Bob Smith

One of our product designers also happens to be one of the most respected big sailing yacht designers in the world. And he lives right here in Hood River.

Bob Smith, a licensed naval architect, was one of the lead designers of the Santa Cruz 52, a world class racing/cruising boat that has won more prestigious races and awards than almost any other.

In one of his prior lives, Bob was a competitive sailor racing world-wide in Olympic Finn dinghies and Transpacific yachts. Looking for water inland, he kayaked the Grand Canyon a couple of times, and discovered that as an aging yuppie he could just keep on playin' when he moved from Santa Cruz, CA to Hood River Oregon at the "turn of the century". Now he kayaks, windsurfs, plays jazz trombone, bikes, and in order to pay for it all, works for BMW Oracle Racing helping design their America's Cup challenger yachts.

Bob has been instrumental in working with our marine products, tweaking designs and making sure that our mechanical and electrical drawings are precise and flawless.

Bob spends most of his winters at his house on the beach in Mexico where he windsurfs or rides his mountain bike just about every day. "Product testing", he calls it.

You can see a sample of some of Bob's works at www.home.earthlink.net/~bobsmithna