Skip to content

Ron Holland Keeps Sailing Because He Keeps It Simple

Last month we asked readers what’s been on the maintenance list over this last pandemic year, and we have several replies printed in the current June issue. One reply stood out because of its author, and our disbelief. Naval architect Ron Holland wrote in, saying simply, “Done.” We thought we should check in with Ron to see what he’s sailing, and how that’s possible. Ron sent us the photo below of his Coranado 25 Kia Aura, which he keeps near his home in Vancouver, BC.

Ron Holland Coronado 25
Ron Holland’s Coronado 25 is clean and ready to sail from her slip in Vancouver.
© 2021 Ron Holland

To imagine Ron enjoying an afternoon sail on his Coronado 25 highlights one of the things we’ve always appreciated about him: He likes to sail. His sailing miles and stories stretch over the horizon.  They include sailing dinghies as a kid in New Zealand, racing with the Kiskaddons to Tahiti on their 33-ft S&S design Spirit,  moving up to design America’s Cup boats and the largest sloop in the world, Mirabella V, and an endless list of race winners such as Dave Allen’s Admiral’s Cup-/Fastnet-/SORC-/BBS-winning 40-footer, Imp. Yet, after all that, he’s still out sailing on a Coronado 25 designed by Frank Butler in 1966.

Ron Holland
Ron recently shared his good humor and some stories in a Zoom webinar at the Sausalito Yacht Club.
© 2021 Latitude 38 Media LLC / John

We also were able to join the digital audience of Ron’s recent virtual Sausalito Yacht Club webinar. There he spoke of his great memories of living in San Francisco with the Kiskaddons, his many friends on the Sausalito waterfront and around the Bay, and managing to land a third-row seat at a Jimi Hendrix concert at the Berkeley Community Theater in the ’60s. How cool is that? Ron is also a good friend of Sausalito’s Ocean Voyages Institute founder Mary Crowley, whom we wrote about in our June “State of the Oceans” story for World Oceans Day. Ron is a big supporter of Ocean Voyages Institute’s campaign to clean up the plastic in the world’s oceans, and donates a portion of his book sales to the cause.

Holland’s book, All the Oceans, still doesn’t contain all the stories he has to tell.
© 2021 Ron Holland

If you want to want to support two good causes, you can buy the book to support Ocean Voyages Institute, and support local businesses by buying it at Sausalito Books by the Bay, or in Berkeley at George Kiskaddon’s Builders Booksource.

Since the book is written and the maintenance is done, Ron can now go sailing.

 

4 Comments

  1. Joseph DiMatteo 3 years ago

    One of the favorite boats I ever sailed was a bright red hull Ron Holland 52. So I am a bit surprised his “daysailor” is a Coronado 25:). He clearly subscribes to the K.I.S.S principle. Good on him…

  2. milly Biller 3 years ago

    I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Ron at Oleg Harencar’s Life on the Water Documentary film about John Wilson of Wooden Boat Magazine. Ron gave a presentation before the film and afterwards I got a chance to talk to him and sit with him in the audience. He is an extremely funny and sweet man ! I am not at all surprised by his KISS principal in a boat he chose for himself.

  3. Jorge Morales 3 years ago

    I met Ron at the Corinthian YC, when he gave a presentation of Mirabella V, with Joe Vitoria the owner, and Tom Perkins present, and he graciously signed a picture of my 11 Meter OD, and he said he kept one for himself in Ireland and docked it in front of his studio. I asked him if he could send me some hull line drawings to build a half-hull model of my boat. A couple of months later I get a 4′ tube in the mail, and inside there were the blue prints of the hull sections of the 11 Meter. I could have built a full size boat out of the drawings! Later I met him when he gave his All the Oceans talk at the St Francis YC, with most of the crew of IMP present. Great designer, great sailor, great guy!

  4. Svenja 2 years ago

    Encountering problems with the keel of my RH design yacht, I desperately inquired his Bureau by eMail to hopefully get us some of the plans we are lacking … and got immediate answer from him!!

    I’m so very impressed by Ron.

    Great Designer and Architect, great person!

Leave a Reply




Looking Forward to South Pacific Cruising
If the DMA lifts the restriction of Imperative Need, certain restrictions will still apply. All those coming by boat must be vaccinated; if they're not, they will not be allowed in.
Winners By Chance
"Suppose you roll a single die dozens of times, in a game in which you only 'win' (e.g., find a Golden Ticket) if you roll a 6. It turns out that ANY pattern that, over time (e.g., lots of months), averages out to 1 'win' every 6 rolls, is equally likely."