Ericus (Ricus) Gerhardus van de Stadt (4 February 1910 – 7 September 1999) was a Dutchyacht designer. He was the founder of industrial yacht building in theNetherlands.^[1][2]

E.G. van de Stadt went through the HTS (technical college), completing his training as a naval architect in 1932.^[3] With the help of family and friends, he started a shipyard inZaandam and a ships wharf and design company for small wooden boats.^[3] In 1936, he went to theOlympic Games as a reserve for the Netherlands Olympic sailing team.^{[3][clarification needed]}

In 1939, van de Stadt designed theValk^[4] for the Bruynzeel company to demonstrate the possibilities of their new product "hechthout" (a type of plywood). TheValk has been a resounding success over many years. Adding the laterpolyester versions ("Polyvalk"), this boat is now probably the most popular open sailboat on the Dutch waters.^[5]

Ricus van de Stadt later designed a seaworthy race version of theValk forKees Bruynzeel, theZeevalk. In 1952 this boat would come first in her class and second overall in theFastnet race.^[6]

ThePioneer followed in 1958, a 9-metre-long sailboat with the then relative new material polyester.^[7] The design was a great success. The light boat won many international matches.

The hull lines for the firstmaxi yacht came from Ricus van de Stadt's drawing board. The 70-foot ocean racerStormvogel emerged in 1960.^[8][9]

A few other boats that Ricus van de Stadt designed are theVoortrekker,Efsix,^[10]Stern (One Design dinghy class),^[11]Spanker (the name was used for both '19'^[12] and '42'^[13] -feet loa- designs),Randmeer^[14] andWibo.^[15] From the open-deckedRandmeer^[16] was to follow theTrotter the next year (in 1963; with a small cabin),^[17] and theTrotter-Pandora in 1967 (with more freeboard).^[18] In turn, this was to evolve to thePandora (Mk1) in 1968,^[19] thePandora International in 1973^[20] and thePandora 700 in 1976.^[21] TheProspect 900 was designed circa 1975,^[22] and many other yacht designs began on his drawing board.^[23] Key to the designs of Van de Stadt are their daring design, simplicity and good sailing.

From 1973, the Van de Stadt company fully concentrated on design after it sold the yard toDehler. The name was changed toEG van de Stadt & Partners. Ricus continued working there until 1978. The design team now works using the nameVan De Stadt Design,^[24] and is still led byCees van Tongeren who started working for Ricus in the late 1960s.

Sailboatdata.com lists a total of 150 yachts designed by E.G. van de Stadt.^[23]

• Alize 20
• DB-1
• DB-2
• Dehler 22
• Dehlya 22
• Dehler 25
• Dehlya 25
• ETAP 20
• ETAP 22
• ETAP 28
• Jeanneau Storm