Oliver Rommelrath, a student at Staffordshire University, scooped the first-place prize in this year’s Superyacht UK (SYUK) Young Designer competition, hosted at the Southampton International Boat Show. The contest saw the entrants given 14 hours (spread over a day and a half) to produce a superyacht profile illustration, a general arrangement (GA) drawing and detailed sketch developments (including 3D illustrations) to highlight “at least three unique selling points of their proposal”, SYUK explains.
The panel of judges included: Justin Olesinski, MD at Olesinski Naval Architecture; Douglas Hynd, senior project manager at yacht designer RWD; Stephen Hills, commercial director of Pendennis Shipyard and chairman of SYUK; Jeff Houlgrave, senior associate, Marina Projects; James Shakespeare, graduate designer, Princess Yachts (and winner of the 2019 SYUK Young Designer contest); and Stephanie Olliff, recruitment consultant at Marine Resources, which co-sponsored the contest. The first prize included the chance of an internship with either Olesinski or Sunseeker, with the runner-up (Ben Kedward of Coventry University) taking an internship with the other company.
Following his win, Rommelrath commented: “This is my first time doing a superyacht design, and winning feels like a great achievement. It has really been heads-down right from the start, and although the process is exactly the same as my other design work, there have been challenges – such as working out how to fit the exterior design around the interior design.
“I knew from the start I wanted to do a motor yacht. Once I had the brief, I had a vision in my head of how it would look.”
In turn, SYUK’s Stephen Hills praised Rommelrath’s “exceptional quality of line”, while James Ward, Marine Resources CEO, added: “It is key that we seek to attract this talent to the sector. None of these designers come from a marine background; these amazing designs have come purely from talent.”
Ship & Boat International caught up with Ollie Rommelrath after the event:
SBI: When did you develop an interest in superyachts, and specifically motor yachts?
Ollie: I’ve always been interested in cars, boats and planes. With my dad being a designer, I always had a keen interest in design – but taking an interest in motor yacht design was my own choice.
SBI: The SYUK competition was your first experience of completing a superyacht design. Prior to this, did you take part in other design contests?
Ollie: We had done a project with my university, where I was given a brief to design a yacht interior space for a car launch event, but this didn’t have any exterior design aspect. So, this was my first experience of producing a superyacht exterior design from scratch.
SBI: Can you tell us more about the design itself?
Ollie: This was a 50m superyacht and had to accommodate eight to 10 guests. In terms of the technical requirements, I didn’t go into too much detail due to the limited time I had to design the whole vessel.
SBI: You said that one of the challenges was “working out how to fit the exterior design around the interior design”.
Ollie: Well, initially I started on my exterior, but I knew that if I then got started on the interior I would change things (such as windows, etc) and this would in turn change the exterior. So, there was a lot of trial and error, but I figured it out in the end.
SBI: What kind of propulsion would you select for your yacht?
Ollie: I wanted this to be electric for the sustainability side, but also knew that this is still a growing platform in the yachting world. I would like it to sail above 200nm at cruising speed.
SBI: Have you made a decision on your internship, with regard to selecting Olesinski or Sunseeker?
Ollie: I have decided to go to Sunseeker as this is for a longer period of time and I believe I will learn a lot through my time there, which I can hopefully take forward into a career in the superyacht industry. I am hoping I can do it in summer next year, when I finish my degree.
SBI: Are UK schools and colleges doing much to promote naval architecture as a possible career path?
Ollie: I don’t think they are pushing for it – especially not where I’m based, as it’s far away from most marine and nautical companies. I think more should be done to encourage internships and apprenticeships as it seems an exciting industry to be in.
SBI: What do you see as the emerging trends when it comes to yacht design?
Ollie: I think we can expect to see AI being used more and more in the development process, but I just hope that it doesn’t take over the art of human design for the sake of efficiency.
Ollie had 14 hours to produce his winning design
