Since the early 1990s, Elan yachts have been designed by acclaimed British naval architect, Rob Humphreys.

Humphreys has an exceptional mix of experience for a yacht designer and it is this varied background that gives the Elan range it's ability to shine in both racing and cruising worlds.

He has been responsible for Whitbread race yachts, he co-designed Ellen MacArthur's highly successful Open 60 Kingfisher, he designed the BT Global Challenge fleet, he is one of the leading designers for the Great Britain America's Cup challenge, is involved in high profile race campaigns such as the Volvo 70 and is the naval architect for Oyster marine, one of the premier names in blue water cruising.

"The essential criterion is that a yacht must earn great pride of ownership.  It is not enough to say that for a racing yacht this qualification is simply to win races while for a cruising yacht it is to..., well..., what single expression can one possibly find to define success in a cruising yacht?

Similarly, the success of a cruising yacht is measurable not by the volume of its interior and the number of berths that are contained, but by a myriad other features and characteristics that can benefit from the sort of optimization that has had to be part of the racing yacht world."