Avia Design Group : People at Avia

Grahame Shannon, Managing Director

In 1980 I started Coast Yacht Design Inc. which produced many fine cruising and successful racing designs. They included the Amazon series of steel yachts which today has a cult following among cruising sailors. As Autoship Systems Inc. we developed the software we and many other designers use. That company went on to become the dominant software developer in the field of yacht and ship design, and is still going strong today. We sold Autoship in 1993.

Following that slight detour to build the tools needed, I resumed my design career. In 1995 I was part of the America³ design team working on the America's Cup yacht Mighty Mary.

Recent design clients have included Oviatt Marine, Walker Bay Boats, Classico Boats, and Motorcat.

Kathleen Shannon, Marketing and Promotions manager

Kathleen has been instrumental in promoting our image, improving our communications and client relations, while adding a feminine touch to the whole operation. She has recently moved to Toronto and will be continuing to help us the through the magic of the internet.

Company Philosophy

Beauty sells boats. Beauty is essentially free, since it costs no more to build a well designed, lovely boat than to build an ugly, ill designed one. Moreover, good production design can actually reduce the cost of construction.

Due to our success to date we have reached the point where we are very selective about projects we undertake.

We are only interested in projects which are ecologically friendly, fuel efficient, and fun. Giant fuel guzzlers and Megayachts can't be justified, and the current belief the "bigger is better" is just plain wrong. Small, simple boats are more fun, and don't make a huge dent in the planet's dwindling resources. So, small, beautiful, fuel-efficient, and preferably made from renewable or recyclable materials. If this fits your philosophy email us.

If you are looking for cheap plans, go elsewhere. We do high quality, considered designs, and charge fairly for our services. If you want a guarantee of performance, we can arrange tank and model testing. Otherwise, performance predictions are "best effort" and not guaranteed.