# Juan Kouyoumdjian

Juan Kouyoumdjian (July 15, 1971 –), also known as Juan K is regarded to be one of the world’s leading naval architects designing racing sailboats. His designs have obtained 2 Olympic gold medals, 3 VOR Volvo Ocean Race wins, 7 World Championship titles, 9 offshore speed records, 6 America's Cup involvements, amongst other competitions.
He is responsible for numerous ocean racing yachts. Juan K's most notable creations are MAXI 88 "Rambler 88", VOR 2005-2006 winner VOR 70 ¨ABN AMRO I¨, VOR 2008-2009 winner VOR 70 ¨Ericsson 4¨, Rolex Sydney Hobart 2023 winner MAXI 100 "LawConnect", VOR 2011-12 winner VOR 70 ¨Groupama 4¨, ClubSwan 36, ClubSwan 43. ClubSwan 50, ClubSwan 80, the impressive ClubSwan 125 superyacht ¨The Beast¨. IMOCA 60 Cheminees Poujoulat, IMOCA 60 Corum IMOCA 60 Paprec 5, IMOCA 60 Pindar 2 and Perpetual Loyal, amongst others.

## Early life and career

From an early age, Juan K's life and career have been strongly influenced by a passion for sailing shared with his father and twin brother, with whom he sailed during his first 17 years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the age of 17, he left his roots to travel to the United Kingdom and begin his Naval Engineering studies at the renown University of Southampton, where he earned an engineering degree in ship science, specializing in Yacht and Small Craft. During his studies, he did an internship with the acclaimed naval architect Philippe Briand in La Rochelle. Upon graduating, in June 1993 he went on to work for Philippe Briand in La Rochelle for two years, during which he was given the opportunity to work on the French challenger for the 29th edition of the America’s Cup, thus marking the beginning of his long career in the world of sailing and in many prestigious races. He founded his own studio, Juan Yacht Design, in 1997, and to this day he remains at the vanguard of performance yachting with his unique and unconventional style.

## Design style

As said by Antonio Vettese from Yacht Design magazine in an interview, Juan K always tried to push yacht design towards a new frontier.
As cited in 2010 by Starclass.org, the epic first race in 2005–06 VO70s really brought Juan K´s design style to global prominence. Juan K's concepts set the template that has become the benchmark for the VO70 – very wide, powerful stern sections, a hard chine aft and twin rudders.
Kouyoumdjian has invested heavily in developing his own CFD capability since he started out, and he has endeavoured to retain that advantage ever since. In regards to ABN Amro I, the 2005/2006 Volvo Ocean Race winner by a wide margin, Juan K said: “Before the start of the race there was some mistrust because that boat was very different from other yachts that had dominated the scene until then. It had, for example, twin rudders.”
Juan Kouyoumdjian bends the rules and pushes the limits so hard that he has also been named “the Picasso of the Sea”.
In 2008, Juan K predicted about hydrofoils in sailboats in an interview with Sailing World magazine: …¨ And from that perspective I can see boats just taking off the water. And when you start getting to the 40-plus knots of boatspeed through hydrofoils and so forth you hit the wall of cavitation, and therefore the morphing foils. I think sooner or later some people will find the need to go that way.¨
In 2011, when Juan K and the big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton were matched by marketing executives at Puma Ocean Racing as part of their water sports product-development program to design the black-and-red 13-foot stand-up paddleboard, Juan K said about Hamilton: “We quickly bonded, but he is several levels crazier than me”, and Hamilton said about him: “I have been needing a guy like this for 20 years. You want to have your dreams happen. You’ve been praying for it. Now I know who this guy is and I have access to him. He makes my ideas possible.”
Juan K´s open-mindedness can be seen in his designs as described in 2016 in Yachting World Magazine about Rambler 88: “…Substantially less subtle are the striking orange twin rudders that have garnered much attention for their leading edge ‘nodules’, reportedly designed to replicate the hydrodynamic qualities of the tubercles on the pectoral fins of humpback whales.”
In 2017, the emeritus king of Spain Juan Carlos I premiered a new 6-meter fiberglass vessel called Bribón XVII, where Juan Kouyoumdjian was in charge of the geometry design: shapes of the hull, keel and rudder. Alberto Mas, in the newspaper Expansión, describes Don Juan Carlos's sailboat as "unique in the world", "Revolutionary and Radical", "a boat with very innovative ideas from bow to stern and from the keel to the mast knob”. In September 2023 'Bribón', with the King Emeritus on board, was proclaimed world champion, the boat of the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo achieves its third world title in the 6 Meter class on the Isle of Wight.(24 In June 2024 the Bribón XVII has been proclaimed champion of the Galician Tourism Trophy.
Here is what sailing star Tony Rey, the founder of Cloud 10 Racing had to say in 2018 when he spoke to Observer: “Juan is at the vanguard of performance yachting because he combines analytical precision, cutting edge design tools, and a creative passion for boat speed that shines above all. The guy is brilliant and possibly very slightly crazy. His work in the Olympic classes shows how his creative approach to an established design can bear fruit; and, his latest collaboration with Swan is a stunner!”
In the same 2018 article, Juan K said to Observer his biggest challenge has been dealing with the rule makers and regulators. He says: “There are structural and handicap rules. My job is fundamentally to break those rules and bypass them…but I need to leave the rule maker with options so as not to create conflict.”…”On Crazy Coyote in 1999 we did a rig that had no shrouds, a free-standing rig. It was completely banned. Now of course we see yachts with this rig all around us. Another is the canting keel. We designed a number of these with mechanical innovations in the pin axis that went beyond the rules. The rule makers thought we were crazy. Again, now all the Volvo boats, as well as boats like Rambler 88, do it that way.”

## Awards

Juan K has the record for the Seahorse Sailor of the Month award with two wins, in March 2006, September 2009, he has been the only designer ever to win this particular award.
In 2012, Juan K got awarded the Ericsson Trophy recognizing the importance of technology and design in the world of sport. Ericsson did not sponsor a competitor in the latest race, but did supply wireless communication technology at stopovers.
In 2020, Yachting World magazine mentioned ABN AMRO I as one of the most influential sailboats in history in the note ¨The Yachting World hall of fame: 50 yachts that changed the way we sail.
In 2023, Juan K won the prestigious Boat International Design & Innovation Award (Boat International Media) both for best interior design and best naval architecture.