Allan Poole was no stranger to boat-building when he founded Saga Yachts. In 1995, when he launched his "new-kid" company on the performance cruising block, he had already spent three decades developing, producing, and selling production sailboats. Poole, Saga's owner and CEO, is a Scot who got his engineering training at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, and his jollies racing dinghies and IOR boats during the golden era of the grand-prix circuit.

Poole initially owned MG Yachts, Ltd., a firm in the U.K., which produced several Ton Cup champions. Then he sold off and emigrated to Canada, where he landed at CS Yachts in Brampton, Ontario. Poole later became director of marketing…