New Zealand’s Ron Holland was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the recent Boat International Design and Innovation Awards, in Cortina, italy.

In their citation, judges noted that Ron was a perfect example of what can happen “when a smart young person says goodbye to academic life and decides to follow his passion, with the full support of his parents, no less. As sailing crew, and then as an apprentice boatbuilder, he seemed to intuitively know how to make boats go faster.

“In truth, he spent a tremendous amount of time observing and asked questions about everything to anyone who would answer him. Lots of time on long passages as crew or perched in a cockpit as a sail trimmer gave him plenty of time to develop ideas. When boatbuilders and yacht owners gave him the chance to innovate, they were not disappointed.

“His success at designing small racing yachts in the 1970s propelled him to the world stage with a string of podium finishes for yachts such as Imp, the most famous Admiral’s Cup boat of the 1970s, and Golden Apple, the first boat from his design studio in Cork, Ireland.

“There were production boats, too: a 10m for Camper & Nicholsons named Golden Delicious won the 1975 Fastnet Race, and another won the 2005 Fastnet, and he produced a range of boats for Nautor’s Swan from 1979-1990. In addition, he drew many performance cruisers and maxi racers such as Morning Cloud for British PM Edward Heath, as well as Condor, Kialoa and more.

“He moved into large cruising yachts in the late 1980s with Whirlwind XII, his first yacht of more than 30m, which led to a series of designs for Perini Navi and custom super sailing yachts such as Beaupre with Jon Bannenberg, Juliet, Ethereal and the world’s largest sloop, Mirabella V. He’s also designed large motor yachts including Calliope, Dorothea III, Daedalus and Marco Polo. In all, the Boat International website features 70 of his designs.”

In 2011 Ron moved to Vancouver, Canada, and he still designs new boats and refits. Last year he released his third book, a memoir titled All the Oceans: Designing by the Seat of My Pants.

Heartiest congratulations from the team at Boating New Zealand.