Tony Castro

Antonio Maria de Lancastre de Mello e Castro, Conde das Antas, Visconde de Pernes, born in Lisbon, Portugal. Has been designing sailing and motor yachts for 35 years, with about 8,000 boats launched to date that include custom boats and One-design production models. His firm is based in Hamble-le-Rice, England.

After leaving Ron Holland’s design team in 1980, Castro's first significant racing yacht design was Justine III, for Frank Woods of the National Yacht Club, Ireland. She was the first and only yacht to win the One Ton Cup with five straight first place victories. The same owner then built Justine IV, which was crowned best Offshore Admiral's Cupper in 1983

Then followed Iztanother Purla, a 43 footer which missed being chosen for the British Admiral's Cup Team, but then went on to win all 7 races in Cowes Week beating all the Admiral's Cuppers, helmed by the late Sir Peter Blake and his NZ crew from Steinlager. A boat full of innovative ideas, including praddle steering, a method of steering using a vertical arm rising from below the cockpit floor.^[1]

His later successes included the two-time Quarter-Ton Cup winner McDonald's, the Half Ton Cup winner Balthazar, and the 6mR World Championship and Coupe de France winner Thisbe.

• Member of the Royal Institution of Naval Archiotects ( UK - RINA)
• Member of the Society of Naval Architects ( USA - SNAME)
• Chartered Engineer
• Member of FEANI
• Member of the Royal Cork Yacht Club
• Member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club
• Member of the Royal Southern Yacht Club
• Member of the Associacao Naval de Lisboa
• Member of the Clube Naval de Cascais

He was appointed by a member of Royal Cork Yacht Club to redesign the J24, with the aim of producing an exciting sports boat. The client expected a bigger mainsail, a new deck moulding and an effective keel to give greater stability. The result was the 1720 sportsboat. A new era in Sportsboat racing had started: The boats were built in Co. Kerry, and about 100 were built starting with sail number 1720, and although very successful, it was considered that the 1720 had some shortcomings, namely too powerful a rig, which meant that the boat required too many crew. The SB20 ( Sailing boat for three people), elected Boat of the Year Overall 2008, addressed all of these shortcomings and is now to be seen worldwide, numbering 680.

His first job came about when it was discovered that Denis Doyle's yacht Moonduster was floating above her 'marks', having been built less heavily than had been intended her designer, Germán Frers. This, combined with the impracicality caused by the distance from Frers' home in Argentina, made Castro's appointment to advise on the re-measurement and remediation all the more favourable. As a result, lead was attached to the underside of the coachroof and had a hole drilled in the keel to reduce her stability, and give her an exceptionally good handicap for a boat of her size. Moonduster held the Round Ireland monohull record from Wicklow to Wicklow for about 15 years, until the record was broken by a Whitbread around the World yacht. Her fastest elapsed time for the race came in 1984, when she took only 88h, 15m and 43s to complete the course.

Castro works with many of the world's best known boatyards, including the Royal Huisman, Jongert, Palmer Johnson, Neptunus, CS Yachts, Laser, and Jeanneau.

His designs have won prestigious Yacht of the Year awards, a Superyacht Design award and his designs have won several World championships. He has also designed yachts for use in television drama productions by the BBC.

Achievements^[2]

Major Achievements

• 4 International Offshore Racing (IOR) World Championships
• Designer of the only IOR boat ever to win all its races in a World Championship
• International 6m World Champion
• Designer of 4 "Boat of Year" awards in the UK, France and US
• Admirals Cup Winner 1989 with "Juno IV"
• Co-Designer for "BLUE ARROW", a British America’s Cup challenger

See also

• SB20

References

• Yachts designed by Tony Castro