Hands-On innovation at Morrelli & Melvin
November 4, 2009
A common attribute among designers and engineers at Morrelli & Melvin is the ability to build what they design. We believe that the hands-on experience enables our team to not only design products that can be built efficiently and economically, but also leads to innovation in materials and construction methods.
Gino Morrelli started out working on racing cars and boats in his family’s back yard as a teenager. He built his first boat with his dad and brother, a 33-foot Crowther trimaran in high school. Soon after he started his first company, Climax Catamarans, designing and building 18-square meter cats. He has been entrenched in onshore and offshore race-boat construction efforts since the early 80’s, managing and participating in the construction of 60’ ocean racing catamarans, Formula 40’s, the 1988 Stars & Stripes America’s Cup catamaran and many racing beach catamarans. Today he manages the Product Development side of our business where he helps bridge the gap between design engineering and our customers’ production lines. His many years of experience in racing, design, as well as on the shop floor, help us design boats that are beautiful, perform well, and are practical and economical to construct.
Pete Melvin has been creating innovative vehicles since his youth. Not discouraged when the boat he built as a 6-year old did not float, he rebounded and built a fast motorized skateboard by the time he was 10. Pete and his father designed and built several Optimist dinghies and then formed a company to build them. They used Nomex honeycomb and carbon fiber long before these materials gained acceptance in the marine industry. Pete has always designed, built, rigged, and prepared his own race boats, creating many innovations along the way and gaining valuable hands-on experience. He recently designed and built an innovative electric motorcycle that goes 50 miles on a single charge at up to 60 mph. His motorcycle is a test bed for lithium battery and electric propulsion systems that are increasingly finding their way onto M&M’s commercial, military, and pleasure boat designs.
Taking Wing – Boat International USA Magazine
November 3, 2009
Taking Wing by Lynn Fitzpatrick, Boat International USA, Jan - Feb 2009
Taking Wing by Lynn Fitzpatrick features illustrates how the wing sail has become a useful technology not only in America’s Cup racing yachts, but prototype and future industrial marine designs for Harbor Wing Technologies.
Read how everyone from the US Navy to BMW Oracle Racing are taking a serious look at wing sail technology.
Boats International USA in the January / February 2009 Reprint (1.6 MB, PDF)
38 Feet of Great Vacation Sailing is Launched
July 24, 2009
Sunsail 384 hulls in sling being lowered by crane into the water
Sunsail celebrated the launch of the new Sunsail 384 catamaran from the Robertson and Caine factory in Cape Town, South Africa the week of July 14, 2009. The first yacht in a major fleet to feature solar panels, over thirty of the new catamarans are heading for Sunsail destinations across Asia and the Caribbean this fall and the Mediterranean next spring. Sunsail’s total fleet purchase plan for 2010 is over 140 new yachts, demonstrating confidence in customer demand and in line with Sunsail’s strategy of continued growth with an exceptional fleet.
The Sunsail 384 has been exclusively produced for Sunsail, with the design completed by performance multihull architects Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc. This catamaran is a market leader, designed for high performance with a generous sail plan, yet is also highly practical and easy to sail, making it an ideal entry level catamaran.
Bright, comfortable interior
Morrelli & Melvin design a wide range of racing, cruising, and commercial yachts. Our designs have won the America’s Cup, numerous World and Continental championships, Round the World and Transatlantic records, and multiple industry awards.
Look for details and a review of this new cruising yacht in upcoming issues of Yacht World Magazine
And, find out more about Robertson and Caine and the production luxury boats they build at www.robertsonandcaine.com .
SunSail’s full announcement is available at www.sunsail.com/media/press-releases/
ABOUT SUNSAIL
Sunsail celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, offering a wide choice of sailing vacations for all skill levels, with over 900 yachts in 28 locations worldwide. In addition to bareboat and skippered yacht, Sunsail provides fun flotillas, sailing school courses, beach club resorts, corporate and incentive team building events.
Stable, easy to sail cruising catamaran
Sunsail was founded in 1974 and is owned by leisure travel group TUI Travel PLC, a FTSE 100 leading international leisure travel group. Sunsail’s Gold LEED certified headquarters is located at 93 North Park Place Boulevard, Clearwater, FL. For yacht sales information, call 1-800-817-0807. For yacht vacations, visit www.sunsail.com, or call 1-800-772-3500.
Aeroyacht’s New Line of Luxury Catamarans
June 8, 2009
Newest innovations in performance yachts
Huntington Beach, CA, January 4, 2009 – It’s the New Year and Morrelli and Melvin have teamed up with Aeroyacht to introduce a new line of luxury super catamarans. The Aeroyacht 110 is the first of the Aeroyacht range to fly from the design to the production phase. A sign of the changing times, it sports an optional 2-seater Icon A5 amphibian sports plane and pod to house it.
Referred to by many as today’s most innovative American luxury yacht, the Aeroyacht 110 is a high-performance luxury catamaran. Gregor Tarjan, founder and president of Aeroyacht, collaborated with Morrelli and Melvin on the high-performance luxury catamaran to introduce the latest amenities, style, speed and stability to his visionary yacht. In addition to spacious and comfortable teak decks, a large galley and saloon, a 1,250 square foot social and entertainment platform, a low semi-fly and twin helm stations, this performance cruiser has three private, split-level suites.
Not only is the Aeroyacht spacious, it is fast. Speeds of 35 knots can be attained in comfort. Speed, size and carefully calculated weight distribution deliver minimal sea-induced motion for the entire range of Aeroyachts – the Aeroyacht 95, 110 and 125.
“We are applying technology, engineering and material improvements to all of our designs. Performance cruising designs are getting stronger, lighter and faster just like the America’s Cup and ocean racing multihulls. Aeroyacht has taken advantage of these breakthroughs to introduce optional equipment and more spacious private suites. The hull speeds that it can reach may seem fast for a monohull but are not even approaching the extreme speeds that some multihulls are achieving,” said Pete Melvin, co-founder of Morrelli and Melvin. “It’s not surprising that our recent designs for Aeroyacht and HarborWing Technologies can accommodate the launching of unmanned vehicles and small planes.
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- Newest innovations in performance yachts
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- Stability and comfort in a performance yacht
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- Stability and comfort in a performance yacht
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- Stability and comfort in a performance yacht
About MORRELLI and MELVIN
Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc. is one of the world’s foremost designers of multihull sail and powerboats for private, charter and commercial uses. In business for over 16 years, Morrelli & Melvin has won numerous industry design and innovation awards, the America’s Cup, World and Continental Championships and broken dozens of World records.
Morrelli & Melvin has been designing sailing and cruising catamaran and trimaran yachts in collaboration with boat builders Robertson and Caine, GUNBOAT and HarborWing Technologies. We have introduced such innovations as the forward cockpit to performance cruisers. Morrelli & Melvin also designs custom multihulls and works with builders and designers throughout the world.
Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc. – www.morrellimelvin.com – (714) 861-1320
Shooting Star is a 50’ Cruising Catamaran Launched
October 1, 2008
50 ft cruising catamaran
Shooting Star is a 50’ cruising catamaran with an emphasis on performance. The owner of this yacht has extensive experience with both large cruising multihulls and high performance dinghies (505s and A-Class catamarans). From this perspective the owner commissioned Morrelli & Melvin to design a vessel that combines the best of cruising comfort with dingy speed and agility. The result is a carefully developed yacht that is capable of devouring ocean miles whether on a race course or cruising short handed.
Shooting Star contains many innovative features. For example the forward beam has been eliminated and a bridle-stayed longeron is used to support the forestay and downwind sails. Removing the forward beam decreases bow weight and pitching.
The cabin house of Shooting Star is also a unique design. This hard top convertible enclosure provides protection in inclement weather, and then retracts when weather improves and protection is not needed or wanted. Spaces typically dedicated to a fully enclosed pilot house and an exterior cockpit have been combined into one large usable space. This open layout eliminates separation between those sailing the boat and those enjoying the social aft cockpit and deck.
Within the safety of the cabin house a well positioned helm station provides excellent visibility of both the sails and the surroundings. Forward of the helm station within the cabin enclosure is a winch deck. Every control line on the boat is lead to this winch deck where two electric winches allow for easy operation of sails, daggerboards, and even the anchor system.
The interior of Shooting Star is light, simple, and ergonomic. Three double sized berths and one single berth are located on the corners of the boat. Each hull has a head between the guest cabins. The port hull has a dedicated shower and a workbench, while the starboard hull contains both a spacious galley and a navigation station. Ventilation through carefully hidden dorade boxes, ample portlights, and hatches will keep passengers refreshed as they tick off the ocean miles.
Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc.
Principle Designer: Pete Melvin
Project Designer: David McCollough
Launched: October 1, 2007
Dog Napping, Water Balloons and Champagne
May 2, 2008
Bring a Close to the GUNBOAT Shootout
Final Day of GUNBOAT Antigua Race 2008
Friday, May 2, 2009
By Lynn Fitzpatrick
The GUNBOAT Caribbean Shoot-out came down to the final day of racing during the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week. The windy air warriors on Safari did their war dance following their victory in the heavy air Heineken Regatta. All of the other teams retrenched and went into the Antigua Sailing Week with a strategy to take down Safari and her men. The close of the Caribbean sailing season meant light air in the Western Leeward Islands. Spectacular starts, much improved crew work and masterful tactics were needed to win the regatta and the first GUNBOAT Shootout.
Armed with whips and billy clubs, Elvis and his gang sauntered down the dock to Lickity Split. Standing high on his port pontoon, John Kwitek asked for nothing more than for Bruce to get down on his knees and pray that the wind gods die today so that Lickity could put the nail in the coffin and win the series without contesting the final race. Slayden looked deeply into his wife, Nora’s eyes and then into Pickles’ helpless big brown eyes and got down on his knees.
Still stewing over the dog napping within the cat family, hound dog Slayden pulled out his “funnelator” on the way to the starting line and took aim at Lickity Split. The battle royale raged on throughout every leg of the race. With crosses, dips and overlaps Lickity could not shake Elvis as the breeze built. The final spinnaker hoist of the day proved to be Lickity’s downfall. As she ran over her kite and shredded it to pieces, Elvis surged across the finish line about a minute ahead of Lickity who was licking her wounds.
Looking for Elvis
Cream
Safari
Lickity Split 2
BLAST
Hammer
GUNBOAT Class Overall Winners from
Stanford Antigua Sailing Week 2008:
1st Overall: Lickity Split 2
2nd Overall: Looking For Elvis
3rd Overalll: Safari
CONGRATULATIONS GUNBOAT CLASS!
Raising the Profile of Sailing and Sailors, World Regattas’ Lynn Fitzpatrick, has joined the GUNBOAT family for Stanford Antigua Sailing Week.
Flying a Hull Down the Backside of Antigua
April 28, 2008
Down the backside of Antigua
by Lynn Fitzpatrick
Monday, April 28, 2008
Just because you have a shorter waterline doesn’t mean that you were destined to be rolled shortly after the start of the second leg of the Around the Island Race during Stanford Antigua Sailing Week. With the bow down and steam on, Gunboat visionary Peter Johnstone, showed everyone how to start. At the helm of BLAST, a GUNBOAT 48, Peter got a jump start on Lickity Split, Safari and Looking for Elvis, all GUNBOAT 62’s. There were some exciting crosses and some even more thrilling moments on the way to the first mark. BLAST and Cream, also a GUNBOAT 48, sailed tightly side by side with all four hulls lined.
BLAST, with GUNBOAT founder Peter Johnstone at the helm, was first across the start line, but the real challenge for BLAST lay ahead on the course. Today, everyone was looking for Elvis as he lead the fleet across the line! Go Elvis!
Elvis took the lead around the first mark and set their giant masthead asymmetric perfectly. The downwind leg secured their lead. Meanwhile, all of the GUNBOATs joined in the fun of hunting down the monohulls that had started earlier. As they bore off, GUNBOATs with solents, screechers and spinnakers hoisted, enjoyed the thrill of flying a hull. All good things must come to an end, and as the fleet continued its circumnavigation of Antigua, the wind abated, went forward and the tacking angels widened. Elvis got the furthest in the big breeze, and Bruce Slayden and his Elvis crew took line honors and won on corrected time.
Among the GUNBOAT 48’s, Cream and BLAST! were neck and neck throughout the first half of the race, but Cream surged ahead after she forced BLAST! to tack out and head toward the unfavored side of the long beat to the finish just outside Falmouth Harbor.
And although Safari and Cream sailed one hell of a race… this day belonged to Elvis! Peter Johnstone joked with John Kwitek, Lickity Split’s owner, “The fastest GUNBOAT on Earth is silver!” Johnstone was alluding to Bruce Slayden’s Looking for Elvis, which closed the gap on Lickity Split in the first GUNBOAT Shootout, a combined Heineken Regatta and Stanford Antigua Sailing Week series. After two days of racing, rather than looking for Elvis, Slayden is looking to become the Top Gun.
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- Down the backside of Antigua
Results from 2nd Leg of the Around the Island Race, Antigua Sailing Week:
Looking for Elvis
Cream
Safari
BLAST
Lickity Split 2
Hammer
Raising the Profile of Sailing and Sailors, World Regattas’ Lynn Fitzpatrick, has joined the GUNBOAT family for Stanford Antigua Sailing Week.
The GUNBOAT Range Continues to Grow
April 28, 2008
The GUNBOAT range continues to grow. Morrelli and Melvin’s design for the GUNBOAT 90 is becoming a reality at the GUNBOAT yard in South Africa. Watch for a launch date in 2009.
The GUNBOAT Class Carribean Circuit Shoot-Out
Coming into Antigua Sailing Week, Safari led the premier GUNBOAT Class Caribbean Circuit as the victor from the Heineken Regatta. Cream, the local Antiguan boat, and Lickety Split, the fastest GUNBOAT, are hot on Safari’s heels as they finished 2nd and 3rd at Heineken. Looking for Elvis is still in the picture as they arrive with a new masthead assymetric spinaker. But will Elvis, the winner of ASW 2007, have enough power to regain their title? Will Cream’s local knowledge give them enough edge over Lickty’s speed? And don’t forget Hammer and Blast, the GUNBOAT 48’s helmed by former Witbreg helmsman, Bill Bewinga and GuUNBOAT’s founder Peter Johntsone. Below are the blow by blow results from ASW 2008 and the battle to be the TOP GUN of the class’ first annual Caribbean Circuit.
Wow! The GUNBOAT Class is certainly coming of age
Raising the Profile of Sailing and Sailors, World Regattas’ Lynn Fitzpatrick, has joined the GUNBOAT family for Stanford Antigua Sailing Week.
Lickity Split Sets the Pace
April 27, 2008
for the GUNBOATs at Stanford Antigua Race Week
By Lynn Fitzpatrick
Bruce Slayden, aka Elvis, slipped his boat away from the dock at Falmouth Harbor, Antigua on a mission. Microphone in hand, big shades, rhinestone jumpsuit on and hair greased back, he and his crew are Looking for Elvis during the first race of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week. The crew is cruising the world, and they have been in the company of five other GUNBOATs during their Caribbean Circuit that started with the Heineken Regatta in the beginning of March.
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- GUNBOAT catamaran
Sunday marked the first day of five days of fun for the GUNBOATs as they set off on the first leg of the Around the Island Race. The speedy GUNBOATs started at the tail of Division A. Some played the shoreline and tried to catch some pressure as it dropped down off the bluffs, but Lickety Split, John Kwitek’s beautiful butter colored GUNBOAT 62, was the first to head offshore. By minimizing tacks and being the first to the breeze, Lickety Split not only distanced itself on Cream, SAFARI, Looking for Elvis, BLAST! and Hammer, but it also sailed through the classes ahead.
The talent-laiden Division A rounded the island counterclockwise. As the breeze strengthened and went aft, screechers, genoas and spinnakers were hoisted and the fleet surfed waves towards its overnight destination. Lickity Split took line honors once again and was already at anchor when the rest of the GUNBOAT family arrived in the turquoise waters off Fort James. Intrigued with the spectacular fleet, pirate ships loaded with tourists and weekend revelers dancing on the decks drew close to the catamarans and had their first Elvis sighting. Following his crowd-pleasing act, Elvis disappeared below decks and reemerged in his swim suit and his blue suede shoes ready to party throughout the night at Fort James.
The stakes are high for the GUNBOATs because everyone has their sights set on winning the first GUNBOAT Shootout, a combined Heineken Regatta and Stanford Antigua Sailing Week series. The GUNBOAT class is loaded with dedicated GUNBOAT owners and hotshot crews that ask to get rides on these innovative racer cruisers. Rock stars such as GUNBOAT’s founder, Peter Johnstone; GUNBOAT’s designer, Pete Melvin; offshore catamaran racer, Cam Lewis; navigator, weather guru and four-time Whitbread sailor, Bill Biewenga; America’s Cup helmsman and J/22World Champion, Mark Sadler, and windsurfing superstars, Platt & Nancy Johnson are among the guests soaking up the GUNBOAT vibe.
GUNBOAT’s guest sailors: (L to R) Pete Melvin of Morrelli & Melvin joined Safari for both regattas in the GUNBOAT Circuit; Peter Johnstone and Torbjorn Linderson, lead spar designer and sail plan guru for GUNBOAT took BLAST to new heights at ASW; Platt and Nancy Johnson, both World Champion Windsurfers sailed on Hammer; Mark Sadler, helmsman from South African America’s Cup Team Shosholoza helped keep Lickity Split 2 racey from the pit in both regattas ; Bill Bewinga sailed on GUNBOAT 48 Hammer along with Nancy & Platt Johnson; and finally, Cam Lewis ran the pit on Cream in both Caribbean Circuit Regattas.
Results from 1st Leg of the Around the Island Race, Antigua Sailing Week:
Licktiy Split 2
Looking for Elvis
BLAST
Safari
Cream
Hammer
Raising the Profile of Sailing and Sailors, World Regattas’ Lynn Fitzpatrick http://www.worldregattas.com/, has joined the GUNBOAT family for Stanford Antigua Sailing Week
