Tony Castro x Yacht Design
The latest edition of Yacht Design Magazine is out now — and with it, a wonderful feature on Tony Castro by Francesca Goi.
Few designers have left a mark across as many corners of the water as Tony. Countless owners around the world sail on boats born from his pencil, from series production yachts to fully custom superyachts, and the feature takes that long view as its starting point. It is a wide-ranging conversation spanning five decades of design, tracing his beginnings in the fiercely competitive world of 1970s international sailing, among names like Doug Peterson, Ron Holland, Germán Frers and Sparkman & Stephens, right through to the studio’s work today.
From there, Francesca draws out Tony’s thinking on the questions the industry is really wrestling with. How has AI changed the drawing board, and is it a tool or a threat? Why, with all the computing power now available, is it still the human hand and eye that decide a good design? On what the computer age actually delivered, his verdict is characteristically dry:
“We don’t save time, we just make many more computations of optional designs.”
— Tony Castro
The conversation also turns to sustainability and propulsion, and to the one yacht Tony has yet to design, after fifty years and thousands of boats: a motorboat with sails.
It is a thoughtful and generous portrait, and a real pleasure to read. Our sincere thanks to Francesca Goi for the care and insight she brought to it, and to the whole team at Yacht Design for featuring the studio. It is an honour to be included.
Pick up the latest edition to read the full feature in Tony’s own words.