Ericus (Ricus) Gerhardus van de Stadt (4 February 1910 – 7 September 1999) was a Dutch yacht designer. He was the founder of industrial yacht building in the Netherlands.Articles from "de Waterkampioen" ("the Water Champion") -Archived copy, accessed 29 April 2018; originally at astolat.nlBoten voor de gewone man (Boats for the common man), accessed 29 April 2018; originally at natrix.demon.nl, 22 September 2001
Yacht designer E.G. van de Stadt went through the HTS (technical college), completing his training as a naval architect in 1932.Autobiography (Dutch) Retrieved 2 January 2017 With the help of family and friends, he started a shipyard in Zaandam and a ships wharf and design company for small wooden boats. In 1936, he went to the Olympic Games as a reserve for the Netherlands Olympic sailing team.
In 1939, van de Stadt designed the Valk for the Bruynzeel company to demonstrate the possibilities of their new product "hechthout" (a type of plywood). The Valk has been a resounding success over many years. Adding the later polyester versions ("Polyvalk"), this boat is now probably the most popular open sailboat on the Dutch waters.Valk Zeilboot - Zeewolde, NL www.botentehuur.nl, accessed 11 November 2020
Ricus van de Stadt later designed a seaworthy race version of the Valk for Kees Bruynzeel, the Zeevalk. In 1952 this boat would come first in her class and second overall in the Fastnet race.Zeevalk in 'historic yachts' dated 2013/06, rnyc.org.uk Retrieved 9 January 2017
The Pioneer followed in 1958, a 9-metre-long sailboat with the then relative new material polyester.Pioneer sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 1 January 2017 The design was a great success. The light boat won many international matches.
The hull lines for the first maxi yacht came from Ricus van de Stadt's drawing board. The 70-foot ocean racer Stormvogel emerged in 1960.Video: sailing on Stormvogel yachtingworld.com, Retrieved 9 January 2017Data on e-g-van-de-stadt-laurent-giles-and-john-Illingworth Stormvogel classicsailboats.org, Retrieved 9 January 2017
A few other boats that Ricus van de Stadt designed are the Voortrekker, Efsix,Efsix sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 1 January 2017 Stern (One Design dinghy class),Stern One Design dinghy class mentioned at stadtdesign.com/pages/history, Retrieved 9 January 2017 Spanker (the name was used for both '19'Spanker 19 sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 1 January 2017 and '42'Spanker 42 sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 1 January 2017 -feet loa- designs), RandmeerRandmeer sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 2 January 2017 and Wibo.Wibo 990 sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 1 January 2017 From the open-decked RandmeerSailboat specifications for Randmeer sailingjoy.com, Retrieved 9 January 2017 was to follow the Trotter the next year (in 1963; with a small cabin),Trotter sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 2 January 2017 and the Trotter-Pandora in 1967 (with more freeboard).Trotter-Pandora sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 2 January 2017 In turn, this was to evolve to the Pandora (Mk1) in 1968,Pandora (Mk1) sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 2 January 2017 the Pandora International in 1973Pandora International sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 2 January 2017 and the Pandora 700 in 1976.Pandora 700 sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 2 January 2017 The Prospect 900 was designed circa 1975,Prospect 900 sailboatdata.com, Retrieved 1 January 2017 and many other yacht designs began on his drawing board.Page for Van Der Stadt designs at sailboatdata.com Retrieved 1 January 2017 Key to the designs of Van de Stadt are their daring design, simplicity and good sailing.
From 1973, the Van de Stadt company fully concentrated on design after it sold the yard to Dehler. The name was changed to EG van de Stadt & Partners. Ricus continued working there until 1978. The design team now works using the name Van De Stadt Design,Van De Stadt Design website Retrieved 2010-01-18. and is still led by Cees van Tongeren who started working for Ricus in the late 1960s.
Sailboatdata.com lists a total of 150 yachts designed by E.G. van de Stadt.
Designs Alize 20 DB-1 DB-2 Dehler 22 Dehlya 22 Dehler 25 Dehlya 25 ETAP 20 ETAP 22 ETAP 28 Jeanneau Storm
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