Gino Morrelli broke into the limelight as one of the key members of Dennis Conner’s design team during the contentious defense of the America’s Cup in 1988.  The San Diego Yacht Club felt blindsided by a challenge by New Zealander, Michael Fay.  After a long battle in the State of New York Court system where the America’s Cup Deed of Gift is held, Conner answered the unwanted challenge with a 60-foot catamaran.  Two cats were built, one with a fixed wing mast and the other with a more conventional cloth sail.  The wing sail proved to be considerably faster.  Conner’s Stars & Stripes – with Morrelli on board – handily won both races in the best of three series to retain the Cup. But the battle wasn’t over: there were a few more rounds in the New York courts.  In the end, the San Diego Yacht Club won the legal battle and kept the America’s Cup.

With the knowledge gained from the America’s Cup campaign, Morrelli teamed up with naval architect and National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee Pete Melvin. The pair designed a 25-foot fixed- wing Class C catamaran.  The young naval architects collaborated on a few more multihulls.  In 1998 entrepreneur, adventurer, pilot and yachtsman Steve Fossett commissioned Morrelli and Melvin to create a fast multihull that could set long-distance offshore records. After a few years of testing and extensive modifications, the speedy vessel named PlayStation set an astounding record of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 4 days,17 hours and 28 minutes. For one 24-hour period, PlayStation sailed 687.2 nautical miles at an average speed of 25.78 knots. Fossett was named Rolex Yachtsman of the Year for the accomplishment.

As a teenager, Morrelli started out sailing Hobie Cats, also working on cars and small sailboats. He was intrigued by the speed potential of catamarans. At the age of 18, he and his father built a 33-foot sailboat. Over the next few years, the father and son team built a few more small sailing craft.  In 1983, at the age of 26 Morrelli continued his work in France, where many multihulls were being built and raced.  During this period, he designed several catamarans for the Pro-Sail Series championed by the late Tom Blackaller. It should be noted that Morrelli is self-taught in naval architecture.

After the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain, Morrelli and Melvin were recruited to join Larry Ellison’s design team to build a giant multihull to challenge Switzerland’s Alinghi. (Another legal battle washed up on the steps of the New York courts and the court ordered that a race was to be held in Valencia, Spain in February 2010).  Ellison’s challenging yacht was a huge trimaran with a 235-foot wing mast.  The boat had massive teething issues during early testing in Southern California. BMW Oracle Racing ended up winning both races by wide margins, claiming the America’s Cup for Larry Ellison and his manager, Russell Coutts.  After the Cup, Ellison commissioned Morrelli and Melvin to create a new rule for a 72-foot multihull for the America’s Cup defense on San Francisco Bay in 2013.

The Newport Beach, California firm of Morrelli and Melvin (MM) has been involved in five America’s Cup campaigns and have won 31 Boat of the Year Awards. The philosophy of the firm is clear: “We believe in creating groundbreaking designs that combine speed, safety, strength and elegance.”  Among their smaller designs is the Nacra17 catamaran that has been an Olympic class since the 2016 Olympics in Rio di Janeiro.  MM has even created a carbon fiber racing Stand Up Paddleboard.  Morrelli and Melvin embrace leading edge technology and say they have “A slightly irreverent attitude.” Emphasizing the ‘fun factor.’” Morrelli and his wife, Laura, created a club known as the Knucklehead Yacht Club where friends gather for wine and discussions.  The couple have a daughter, Renetta and a son Giovanni.

~ Gary Jobson