New Zealand is renowned all over the globe for being at the pinnacle of performance yachting, yacht design and boatbuilding.

Designer Rob Shaw grew up immersed in the world of sailing in all types of boats in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand’s Northland.

Like most of New Zealand’s foremost yacht designers, he commenced a boatbuilding career, working across timber, composite and carbon construction, with a focus on high-end race yachts. As well as his trade qualifications and years of design and building experience, he also has a Master of Design degree focusing on iterative design development.

Rob’s process is a blend of pragmatic design gleaned from his boatbuilding years and early learnings, combined with a desire and ability to take boats beyond expectation. This has been demonstrated in a series of highly successful sportboats, competitive canting keelboats, offshore racers, powercats and coach boats.