E.G. van de Stadt

Who was E.G. van de Stadt?

Ericus Gerhardus van de Stadt was a Dutch yacht designer. He was the founder of industrial yacht building in the Netherlands.

E.G. van de Stadt went through the HTS and started a shipyard in Zaandam and a shipswarf and design company for small wooden boats. In 1936, he went to the Olympic Games as a reserve for the Olympia-boat in 1936.

In 1939, van de Stadt designed the Valk for the Bruynzeel company to demonstrate the possibilities of their new product "hechthout". The Valk has been a resounding success over many years. Adding the later polyester versions, this boat is now probably the most popular open sailboat on the Dutch waters.

Ricus van de Stadt later designed a seaworthy raceversion of the Valk for Kees Bruynzeel, the Zeevalk. In 1952 this boat would win the Fastnet race.

In 1958, followed the Pionier, a 9-metre-long sailboat with the then relative new material polyester. The design was a great success. The light boat won many international matches.

The first maxi yacht came from Ricus van de Stadt's drawing board. The 70-foot ocean racer Stormvogel emerged in 1960.

A few other boats that Ricus van de Stadt designed are the Efsix, Stern, Spanker, Randmeer and Wibo. Key to the designs of Van de Stadt are their daring design, simplicity and good sailing.