Gerard Dijkstra & Partners was originally founded as Ocean Sailing Development Holland BV in 1969 by Gerard Dijkstra. For the first ten years the office was mainly involved with (short handed) ocean racing.
However, the specialization soon included yacht design and the building supervision of ocean going sailing boats and fast short handed racers, using the experience of Gerard Dijkstra as skilled sailor. Much attention has always been given to research and development. Experience in all aspects of yacht and boat building has been built up. From design, lofting, building, rigging, sail making to the actual sailing and maintaining..
New designs are tested in towing tanks and wind tunnels, strength of hull and rig is studied with finite element analyzes. Thus the bureau holds an unique combination of theoretical and practical capabilities and has good knowledge of boats, seamanship and yards worldwide. Thijs Nikkels became partner of Gerard Dijkstra in 2002.
