Japec Jakopin, born 19 April 1951, is the CEO of J&J Design, a pleasure boat design company, based in Slovenia, which he founded in 1983, together with his brother Jernej. Jakopin is most known as a yacht concept designer.
Early life and education
Jakopin was born in 1951 in Brežice, Slovenia. The family lived in the nearby village of Leskovec pri Krškem. Japec began diving at the age of six and learned to sail by the age of 13. After graduating from the Medical school at the University of Ljubljana in 1974 he pursued an academic career at that school's Institute of Physiology and at the University Medical Centre, Department of Intensive Internal Medicine. In 1977 he obtained a master's degree in cardiology, of problems connected to cardiac arrest, also during freediving, in 1980 a PhD and in 1981 the title academic specialist in cardiology. In 1983 he resigned from his academic career because of political issues.
Yacht design
During his academic years Jakopin spent his weekends in the Croatian seaside town of Punat building do-it-yourself boats, and later learned the charter yacht business. After leaving the medical profession in 1983 Japec, together with his younger brother Jernej, founded J&J Design studio, for production yacht design. In 1983 they designed the Elan 31 sailing boat for the Elan sporting goods factory of Begunje, Slovenia, followed by Elan 33. Between 1983 and 1987 Elan sold 940 units of the Elan 31, Elan 33 and Elan 43, increasing its marine sales from DEM 2 million to DEM 32 million. In 1987, Japec took a marketing and sales manager job at the French sailboat and powerboat builder Jeanneau where he stayed until 1990. In the meantime J&J Design continued designing boats for Jeanneau and several other European boatyards.
Expansion into boat development and production
In 1989 the two brothers founded Seaway, also in Slovenia, to expand J&J Design activities to engineering, tooling and prototyping for boat manufacturers. By 2000 Seaway became the only independent company outside major yacht builders that could engage in the entire development process - from design to prototype and final moulds, and its revenue grew to 6.6 million euros. The list of clients included Bavaria, Beneteau and Jeanneau. In 2001 KD Group, the largest Slovenian private finance group, invested 3 million euros in the company, for a 50% share and a request for change of strategy to own boat production. Investment enabled the purchase of a robot for precise prototype and mould production, required by Seaway's customers and acquisition of new, larger premises for installation of the new tool. Seaway produced a limited number of high-class yachts and powerboats, the Shipman carbon sailboat line from 2002 and Skagen powerboat line from 2004. The Shipman 50 and Shipman 63 won the 2003 and 2006 European Boat of the Year Award at the Boot Düsseldorf boat show. In 2009 a hybrid powerboat with diesel, electric and solar propulsion was developed and produced, the 33 feet long Greenline Hybrid 33. It also won the 2010 European Boat of the Year Award at the Boot Düsseldorf boat show. Its main appeal besides the hybrid propulsion with zero-emission and no-noise sailing was the constant availability of 110/230 VAC power for appliances. It sold 400 units by 2015, claimed to be the best-selling 10 m boat in 2010 and 2011, and was followed by larger models, GL 40 in 2011, Greenline Ocean Class 70 in 2012 and GL 48 in 2014. Hybrid technology was also applied to a Seaway's sailing boat, to the Shipman 59 Carbon, designed together with Doug Peterson and the French naval architect Guillaume Verdier. In 2014 Seaway was in no shortage of orders for boats, but the enduring credit crunch after the 2008 crisis crippled further production and in 2015 both divisions of the company went out of business.
In the meantime Jakopin brothers reestablished J&J Design as an independent company while the boatbuilding part of Seaway was taken over by SVP Yachts. The renewed venture continued to provide design as well as boat engineering and production process engineering for vessels from 20 to 80 feet, to major volume boatbuilders in the power and sailing area, including the Greenline builder SVP Yachts.
