Juan Kouyoumdjian
His designs have obtained 2 Olympic gold medals, 3 VOR Volvo Ocean Race wins, 7 World Championship titles, 9 offshore speed records, 6 America's Cup involvements, amongst other competitions.
Juan K's concepts set the template that has become the benchmark for the VO70 – very wide, powerful stern sections, a hard chine aft and twin rudders.
It had, for example, twin rudders.”[3][15] Juan Kouyoumdjian bends the rules and pushes the limits so hard that he has also been named “the Picasso of the Sea”.
[16][17] In 2008, Juan K predicted about hydrofoils in sailboats in an interview with Sailing World magazine: …¨ And from that perspective I can see boats just taking off the water.
He makes my ideas possible.”[19] Juan K´s open-mindedness can be seen in his designs as described in 2016 in Yachting World Magazine about Rambler 88: “…Substantially less subtle are the striking orange twin rudders that have garnered much attention for their leading edge ‘nodules’, reportedly designed to replicate the hydrodynamic qualities of the tubercles on the pectoral fins of humpback whales.”[5] In 2017, the emeritus king of Spain Juan Carlos I premiered a new 6-meter fiberglass vessel called Bribón XVII,[20] where Juan Kouyoumdjian was in charge of the geometry design: shapes of the hull, keel and rudder.
[21] Alberto Mas, in the newspaper Expansión, describes Don Juan Carlos's sailboat as "unique in the world", "Revolutionary and Radical", "a boat with very innovative ideas from bow to stern and from the keel to the mast knob”.
[24] Here is what sailing star Tony Rey, the founder of Cloud 10 Racing had to say in 2018 when he spoke to Observer: “Juan is at the vanguard of performance yachting because he combines analytical precision, cutting edge design tools, and a creative passion for boat speed that shines above all.
His work in the Olympic classes shows how his creative approach to an established design can bear fruit; and, his latest collaboration with Swan is a stunner!”[4] In the same 2018 article, Juan K said to Observer his biggest challenge has been dealing with the rule makers and regulators.
