Bernard Smith (sailboat designer)

Bernard Smith (1910 to February 12, 2010), was an US rocket scientist and speed sailboat designer, father of the Aerohydrofoil sailboat concept.

Life

Smith was born in New York City, to Jewish Russian immigrants^[1]. He moved to California in 1935, where he worked as a welder for the Fruehauf Trailer company.

After World War II, with an honorary degree in physics from Reed College in Oregon, he started working as a civilian scientist in the US Navy^[2], serving at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and later at the Naval Weapons Laboratory at Dahlgren ^[3], where he served as the technical director from 1964 until his retirement in 1973.

Sailboat design

• The Vestas Sailrocket design was based on Smith's ideas^[4].

Publications

• Smith, Bernard, The 40 Knot Sailboat, Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., Publishers, New York NY, 1963, 140 pp, 52 illustrations. Library of Congress No. 63-18980

References