John Steven Reichel has been at the forefront of yacht design for forty years.  The America’s Cup, speedy sport boats, fast offshore yachts and swift dinghies are on his long list of innovative designs.  A critical moment gave him a rapid trajectory in the world of sailing.

The year is 1991 and National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee William Koch is ramping up an America’s Cup defense campaign in San Diego, California.  Koch, a student of the art and science of yacht design as witnessed by his 1990 Maxi Yacht World Champion, Matador2 wants no stone left uncovered.  He recruits John Reichel and his partner Jim Pugh to join his America3 campaign.  Reichel, who earned a degree from the University of Michigan’s naval architectural program, is enthused about the commission.  Doug Peterson, another National Sailing Hall of Fame designer with whom Reichel apprenticed in the early 1980s, also joined the America3 design team.  Their task was daunting: to come up with a boat that could defeat four-time America’s Cup winner Dennis Conner on his home waters and, if successful, be able to defeat the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials.  Koch’s team achieved their goal, and John Reichel’s career took a quantum leap forward.

America3 helmsman Buddy Melges was impressed with Reichel’s work and commissioned Reichel Pugh to design a fast sportboat for racing.  The result was the acclaimed Melges 24.  Building off the boat’s success, Reichel/Pugh developed a larger race boat, the Melges 32.  Many of the world’s top sailors were quickly attracted to these one-design classes.

John Reichel is considered a creative thinker as described by his partner, Jim Pugh: “John has an uncanny ability to quickly grasp where art and science meet in the field of yacht design. He gets to the technological ‘sweet spot’ quickly, coming up with elegant solutions to problems that others would never recognize.” John says his sailing experience helps with design. “From dinghies to superyachts, multihulls, canting keelboats and foiling boats all add to your knowledge on how to help with new designs.”  He credits his mentors for helping him grow: Dennis Conner, Lowell North, Dave Ullman, Doug Peterson and Tom Whidden.

Pugh, originally from Great Britain, teamed up with Reichel in 1983. The firm’s first successful race boat was Blade Runner, which won the 1984 St. Francis Yacht Club Big Boat Series.  Next up was Taxi Dancer, winner of the 1989 Transpacific Race.  The list of iconic offshore championship yachts continued over the next 35 years, with names like Wild Oats IX, Pyewacket, Alfa Romeo, Morning Glory, Wild Oats XI, Hetairos; the recreation of the J Class Ranger, My Song, Black Jack, Blue Yankee/Kodiak/Aurora, Magic Carpet 3, and most recently the 100-foot LOA superyacht Galateia.  Keeping in touch with small boats, Reichel/Pugh designed the nifty Melges 14 in 2016.

John Reichel grew up in Oyster Bay, New York and migrated to San Diego after college to work with Doug Peterson.  He is married to two-time Olympic medal winner JJ Fetter, a four-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and a National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee.  Reichel and Fetter are the fourth married couple to be inducted – following Doris and Steve Colgate, Stan and Sally Honey, and Irving and Electa Johnson.

John says he appreciates the standing his firm has in the sailing world: “To be thought of as a capable naval architect for a wide variety of yachts, providing the client with a product that is above their expectations and with excellent aesthetics.”

~ Gary Jobson