971) was an American naval architect who created many popular wooden and later fiberglass sailboat designs. Tripp used the diminutive, Bill, as his usual first name.