Tom's role
Date of Birth: March 26, 1953
Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas
Nationality: USA
Position: Aero & Sail Project Leader
Tom is a man thoroughly enamoured with his third career of yacht design, an interesting turn of events considering his previous careers were with the U.S. Air Force and The Boeing Company.
“For decades, yacht design and aerodynamics was something I did in my spare time as a hobby,” says Tom. “Now I get to do it full time – my avocation has become my vocation. In flight testing, I was evaluating other people’s ideas. Now I get to see my own ideas fly across the water.”
In his first career Tom retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the USAF, and then was a flight controls engineer with Boeing until his second retirement. Tom’s third career began when ORACLE Racing design director Mike Drummond contacted him during the lead up to the 33rd Cup.
Tom’s website, www.tspeer.com, has been a common reference for designers interested in wingmast/sail combinations, rigid wing rigs, landyachts and hydrofoils. His hydrofoil sections have been used on Moths, Ian Farrier-designed trimarans, and an experimental kite-powered hydrofoil.
For the 33rd Cup Tom designed the cross-section shapes for Mast 3 and the wingsail on USA 17. For the 34th he’s responsible for designing the two-dimensional cross section shapes for the wingsail, including how many elements (flaps, tabs, etc.) to use, what their proportions should be, and their exterior shapes. He’s also working on methods to analyze the test data, and on new methods of instrumentation for the wing.
Career Highlights
2011–Present: ORACLE Racing Design Team, Aero & Sail Project Leader
2008–2010: ORACLE Racing Design Team, Consultant
1999–2010: Associate Technical Fellow, Flight Controls Research, Boeing Research & Technology, Seattle, Wash.
1996–1999: Principal Engineer, Tier III - DarkStar Program, Boeing Information Systems Defense & Space Group, Seattle, Wash.
1990–1996: Flight test program manager, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif.