Profile Yacht Designer: Gino Morrelli. The man behind the iron curtain, by Zuzana Prochazka, Sail Magazine, 23 October 2023. [Photo caption: The Rapido 40 is just one of the many sporty multihulls that Morrelli & Melvin is responsible for designing. Photo by Ludovic Fruchaud.]
An edited extract from the original article is reproduced below.
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…Morrelli, one half of the design power team Morrelli & Melvin, is one of the minds responsible for boats like the Rapido trimarans (read the Rapido 40 review here), multiple Leopards including the 47 PC and award-winning 38 and 44, HH catamarans, Invincible powerboats, the NACRA 17, and even the Windcat workboats that service offshore wind farms. If that weren’t enough, he also had a hand in designing for elite racers like America’s Cup campaigns and the maxi cat PlayStation during his career of four decades.
And still, he’s been sweating getting approval to run a European power cat for a week. Bureaucracy can be batty.
From Humble Beginnings
Gino Morrelli may be a top multihull designer today, but it wasn’t always bleeding edge technology and yacht design accolades. When he was young, his family moved from Texas to Southern California. They bought plans for and built a 33-foot Lock Crowther-designed plywood and epoxy trimaran, which was the boat that began Morrelli’s racing career. Self-taught in multihull design, he couldn’t have guessed the legacy he was starting…
- To read the original and unedited article, click here.
- Photo caption from photo above: The Rapido 40 is just one of the many sporty multihulls that Morrelli & Melvin is responsible for designing. [Photo by Ludovic Fruchaud]
Related articles
- Rapido 40: Top 10 Best Best Nominee. Light, quick, and comfortable, the latest trimaran from Rapido brings cruising up to speed. By Zuzana Prochazkamay, Sail Magazine, 4 May 2023.
- Rapido 40
- Morrelli & Melvin, designers of the Rapido range.
