Rain needles Ketchikan's harbor as Paul Bieker assesses the damage to one of his beloved designs. Dark Star, Jonathan and Libby McKee's Riptide 44, just won the 2022 Race to Alaska, but McKee and crew found a log at 18 knots. I'd texted Bieker the photos, and he'd just arrived with a plan and his son, Leo. Minutes later, they begin sanding, layering on epoxy, mating, adding more epoxy, then resanding, skipping lunch and disregarding the on-off precipitation. Nothing about the scene suggests the presence of a two-time America's Cup-winning naval architect. "It's not beautiful," Bieker says that evening, "but it'll keep water from hydraulically separating the layers of carbon if we're going fast." Fourteen hours later, we depart for Seattle by way of Vancouver Island's west coast.
In the world of high-performance sailing, few names are more synonymous with speed than Bieker's, yet few Cupwinning designers have kept a lower, more grounded profile. This is by choice, and it suits; flannel shirts, wool sweaters and foredeck-battered fleece often define Bieker's attire. Look past the Pacific Northwest camouflage, however, and one discovers that Bieker's mind relentlessly drills on design and engineering problems. Coloring him the smartest guy in the room-while accurate-is lazy writing; his mind doesn't stop seeking until he wrestles down his solution. Other naval architects may have seen more boats launched than Bieker, now 60, but few have created boats that are still setting racecourse records decades ex post facto.
It started with a car accident.
Bieker was born in Portland, Oregon, in October 1962. He's the oldest of three kids born to a father who had a penchant for fast cars. This ended in (circa) 1968, when Fred Bieker rolled the family's Mustang with his family aboard. Bieker's mother suggested that her husband pursue a safer hobby.
He chose sailing.
This story is from the Fall 2023 edition of Sailing World.
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This story is from the Fall 2023 edition of Sailing World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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