the office was able to employ specialist draftsmen. The approach Alden took was to discuss requirements with the clients, make the initial sketches and then hand over the work to the draftsmen to complete. Therefore, each boat designed by the firm had Alden's individual style stamped on. By 1932, the Alden Design Office was known around the world due to the success of the "Malabar" designs in the offshore racing scene: In 1923, Malabar IV won the Newport–Bermuda race In 1926, Malabar VII won the Newport–Bermuda race In 1932, Malabar X won overall, with his other designs occupying the top four places. When Alden achieved his great success in the 1932 Bermuda race, the yachting world was already beginning to see changes in boat design. Olin Stephens' yawl Dorade, which had already won the Transatlantic and Fastnet races in 1931, was the winner in Class B. Stephens followed this with another winner, Stormy Weather which won the 1936 Transatlantic Race to Norway by a wide margin. This began a long-running rivalry between the two designers. Alden's designs depended on a certain amount of inside ballast, where Stephens' adopted the idea of all-outside ballast. Stephens' boats were of lighter construction, using steam bent frames, rather than the sawn frames favored by Alden. Over the next thirty years, Alden designed over 1,000 boats, including the 63.5' schooner When and If for General Patton, though of them all the 744 Rena series have been considered the most admired. Eric Hiscock, a leading yachtsman of the time, said "I considered her to be one of the most beautiful yachts I had ever seen…quite perfect in (her) sea-kindly grace and harmony". Al Spalding became the firm's chief designer after World War II, and occupied the role for fifteen years. Later life From the 1950s onwards, Alden took an increasingly less active role in the design business and retired in 1955. The Alden Design office carried on until 2008, under the helm of Niels Christian Helleberg, naval architect. Helleberg continued providing design and print services until closing his office in January 2014. Alden continued to race into his seventies, and enjoyed sailing one of his Sakonnet One designs until his death in Florida at the age of 78. His designs were donated by the company to MIT's Hart Nautical Collections. Alden was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2013. Selected designs Alden created