Johannes (‘Joop’) W. Slooff, born in 1941 in Haarlem in The Netherlands, is a (retired) fluid dynamicist by profession. He worked at the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) and was a part-time professor at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. He is also a cruising yachtsman (not yet retired).

In 1981 he became involved with the development of the 12-Metre yacht 'Australia II' for the 1983 America’s Cup campaign. He proposed the concept of the upside-down, winged keel and was responsible for the computational fluid dynamic modeling, performed at NLR, that substantiated the performance potential of the concept. In the 1980s he was also involved in keel research performed at Delft University of Technology by Gerritsma and Keuning. After his (early) retirement in 2001 he wrote a course on the aero- and hydrodynamics of sailing for the Heiner Sail Academy in The Netherlands. He also became involved, as a technical-scientific advisor, in the ABN-AMRO campaign for the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race. From 2008 through 2012 he has lectured on the aero- and hydrodynamics of sailing at an annual special course on sailing yacht technology at the faculty of Maritime Technology of Delft University.

He is author of the book “The Aero- and Hydromechanics of Keel Yachts” and "The Science Behind Sailing": https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1798918420/

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