Irwin was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1940 and developed a passion for sailing at an early age. He built his own Moth and went on to sail it to win the class North American and world championships. He served in the US Coast Guard and also worked for Charley Morgan at Morgan Yachts as a draftsman, illustrator and boat builder. He commenced his first design, the 31 ft (9.4 m) Voodoo in 1963, a boat that took six months to complete. He raced the boat from 1964 to 1966 and won 24 of the 28 races that he competed in.^[4][5][1]

Irwin founded his own company, Irwin Yacht & Marine Corporation, in 1966. He ran the company and was also the chief designer. The first design produced was the Irwin 27, in 1967.^{[2][4][5][1][6]}

To control costs, Irwin bought his supplies in large lots and also owned his factory and the land it was located upon, as well as the production tooling. He also produced everything possible in-house, from the boats' masts, right down to the marketing brochures.^[5]

The company started out with a 12,500 sq ft (1,160 m²) factory, but expanded to 75,000 sq ft (7,000 m²) and employed more than 200 people at its peak.^[1]

Typical of his cruising boats was the Irwin 41, a 41.50 ft (12.6 m) blue-water cruiser introduced in 1982.^[7][8]

In the 1980s, Irwin designed a series of racing boats, all named Razzle Dazzle, that he raced in the Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) in Florida. His 1982 Razzle Dazzle was sold after winning the SORC that year, but the design was the basis for the Irwin 41 Citation, of which four boats were completed. Many years he sold his winning boats, which fetched high prices, using the funds and lessons learned to design better boats for subsequent years.^[9][10]

Irwin encouraged other builders, even when they became competitors. In 1974 he traded the molds for the 1970 model Irwin 32 in exchange for a small number of shares in the fledgling Endeavour Yacht Corporation to get founders John Brooks and Rob Valdes started in the boat building business.^[11][12]

The company built more cruising sailboats with a length overall of greater than 50 ft (15.2 m) than any other company worldwide, with more than 300 of the Irwin 52, 54, 65 and 68 models completed. Irwin Yacht & Marine closed in 1992 for the final time.^[1][2]

Ted Irwin died in Little Rock, Arkansas on 5 February 2015, from multiple myeloma, at age 74.^[4]

Summary of boats built by Irwin Yachts:^[2]

• List of sailboat designers and manufacturers