Performance edge

Pete Melvin of design powerhouse Morrelli & Melvin may be sitting out this America's Cup cycle, but he is still keeping an eye on developments while working on several go-fast designs.

Written by Scott Alle

20 May 2020

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A trained aerospace engineer who spent five years at McDonnell Douglas, Pete Melvin comes across as an almost archetypical laidback Californian. His sailing CV and results as a multiple-class world and national champion, however, reflect a deep-seated drive for excellence.

In all, Melvin has won over 25 national championships in dinghies, keelboats and multihulls of all sizes, and three world championships, including the 1997 and 2005 A-Class Catamaran Worlds. It wasn’t until the Little America’s Cup in 1991 that he quit his day job, though.

Twice now, Melvin has been involved in rewriting America’s Cup rules: the AC72 rule used in the 2013 Cup and the ACC rule that was released in June 2014 for the 2017 race. He even moved to New Zealand for two years to take up the position of principal naval architect and develop foiling systems for Emirates Team New Zealand’s 2013 Cup campaign.

Now, along with Gino Morelli, he’s utilising his extensive knowledge of foiling dynamics and high-performance hulls to create a new generation of boats for Nacra, Rapido and HH among others.

We caught up with Pete, who was at home in Los Angeles.


 

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Pete, thanks for talking with Sails. Firstly, how has Morrelli & Melvin adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic? Have any positives emerged?

I was expecting business to slow down a bit, but it hasn’t. There are 12 of us all working from our home offices; we had to re-organise our communications systems a bit.

Some nice innovations have popped out of it for us, though – some research projects going on and some things we’ve had time to have a closer look at.

You’ve been out testing the new the Nacra F18 Evolution catamaran. That’s the third F18 version for Nacra, right?

We have designed three Formula 18s for Nacra. The first one was in the mid-1990s. Then we did the Infusion in about 2005. They were still doing well and selling well, but we’ve wanted to do a new one for a while. Back in 2005, the tools we had to design boats weren’t nearly as sophisticated.

We now have better insights into foiling, having been involved more deeply with the physics of these kinds of boats through the America’s Cup.

What’s the Evolution like to sail? How is it different from the Transfusion?

I own one and have been sailing it quite a bit. It seems more stable upwind. Downwind, it seems to have a nice little extra gear; there seems to be a definite speed improvement there. There is still a lot of development in terms of tuning the boat and learning how to sail it.

You mentioned your extensive AC experience – design and class rule for AC72s and design team for Emirates Team New Zealand AC35 – has informed some of the Evolution’s design. How closely have you been following the teams’ progress for Auckland?

We’re paying close attention. While not involved with any of the syndicates, we are staying across the technology and have been updating some of our software programs.

What do you think of the AC75s?

There are no good or bad boats, whether they are monohulls or multihulls, they’re all different. I was initially a bit sceptical of this class but it’s working better than I thought it was going to. Part of the original premise of going to a monohull was that it would be better for match racing. We’ll have to see if that is the case or not.

With the cancellation of the AC World Series events in Sicily and Portsmouth, it’s hard to get a read on which team might have an edge at the moment. What’s your opinion?

You would have to pick Emirates Team New Zealand as pretty solid. Then perhaps American Magic. They have a very different approach but there are so many variables and components that need to come together to ensure a boat fulfils its design potential.

What about that crucial transition zone just prior to foiling? We’ve seen Britannia gain a bustle on the underside of its hull to improve performance in that area.

Yes, especially off the starting line. I still haven’t quite got my head around how they are going to power up.

If you are match racing at reduced speed prior to the start, you’re not going to have much runway (to get on the foils). There’s not a lot of form stability or righting moment created by the ballast; a lot of it’s just due to having the foil to leeward.

It will be interesting to see how they manage that; how they build speed. You will very quickly put a couple of hundred metres on your competition if you are faster onto the foils.

What about the foil designs themselves? Some have centre bulbs; some don’t. Do you have any observations about that?

Some teams like Emirates Team New Zealand went with no bulb and had larger foils; higher volume area foils. They are putting all their weight in the foil itself.

By contrast, other teams have gone with smaller wings (foils) and add extra weight in the bulb. I think there are some advantages to that in that you can more easily change your foil design that way. I noticed ETNZ are trialling a bulbed foil system with their 12-metre.

How critical has the time lost in lockdown over last six or so weeks been?
The most valuable commodity in the America’s Cup is time. In a sense, the smaller boats are quicker, easier and less expensive to modify so you can try more things. That’s going to be very valuable at this point.

Are you enjoying having a respite from the all-consuming AC focus?

In some ways, yes. We have been involved since 2008, starting with Larry Ellison’s campaign, the 2010 Cup, then the 2013 Cup which went longer than anyone thought it would. I don’t think I had a day off in the last six months and we were working 12 to 15 hours days. Everyone was just running on adrenalin at the end.

Then we got involved with the Rule Concept for the 2017 Cup; that monopolised a lot of our time as well. It’s been good to get back to designing production boats.

You have been doing that with the Rapido 40 and Rapido 50 trimarans. Is that patented folding system the result of feedback and a push to get tris into a conventional marina berth?

They are well into construction of the first boats. The 50 is like a smaller version of the 60. It has the forward and aft stateroom, a nice large saloon that is the same level as the cockpit.

Rapido is getting a lot of feedback along the lines of, “I love that 60. I’d like one, but it’s just a bit too big.’ So, the 50 fits that bill.

The 40 is quite a sporty boat with tiller steering, a more open cockpit and lower boom. The folding system allows people to save on berthing fees and moor the boat on smaller docks.

What about the HH50? I see there are at least five of them in build at the moment. Performance cats are definitely a positive growth segment of the market?

Yes. The first boat has just been shipped to its owner in Florida, they are commissioning it now. These can be cruiser–racers or racer–cruisers, whichever emphasis you choose.

People like the performance – the key is getting that balance between performance, comfort and luxury. They are carbon composite construction with race-quality foils. They are very easy to sail on a long easy leg. You don’t have to push the boat that hard to get it to go fast.

Aren’t those innovations a result of the extraordinary advances we’ve seen in multihull design and construction that have well-outstripped monohulls?

There have been a lot of innovations coming out of multihulls that have trickled down into monohulls. Even before the AC embraced multis, they were still developing at a pretty rapid rate.

Part of the reason was there weren’t a lot of rules – certainly no strict class rules like IOR or IMS that really typecast the boats. There were fewer restrictions on multis and that fostered a willingness to push into new areas and new technologies.

It will be very interesting to see where the next wave of innovation will come from and where it will take us.

morrellimelvin.com

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