MOSS, MUSHROOMS AND HYDROFOILS

Paul Bieker has been innovating high-Performance design for decades while staying true to his Pacific Northwest roots.

DAVID SCHMIDT

Rain needles Ketchikan's harbor as Paul Bieker assesses the damage to one of his beloved designs. Dark Star, Jonathan and Lib by 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. T 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 byway of Vancouver Island's…

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Sailing World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Fall 2023

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