Staff

Our engineers have a wealth of combined experience in Naval Architecture, and their interests cover all aspects of water sports and include racing and cruising in craft of all types from dinghies to sailing ships. Although each of us has our own specialised areas of work we work as a team to provide a flexible and speedy response to all of our customer's needs.

Dickon Buckland

Dickon Buckland Dickon Buckland

Dickon joined the Unit in 2001 after graduating in Civil Engineering from The University of Bristol and obtaining an MSc in Maritime Engineering Sciences from the University of Southampton. Dickon has 14 years experience in the field of powerboat and motor yacht performance optimisation and has extensive experience in the assessment of handling characteristics, motions at anchor and behaviour of vessels in a seaway. In addition he has a broad range of experience in the assessment of hydrodynamic and aerodynamic designs, for example, tidal turbines, wave energy devices and wading vehicles. Dickon has designed the majority of the instrumentation and dynamometry for use by the Unit and other organisations, for example, five yacht testing dynamometers have been sold to America’s Cup syndicates to Dickon’s design. He also designs, installs and comissions onboard measurement systems for superyachts and other marine vehicles for long term monitoring or short term trials.

Specialisations:

  • Experimental hydrodynamics and aerodynamics.
  • Power craft and ship/ motor yacht testing and trials.
  • Design of onboard measurement for superyachts and marine vehicles.
  • Experimental manoeuvring/rolling assessment.
  • Dynamometry and data acquisition systems.
  • Industrial aerodynamics.

Martyn Prince

Martyn Prince

Martyn completed a BSc in Yacht and Small Craft Design at the Southampton Institute of H.E. in 1994, followed by an MSc in Maritime Engineering Sciences from University of Southampton in 1995. He then completed a PhD in ship motions and control. In 1999 he joined the Unit moving back to the field of yachts and small craft. His primary areas of interest involve sailing yacht performance evaluation; this in part has involved conducting, analysing and managing a range of towing tank test and wind tunnel projects ranging from small cruising boats up to America’s Cup R&D programmes. He has been involved with the development of the Unit’s resources in sports engineering, focussing on areas which will benefit from improved aero and hydrodynamic knowledge, culminating in the Wolfson Unit becoming a UK Sport Partner, working closely with British Cycling and their Olympic Team. Most recently, he has been focussed on the area of wind assisted shipping performance evaluation, combining his expertise in sailing yacht performance prediction, model scale experimental testing and the Wolfson Unit's CFD capabilities to provide detailed predictions of ship performance for the assessment of a range of types of wind propulsion devices and designs on commercial vessels. 

Specialisations:

  • Sailing yacht performance prediction.
  • Experimental hydrodynamics.
  • Experimental aerodynamics.
  • Model testing techniques.
  • Ship Motions.
  • Sports science testing and analysis.

Sandy Wright

Sandy Wright

After gaining a B Eng in Naval Architecture from the University of Strathclyde, Sandy obtained an MSc and a PhD in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) from the University of Southampton. He worked on various research contracts for the University of Southampton in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics before being seconded to the Wolfson Unit in 2000, and became a full time engineer in 2002. His primary areas of interest involve wind tunnel testing, computational modelling and integrating different data sources (be they experimental or computational) into a meaningful evaluation process. Since 2005 Sandy has been involved in sports engineering, culminating in the Wolfson Unit becoming a UK Sport Innovation Partner. Sandy is a Member of RINA and SNAME and is a Chartered Engineer.

Specialisations:

  • Computer programming.
  • Computational methods.
  • Theoretical hydrodynamics.
  • Experimental aerodynamics.
  • Model testing techniques.
  • Sports engineering testing and analysis.

Matteo Scarponi

Matteo Scarponi

Matteo joined the Wolfson Unit in 2007, having obtained an MSc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Perugia, Italy and completing a PhD on race modelling programs under the joint supervision of the Universities of Southampton and Perugia. The findings of his research have been presented at international conferences, including the Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium, HISWA and the ‘Modern Yacht’, and published in academic journals. Since joining the Wolfson Unit, he has been working on commercial contracts and on the development of software such as HST, the Unit's hydrostatics and stability package.

Specialisations:

  • Computational modelling
  • Computer programming
  • Stability investigation and assessment
  • Onboard systems
  • Experimental hydrodynamics
  • Performance prediction

Lloyd Jones

Lloyd Jones

Lloyd has several years experience conducting research in the fields of computational aerodynamics and aeroacoustics, on topics such as airfoil aerodynamics, laminar-turbulent transition mechanisms, separation bubble behaviour and airfoil self-noise. Lloyd's expertise is in the application and development of computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Etienne Gauvain

Etienne Gauvain

Etienne joined the Wolfson Unit in 2013. He completed a BEng in Yacht & Power Craft Design at Southampton Solent University in 2008, followed by an MSc in Maritime Engineering Sciences from University of Southampton in 2009. After his studies he went to the Yacht Research Unit – Twisted Flow Wind Tunnel in Auckland (New Zealand) as a Research Assistant, performing wind tunnel tests and full scale measurements. Then he worked two years as a Project Engineer Analysis at MARIN (The Netherlands). Outside the maritime field, while still a student, Etienne worked as a Wind Tunnel Technician at Williams F1. His primary areas of interest involve sailing yachts and power crafts performance evaluation and prediction, experimental techniques and general naval architecture.

Sue Bradbury

Sue Bradbury

Sue started working for the University of Southampton in July, 1986, and moved department to join the Wolfson Unit team in July, 1988. She is responsible for the day to day administration within the Unit.

Specialisations:

  • Administration.
  • Secretarial.

Chris Harmer

Chris first studied at Southampton University back in 1993, gaining a B Eng in Ship Science. After a short career break which involved travel and working for a small marine services company abroad he worked in industry as a development/test engineer for various precision engineering firms until he returned to the University and the Wolfson Unit in 2003 as a technician/test engineer.
Chris’s practical skills together with a hands on approach to development and test engineering and a keen interest in video editing has helped the Unit to develop its in house dynamometry and video editing systems. Chris is also responsible for maintaining the Wolfson Units current testing capability and where necessary assists in testing.

Specialisations:

  • Experimental modelling.
  • Model testing techniques.
  • Technician.