Rob Doyle returned to Ireland in the mid 90’s and chose Kinsale as the place to develop his firm. Rob finds that living here and being able to welcome guests and yacht owners to Kinsale is priceless, the town offers so much from walks to golf and being the start of The Wild Atlantic Way and the gourmet capital of Ireland, visiting yachts have always enjoyed the sights and sounds of Kinsale and the cosmopolitan nature of the town. You can find the Rob Doyle Design studio tucked away on Lower O’Connell Street. 

Rob says of making Kinsale home to his business: “Kinsale has offered us the best location for our design studio with very easy and quick access to Cork Airport, a strong broadband network and, being a very business friendly town, we count ourselves very fortunate. Our industry has changed a lot like other sectors due to Covid travel restrictions and we have moved into a virtual meetings world. Being based in Kinsale and not being able to travel has not been as challenging as we might have expected.”

Currently on the drawing board at Rob Doyle Design is a 63m fully green Superyacht (Project Fury) that offers the owners the ability to run their yacht without diesel and relies on hydrogen fuel cells and propeller regeneration while sailing, showcasing the future of sustainability in yacht design.  This yacht is at the cutting edge of what is possible and the research being carried out in Kinsale is at the forefront of the industry.  

Rob Doyle Design has two projects in build in the Netherlands, these two 52m High Performance sailing yachts also boost green credentials. Using propeller regeneration and limiting the amount of diesel that the vessel needs to carry is a major step forward in moving off the dependency on fossil fuels. 

The studio has recently completed a number of other projects, 78m S/Y “M5” that has just completed a major refit in Italy and 34m M/Y “Arrowhead” in the USA. Arrowhead went through a transformation process remodelling the superstructure, lengthening the vessel, a new interior and installing gyro stabilizers.

The studio has a number of other next generation ground-breaking projects on the drawing board that are pushing technology forward especially in the use of marine hydrogen fuel cells. 

Rob remarks “We are humbled to be one of the world’s top yacht designers. To be based in Kinsale and have a fantastic team that is developing some of the most amazing projects is just bliss.”

Find out more about Rob Doyle Design, the home of yachts Kinsale!