News

We are a technologically cutting-edge design and engineering team working across a broad spectrum of advanced and interesting projects, typically using NX and NX Nastran for geometry and FEA, Fine-Marine and Openfoam for CFD, Python for automations/optimisation and Unreal Engine to bring our projects to life for our customers. Performance multihulls are the largest part of our work, but other significant sectors include racing yachts, foiling and foil-assisted, commercial marine and technical consulting.

A steady increase in demand means we are further expanding our ten person team in Winchester, UK. and two of the positions we are looking to fill are:

Mid-Level Naval Architect/ Composite Engineer:

The position requires a creative and technically advanced person with strong composite engineering capabilities with at least three years’ experience. Candidates should be able to demonstrate a strong understanding of local and global yacht structures, load paths and failure modes, together with some practical knowledge of boat building in advanced composites

The role:

- Designing and engineering, with support from senior engineers, structures and details, predominantly in composites, considering strength, weight, costs and ease of production.

- Application of different class rules, mainly DNV, ISO and BV.

- Layout and sizing of systems such as propulsion, steering, anchoring and deck hardware.

- Project management with knowledge of production design.

- Yard Liaison.

- A background in multihulls and a passion for yachts would be a strong advantage.

Mid-Level CAD Modeller / Draughtsperson:

The position would suit someone with experience in marine design and with very strong 2d and 3d CAD skills. The applicants would ideally have practical experience with or knowledge of the detailed construction of composite parts and boats.

The role:

- 3d modelling of boat parts and assemblies in NX.

- 2d general arrangements at boat or system level.

- 2d drafting of composites and mechanical parts according to engineers notes and sketches.

- Working to schedules and planning work using our project/task management system.

- Management of weight estimates/BOMs.

- Progressing towards responsibility for maintaining and improving CAD standards, draughting efficiency and quality, as well as design project management.

The positions are both on-site at our offices in Winchester, and the applicants must have the right to work in the UK.

For more information and if you would like to apply please click here

Over the last few years, we’ve been fortunate to have been kept very busy with a wide variety of projects as revealed in the table above. The projects we’ve been working on range from a number of luxury performance and cruising catamarans powered in a variety of different ways (sail, motor and solar), to a high-tech amphibious tender.

In the last year, 441 feet of our unique designs have been launched with another 540ft currently in build and more still in development, making it a busy and exciting time for the team.

Huge Congratulations to Frederic Puzin's Ker 46 Daguet 3 - Corum, Overall Winner of the ORC Class in the 2021 Middle Sea Race. Also winning IRC 2 class and 3rd overall in IRC. In a race that offered the full spectrum of conditions, Daguet 3 - Corum was leading overall by an hour under both IRC and ORC at Lampedusa, the penultimate mark of the course, however her transit of the last leg coincided with an unfavorable weather system, so slipped to 3rd under IRC but retained first in ORC. Daguet was the second of four Ker 46 yacht built by McConaghy boats and as 'Patrice' she raced in Australia, winning her class in the Sydney to Hobart race.

Congratulations to Frederic Puzin's Ker 46 Daguet 3 and her crew on achieving line honours in the Yachting Malta Coastal Race and winning the IRC Two class! Starting at 10:00am CEST on 20th October, the Coastal Race was a course of 30 nautical miles. This is a very promising prelude for Daguet 3 and her crew for the Rolex Middle Sea Race on the 23rd October. Photo: Kurt Arrigo

We are a technologically cutting-edge team working across a broad spectrum of advanced and interesting projects, typically using NX and NX Nastran for geometry and FEA, Fine-Marine and Openfoam for CFD, Python for automations/optimisation and Unreal Engine to bring our projects to life for our customers. Performance sailing multihulls are a growing part of our business and the signing of several exciting new projects means we are expanding our design team in Winchester and remotely.

Positions we are looking to fill include:

Senior Naval Architect/ Composite Engineer:

The position requires a creative and technically advanced person with strong composite engineering capabilities and experience. Proficiency in NX, a background in multihulls and a passion for yachts would be a strong advantage.

Junior Naval architect:

The position would suit a recent Masters or BEng graduate of yacht design or naval architecture with strong composites grounding; able to work from our Winchester office.

Junior Yacht Designer:

The position would suit a graduate or equivalent in Transport design, Industrial design or Yacht design with an emphasis on creativity, aesthetic and ergonomic design with strong CGI and presentation skills. Time spent on yachts and an ability to work from our Winchester office would be an advantage.

If you would like to apply please click here

A McConaghy Boats Project we've already been working on intensely for six months is the MC63P, a high speed foil-assisted power cat originally commissioned by Grant Dalton, renowned sailor and CEO of Team New Zealand. A second semi-custom version has also been sold, focused on sports-fishing.

We would like to make clear that the keel lost by the Ker 40 ‘Showtime’ was not designed by Ker Yacht Design. The yacht had a retrofit keel fitted, designed by its owner’s local design office near Sydney and built by a local fabricator.

We have designed a great many keels over the last 23 years which have been constructed by many different builders around the world, none have ever failed. To the best of our knowledge, Showtime is the only yacht designed by us to have had a keel fitted that was not designed by us.

The keel, designed by the owner’s local Naval Architect, was configured as a vertical hollow strut welded to a horizontal mounting plate, which in turn was sitting in a shallow recess in the boat’s hull and bolted to the boat’s structure. This is not a design approach we would ever endorse as the high stress point at the junction is coincident with the horizontal welded joint.

The skipper of the delivery voyage Rob Buchanan and his crew only survived through extremely calm thinking and bravery under stressful circumstances. Rob woke hearing a metallic ‘Ping’ just before he was thrown across the boat from his windward bunk as they capsized.

While they made their plans to escape it was apparent to Rob that the inverted boat was holding air pressure in the hull, so the top plate of the keel can only have remained fully bolted to the yacht. When the crew swam down out of the boat, they saw that the vertical part of the keel was missing, revealing that the keel had failed at the welded joint between the exposed vertical and the recessed horizontal parts.

Best regards,
Jason

Congratulations to Ker46 - Zannekin and her crew on winning the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) Around the Island Race! The annual race is one of the biggest inshore events in Hong Kong. It is a 26nm race around Hong Kong Island involving Class Keelboats, Dinghies, Beach Cats and Cruisers.
Ker boats performed well in IRC1 with Ker46+ Lighthorse Alpha+ and HK42 - Seawolf coming 2nd and 3rd (and within the top 10 overall)!
If you would like to read more about the boat you can click here Photo credit to RHKYC - Facebook

Massive congratulations to Jack Trigger of Trigger Racing and Concise 8 over the past few months. Having taken over as skipper of the boat early in 2018, Jack and the occasional crew have achieved some stellar performances. Most recently, he and co-skipper Ned set two records in the Round Barbados Race; the 40ft record that has stood since 2011 as well as the double handed record. The 2018 Route du Rhum resulted in a credible 8th place having tackled several challenges along the way, ensuring that he secured 4th place overall in his debut Class 40 season.
Earlier in the season the team were second across the line in the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race as well as being the first Class 40 in what was a tough and generally very light wind Round the Island Race!
Photo Credit: Trigger Racing Facebook Page"

Ker Yacht Design founder and principal designer, Jason Ker, was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Maritime Studies by Southampton Solent University in July 2018. Following the awards ceremony, Jason said: "I’m absolutely honoured to receive this award. Solent [University] gave me a fantastic grounding in engineering that has allowed me to develop my skills and keep learning throughout my career. It’s amazing how the lessons I learned over 20 years ago still form so much of what I know today."
You can learn more about the incredible performance of the designs here . Credit: Solent University

A huge congratulations to the owners and crew of Christopher Dragon a Sydney GTS43, Temptation a Ker 50 (A team from Oakcliff Sailing Academy), and Wahoo a Custom Ker 50 for finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the St. David's Lighthouse Division for the Sir Thomas Lipton Memorial Trophy, dominating their class at the 2018 Newport to Bermuda Race.

A huge congratulations to Fred Kinmonth, Nick Burns and the Sydney GTS43 Mandrake's predominantly corinthian crew. They have had an absolutely amazing season with winning their class in 6 AYGP regattas, a feat never before achieved:

• 2017 China Coast Regatta
• 2017 Phuket King's Cup Regatta
• 2018 Subic Verde Island Race
• 2018 Rolex China Sea Race (winning IRC Overall)
• 2018 Commodore's Cup
• 2018 Samui Regatta

Having sailed together for 20 years aboard numerous different boats, it is great that they have reached the pinnacle of Asian yachting aboard a Ker designed boat!

After a couple of years in design and manufacture it is fantastic to see the finished product on the water. Thank you to Yachting World for putting together this fantastic walk-through of the MC50 Catamaran Launched at the La Grand Motte Boat Show late last week! Yachting World will take you into every corner of the boat and discuss many of the key features such as the custom hydraulic centreboard system, unique flybridge and "absolutely enormous" living space. We certainly agree with the closing remarks that she is an "appealing combination of performance yacht and a comfortable cruising boat"!

The MC50 Catamaran, designed by Ker Yacht Design for McConaghy Boats, has been presented at the Palma Boatshow, creating huge interest both among potential buyers and amongst the yachting industry. Next step the sea trials, during which we'll be pushing it hard to make sure it performs as expected, following which McConaghy Europe will be working through their long customer sail test schedule, which includes customers for all of the sizes in the Ker Designed MC Multihull range. Thanks to UK brokers Ancasta for photo. Members of our design team visited the show to see the result of their hard work and gain the insights of the brokers and potential buyers.

A fitting finish for Fred Kinmoth's final offshore race in the inaugural Hong Kong to Puerto Galera Yacht Race. Fred, Nick Burns and crew aboard the Ker Designed Sydney GTS 43 - Mandrake III crossed the line with an elapsed time of 103h 08m 36s claiming the IRC Overall Win. This follows a string of successes for the team having recently won the Asian Yachting Grand Prix in the 2017-2018 season. We wish Fred the very best in retirement and hope he enjoys the "slippers, a pipe, a warm fire, retirement and that rosy glow of knowing one’s done their best!”
If you would like to read more about the boat you can click here or for more information on the race click here. Photo credit to Guy Nowell

MC50 Catamaran #1 attended the Grand Motte Multihull Boat Show in Montpellier, fresh from the factory. Fortunately Ole John of McConaghy Europe had assembled a large team of expert multihull brokers to show off the boat, as it created a storm of interest, with the words "star of the show" mentioned more than a few times by customers and competitors alike.

Congratulations to Fred Kinmonth, Nick Burns and the crew of Mandrake III for winning the Rolex China Sea Race! Fred, Nick and the boat have entered the Rolex China Sea Race for a number of years aboard the Sydney GTS43 Mandrake III and have missed out on the overall win in the past by a mere 16 minutes! Also taking home a podium position was SeaWolf a Ker42 Custom in 2nd place continuing the boat's strong performance in the Asian Circuit. Lastly, the Ker46+ Lighthorse Alpha+ held a very commanding position for most of the race but due to the challenging weather conditions struggled against the smaller boats to come 6th Overall. To read the full race report (also in Mandarin) click on the link below: A full report can be found here: Rolex China Sea Race (Opens in new tab)

Congratulations to Tony Kirby & the Patrice crew for winning their division in the Sydney Hobart Race

Great speed and boat handling led to a consistent scoreline of six first or second places for Pace (Ker40+Hull#4), seeing off the threat of Peter Morton's new Girls on Film and Mark Rijske's much improved "42 South". With Invictus (Ker40+ Hul#1) wins in the Vice Admirals Cup, RORC Easter Regatta and Round 5 of the 2016 Fast 40 Race Circuit, Pace's National Championships win brings the number of consecutive Fast 40+ events they have contended to four, across a full range of conditions, proving the excellent versatility and competitiveness of the design. Invictus will rejoin the fleet next Friday for Round 2 of the 2017 Fast 40+ Race Circuit, which combines a day of windward leeward racing on Friday, followed by the Round the Island race on the Saturday. Following the success of this years' design updates the Ker Yacht Design team will continue to work closely with the teams and are already working towards the next generation. (Credit: McConaghy Boats)

A huge congratulations to Lady Mariposa for winning the 2017 RORC Class 0 Championships by a comfortable 16 points from the Canting Keel Maxi - Rambler! We look forward to working with you over the winter months to build upon 2017's successes.

Alex Mills receiving the 1840 Challenge Trophy at the Royal Thames YC Prize Giving Awards Dinner

Congratulations to Sir Keith Mills and the Invictus crew for winning the 2017 FAST40+ championships. After sailing a consistent season so despite a challenging start to the final race of the championships they overcame a strong challenge from Girls on Film. We wish Sir Keith Mills all the best in the future as he takes a year out from the class.

Congratulations to Sir Keith Mills and the Invictus crew for winning the 2017 Round the Island race (FAST40 Class). The 56 nautical mile course which took crews 6 hours to complete was very closely fought with 9 crews finishing within 18 minutes of each other.

Steve Manning, Anthony Root and the Black Baza Team have had a phenominal season bouncing back from the unfortunate loss of Wala Wala 2 in 2013 (Steve Manning) and narrowly missing out on the 13-14' AYGP by 1/2 a point (Anthony Root). With the boat launched only a few days before the start of the season they really set a precedence for the season with a 2nd place in the RHKYC China Coast Regatta and winning the Hing Kong to Vietnam Race. We look forward to their 2016 - 2017 season!

A huge congratulations to Steve Manning and Anthony Root on winning the Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race overall, with their brand new Ker 42 'Black Baza' and just three weeks after it left the McConaghy Yachts yard, across the water from Hong Kong. Already leading its class after a few hours of upwind work after the start, Black Baza started to dramatically stretch their advantage offwind until they had a lead over the second boat of their class of over 60 miles. We wish Stephen, Anthony and their team continued success on the Asian yachting circuit.

Many congratulations to Marcel Liedts and his team on their new Ker 46 'Zannekin', class 1 winners of the Audi China Coast Regatta. Anthony Root and Steve Manning also put up an excellent performance achieving second place in their first regatta with their new Ker 42 'Black Baza', ahead of Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth in their Ker designed Sydney GTS 43 'EFG Mandrake'.

Sir Keith Mills' new Ker 40+ 'Invictus', was the standout performer at the first ever 'Fast 40' regatta, winning four of the first five races in light and moderate conditions. At least eight of the high performance 38' to 42' boats will be racing each other in the UK next season.

Congratulations to Bastiaan De Voogd and to the rest of the Coin Coin sailing team, Netherlands IRC Champions for 2015. Coin Coin won all the inshore races as part of an impressive performance.

1st place in the 52 boat Class 1 fleet was won by Samuel Prietz's Ker 39 'GOA'. Five of the top eight in sub class 1a were also Ker Designs. Piet Vroon achieved second place in class 0 and Concise 8 had us on the edge of our seats for days with a great performance in Class 40 fleet, up against the highly experienced 'Tales' crew, the two boats dominating the class in their private match race to the finish, Concise finishing second on this occasion.

Congratulations to Piet Vroon and the crew of his Ker 51 'Tonnere', class 0 winners. The battle of the 40 footers was won by Sir Keith Mills in his new Ker 40+ 'Invictus', second place in the class, with Bastiaan De Voogd's Sydney GTS 43 'Coin Coin' not far behind in fourth, the first racer-cruiser.

A tidy performance by Anthony O'Leary, sailing his turbocharged Ker 40 Mk1 brought them victory in Class1A, the 'Fourty Footer' class in trying conditions. A very close second in this 'three races to count' series was Sir Keith Mills' new Ker 40+'Invictus', which won the breezy 'UBS Round the Island Race' in a dominant fashion, also beating the TP's and Maxi's on corrected time.

Congratulations to Piet Vroon on winning Class 1 in his Ker 51 'Tonnere'. This result marks five years in a row that Ker designs have won Class 1 and brings our total of overall wins in Class 1 (or 0 as it used to be) to nine out of the last twelve years.

Many congratulations to Piet Vroon on becoming Overall RORC Champion for the third time in his Ker 46 Tonnerre and also to Andrew Pierce who became the Class 1 Champion in his Ker 40 Magnum III.

Andrew Pearce's Ker 40 Magnum III has won Class 1 Overall in the Rolex Fastnet Race. Andrew and his team sailed fast and smartly to be heading the Overall Fastnet leader board for much of their last day, though in the end conditions for the overall prize favoured the smaller boats following later. Trading the top spot on the leader board was eventual Class 1b winner, Bernard and Laurnet Gouy's Ker 39 'Inis Mor', overall winner of last years' around Ireland race, but close behind were other Ker designs, filling six of the top nine places of the 43 boat class. Overall results for the Ker designs looked spectacular before the smaller yachts came in on stronger breeze. Magnum benefited from some close racing with three other Ker 40's in the race, but got ahead showing superior speed and tactics on the fast reach through the night back from the Fastnet Rock. Below are photos of Tonnerre and Antix at the rock, credit Rolex / Kurt Arrigo

Ker 40 Magnum III is Overall UK IRC National Champion, and also becomes the Class 1 champion for the second year running. Owner/skipper Andrew Pearce and his team put in a great performance in a light airs regatta, demonstrating that the design is also very competitive in light airs by beating sixteen yachts in a highly competitive fleet. Runner up was RORC Offshore series leader Piet Vroon with his Ker 46 Tonnerre. Photo credit RORC/Paul Wyeth

Congratulations to Piet Vroon on winning the RORC Morgan Cup Overall in his Ker 46 Tonnerre and also to Andrew Pearce and Edward Broadway coming second and third overall in the 101 boat fleet in their Ker 40's 'Magnum III' and 'Hooligan VII' making it another all Ker designed podium.

Congratulations to Andy Williams, winning Irelands' Soverigns Cup with his Ker 40's 'Keronimo', with an impressive six race wins in his scoreline.

Congratulations to Edward Broadway on winning the RORC Myth of Malham Race Overall in his Ker 40 and congratulations also to Ker 40 'Magnum III' and Ker 46 'Tonnerre' coming in 2nd and 3rd overall, making it an all Ker designed podium. A great weekend for the office with seven of the top nine overall being Ker Designs!

Oakcliff Sailing wins IRC3 in the Block Island Race in their Ker 11.5

Piet Vroon wins the RORC North Sea Race Overall in his Ker 46 Tonnerre, congratulations to Piet Vroon and his team. Another 1, 2, 3 in class 1 for the Ker office with Ker 40's Baraka GP and Hooligan VII finishing 2nd and 3rd.

Andrew Pearce is winner of class 1 in the RORC Cervantes Trophy, in his Ker 40 Magnum III, followed by Piet Vroon's Ker 46 "Tonnerre" in 2nd, Edward Broadway's Ker 40 "Hooligan VII" in 3rd and defending Overall RORC Offshore Champion Laurent Guoy coming in 4th in his Ker 39 "Inis Mor".

Ker Yacht Design has been awarded "Best Yacht Designer in Asia of the Year" at the BMW Asia Boating Awards 2013, following a busy 2012 with new launches and new projects commencing at McConaghy Yachts in Zhuhai.

Congratulations to Marc Glimcher, winner of the 40' IRC class at Key West Race Week in his Ker 40 "Catapult". On the right a great pic of Catapult powering upwind by Ingrid Abery and an interview of Tactician Geoffrey Ewenson during the regatta. A re-score under the new release of the ORCi rule also put Catapult at the top of the leaderboard (with closely packed corrected time spreads behind), going some way to justify the Ker 40's recent Sailing World Boat of the Year Award in the category of "Best Handicap Racer"

Announcing the new "Forty One Design" by Team Concise. The product of our most advanced and extensive R&D effort to date, this is a state of the art Class 40 built to built to strict one design rules by McConaghy Yachts. Having campaigned two production Class40 yachts, Team Concise decided to commission their own fully-optimised race boat from Ker Yacht Design, making it available as a one-design Class40 to enable sister ships to race in a global arena on a level footing in addition to racing against other class 40 designs. More details at www.forty1design.com. Detailed articles about the project in February issue of Seahorse Magasine and The Daily Sail.

Contratulations to Larry Dickie, owner of Ker 43 "Ptarmigan" for winning Storm Trysail Club's "Boat of the Year Award" as well as winning the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy (distance race cumulative pointscore).

Ker designs are 1st and 2nd in Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race division - Warwick Sherman wins his division in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race in his Sydney GTS 43 'Occasional Coarse Language', after a tough battle down the coast of Tasmania with Ed Psaltis in his Ker 40 'AFR Midnight Rambler', who came second. Warwick was joined for his first Hobart race by Anthony Patterson who brought along some of his old team from the Ker 11.3 'Tow Truck', formerly a double division winner in the Hobart Race. Many congratulations to Warwick for beating the formidable opposition in his division, not just the Ker 40 but also many other highly successful racing yachts from Australia and further afield.