Ed Dubois the man behind Dubois Naval Architects the superyacht design team based in Lymington Hampshire has died.
We have learned of this sad news from sources in New Zealand but details of how and exactly when he died are still somewhat scarce. No formal announcement has been made by the company and nothing is expected to be released to the press until after the weekend
Despite growing up in a landlocked part of England Ed Dubois’ early and innate love of the sea, sailing and yacht design meant his choice of career was set from early teens.
He designed built and raced his own first yacht, Borsalino Trois in the late 1970’s and went on to design many winners in major offshore races around the world.
The yachts he drew combined the ultimate seaworthiness, excellent performance with imaginative space planning and beautifully proportioned, elegant lines.
During his life he had some interesting requests from owners commissioning him to deign yachts. One wanted her daughter to be able to bring her pony with her on board the boat. Her idea was to have a rotating turn-table like exercise machine that the pony would be able to swim off the stern. Ed managed to persuade them that it probably wasn’t a good idea for the pony’s entire happiness. On another occasion he was asked to incorporate a three-ton pizza oven into the design of a sailing yacht – again he managed – gently – to dissuade the clients out of this idea.
Ed was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Design by Southampton Solent University in 2004 and was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and Royal Academy of Engineering.
He is survived by his wife Honor and their four children