PDQ Yachts Inc. (Alan Slater)

Alan Slater is co-founder of PDQ Yachts and designer of the PDQ line of very successful small and medium sized cruising catamarans. Slater’s designs achieved lasting popularity in the market through combining several crucial attributes in a compact package. Inside they have a feeling of roominess and airiness; outside they look well proportioned and have pleasing lines. The internal layout is designed for family cruising, with ample space to move and store varied equipment. Yet PDQs always avoid being overloaded for their length and consequently are able to deliver a fair turn of speed.

New yachts by the PDQ design team are developed using computer 3D modelling, where all key aspects of structure, aesthetics and ergonomics can be analysed and visualised to the fullest extent. These advanced techniques enable PDQ to apply, even more stringently, the design principles that have stood it in such good stead in the past:

• Good performance under sail or power
• Comfort underway and at anchor
• A feeling of continuity and community in the boat's public spaces
• Primary safety through professionally engineered structures and manageable sail-handling gear
• Secondary safety through watertight bulkheads and energy-dissipating structures

In 1994 the company was given the Cruising World's Boat of the Year award for the design of the PDQ 36 Mk III.