Kim Holman
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Christopher Rushmore Holman or Kim Holman (born 28 January 1925 Carbis Bay; died 8 April 2006 Witham, Essex)[1] was a British naval architect and co-founder of the Holman and Pye shipyard.
As a child, he sailed extensively with his brothers on the River Fal and the Helford River in Cornwall, where he was born.[2]
He served as an officer in the Royal Navy on a minesweeper during World War II.[2]
After the war, he studied naval architecture at the University of Bristol.[2]
His early sailing yachts, including Phialle (his first design in 1955), Stella,[3] Twister[4][5] Stirling, etc. were sailboats suitable for regattas on the east coast of England, but also for the open sea. Some 100 Stellas were built[3] and more than 200 boats were built based on the Twister design.
In 1961, he partnered with Don Pye to create the Holman and Pye shipyard[2]
In the following years, he designed the Sovereign,[6] then the Whiplash, Casino, Shaker, Centurion 32, etc.
He designed more than 70 boat plans, which were used in the construction of more than 700 sailboats; Holman and Pye went on to have over 4,000 boats built.[2]
Personal life
In 1968, Kim Holman was depressed to see boats becoming more efficient but less aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, which was very important to him.[2] He left Great Britain and sailed less. In 1970, he suffered a stroke. In 1980, he moved to the Caribbean and resumed sailing.[2]
He lived with Lionel Blue from 1962 to 1982, then with Jim Mignotte[7] from 1982 until his death in 2006;[2] Mignotte died in October of that year.[7]