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Remembering Charley Morgan — Legendary Sailor, Sailmaker, Yacht Builder, and Designer

It has been said that Charley Morgan is the only person to ever single-handedly design, build, and skipper his own 12 Meter in the America’s Cup . Prior to and since Charley’s 1970 Cup attempt, all campaigns were organized by large syndicates. He even sailed the boat on its own bottom from St. Petersburg, Florida to Newport, Rhode Island to compete in the 1970 America’s Cup Defender Trials.

As a high school student in St. Petersburg, I recall the excitement as Morgan built and competed in the 12-meter yacht Heritage , only to be beaten by Intrepid skippered by Bill Ficker. Although “Ficker was quicker,” the New York Times commented that “Heritage, designed, built and skippered by Charlie Morgan Jr., won first prize in the beauty contest. Her golden mahogany hull glistened in the hot sun light and her light‐air spinnaker was the prettiest seen so far, a top‐to‐bottom dazzler of blue, orange and white.”

Ironically, Heritage , built by a pioneer in production fiberglass sailboats, was the last America’s Cup competitor to be built of wood.

Like so many Floridians, Morgan was originally from somewhere else. Born in Chicago in 1929 and raised on the West Coast of Florida, he attended the University of Tampa and took a job with Johnson Sails, located at the Jean Street Shipyard on the Hillsborough River. In 1952 he founded Morgan Racing Sails in Tampa, FL.

Developing an interest in yacht design, Morgan’s first well-known boat was the 40′ fiberglass centerboard yawl Paper Tiger that won the Southern Ocean Racing Conference in 1961 and 1962. Unable to find a builder for Tiger Cub , a smaller version of Paper Tiger , Morgan founded Morgan Yacht Corporation in 1965.

Morgan Yachts produced sailboat models from 24 to 45 feet long. Its most successful model was the Morgan Out Island 41, a shallow draft cruiser designed for the charter industry. Both loved and hated, the design was referred to as one of the very first “charter barges,” or “the fornicatorium ,” as Morgan himself once put it. The Out Island 41 has been described as the “most popular boat over 40 feet overall ever built.”

In 1968, he sold Morgan Yacht Corporation to Beatrice Foods, providing funds for Morgan to design and build the wooden 12-meter yacht Heritage . He went on to found Heritage Yacht Corporation in 1975, producing trawlers and sailing yachts.

I met Charley Morgan only once when I stopped by his office in Pinellas Park to give him a copy of a CAD drawing I had done of his Out Island 41 for a naval architecture design class at the University of Michigan. He was appreciative and gracious to the bearded fanboy who had arrived unannounced at his door. Only after I graduated and took a job in the Northeast did I realize that Morgan also lived on the Isle of Capri in Treasure Island, FL, where I lived when I was in high school.

He would also later design trawlers for Chris Craft and sailboats for Compac. In his career, Charley Morgan designed 57 sailboats.

As an indication of his versatility, Morgan also built a fleet of more than a hundred watercraft for Disney World, the largest of which was around 120 feet—submarines, jungle cruise boats, the steam launches.

Charley Morgan 1970 America’s Cup Clips. Heritage

Remembering Charley Morgan — Legendary Sailor, Sailmaker, Yacht Builder, and Designer — 2 Comments

I was a owner of a Heritage racing boat built by his company. I ended up selling the boat because of a job change but kept in touch with Charlie over the years. He was a great person, that once you met him, he made you feel like you knew him all your life. May he & his wife rest in peace.

Charley and Maurine were class act. I was honored to host them at my home twice. He spoke of my Ted and he being like kids in a sand box designing sailboats. RIP to Charlie and Maurine.

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Charley Morgan and the Fiberglass Factory

Posted by Daniel Spurr | Sailing , Sailor Profile

Charley Morgan — 1929-2023

Sailing legend Charles E. Morgan (Charley to his friends, which was just about everyone) passed away January 6, 2023 on Treasure Island, Florida, at the age of 93, mere hours after the passing of his wife Maurine.

The following Good Old Boat article that I wrote in 2005 tells the high-points of Charley’s illustrious career but, he deserves emphasis for a few of the most notable: 

• Longtime designer, builder of custom and production sailboats, and sailmaker.
• Probably the only person in the long and storied history of the America’s Cup to design, finance, build, skipper, and make the sails for a Cup boat —  Heritage .
• Winner of two SORC (Southern Ocean Racing Conference) events in boats he designed, built, and skippered (1961 and 1962).
• Revolutionized the Caribbean charter trade with the Morgan Out Island 41, of which more than 1,000 were built.

And a genuinely good guy. RIP, Charley. 

– Dan Spurr

Charley Morgan, left, with Paul Benfield, owner of the Tibbets Boatyard. Behind them is a Morgan Out Island 51.

He found the best way to win was to build his own boats

Florida, like California, with its eternally warm weather and friendly skies, is a natural place in which to build boats — and was especially so back in the early days of fiberglass when hulls were cured outdoors using sunlight as the catalyst. A cheap labor pool also was available. Boatbuilders sprang up on both Florida coasts — in Miami and in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. Many are still there, not on the water where real estate is too expensive but — as in Costa Mesa, California, the Mecca of 1960s fiberglass boatbuilding in this country — inland, back in the dusty, nondescript industrial zones next-door to plumbing and building supplies.

Charles Morgan, born November 17, 1929, in Chicago, now a yacht designer and consultant, hasn’t built a sailboat in many years, but during the late 1960s and through the 1970s he was a formidable force in the exploding fiberglass sailboat industry. He was the designer of Heritage , a 1970 America’s Cup 12-Meter; the designer and builder of Paper Tiger , winner of the prestigious Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (SORC); a production boatbuilder of Morgan Yachts; and an independent designer and consultant. He’s done it all.

Aeronautical engineer

Charley Morgan grew up on the west coast of Florida messing about in boats and went to college close to  home, first to Valencia Junior College in Orlando and then to the University of Tampa, where he planned on being an aeronautical engineer. Following graduation he worked a short time for a telephone company before getting sidetracked by sailing.

“I went queer for boats,” he says, explaining why he took a job at Johnson Sails in Tampa and then opened his own loft, Morgan Racing Sails, in 1952 in St. Petersburg.

At Morgan Yachts’ St. Petersburg, Florida, facility, men worked from scaffolding on boats of all sizes. Note how the decks were moved and positioned from overhead beams.

Rust, shatter, and rot

Charley Morgan’s first boat, Brisote. Demonstrating considerable resourcefulness, she had a Star Boat keel and rudder, a Thistle mainsail, and a modi- fied Penguin sail for a mizzen.

Charley built the hull and deck himself, with help from a young aerospace engineer named John Mills. Charley recalls stopping by the local yacht club one day after finishing work at the shop. “The old savants were sitting in the club, and I came in with resin all over me. One of the guys said, ‘I under- stand it’s got a steel backbone, wooden decks, and a fiberglass hull; you know, it’s gonna rust, shatter, and rot.’ ”

Paper Tiger was perhaps Charley’s most famous design. She won the SORC for two consecutive years, in 1961 and 1962.

Clark Mills, designer of the International Optimist Pram and the Windmill, finished Paper Tiger for Jack Powell, for whom Charley had designed her. But at first Clark was skeptical. When Charley showed him the boat, Clark hooked his thumbs in his pockets, chewed on his stogie, cocked his head, and said, “Well darn- it, I’ve built boats from scratch, kits . . . you name it. But this is the first time someone’s brought me a coat of paint and asked me to build a boat inside it.”

History will not forget what that “coat of paint” accomplished. In an unprecedented feat, Paper Tiger twice took overall SORC honors in 1961 and 1962.

Charley next designed the 28-foot Tiger Cub and began looking for a builder. The search proved futile, so he did the only logical thing he could — he formed Morgan Yachts and built them himself. They were all essentially one-offs, that is, they were not built from the same reusable mold.

The Tiger Cub later became the Columbia 31, but that didn’t happen until after Dick Valdes and Vince Lazzara put Charley’s 40- foot Sabre into production as the Columbia 40, a generous move by Vince which was intended to help Charley launch his own business.

The one-off Rare Aves, the first fiberglass boat Charley ever saw, inspired him to build Paper Tiger out of the same new material. Rare Aves still sails today from her home port in the Florida Keys.

Lost the Circuit

The speedy centerboarder had nearly won the 1964 SORC and looked to be a good bet for the general market. “We won the Nassau Race and the Lauderdale Race,” Charley lamented years later, “and still lost the Circuit, if that’s possible.”

Also that year he built what he says was then the world’s largest fiberglass sailboat, the 60-foot Maredea , whose hull form was tank tested. The result: first place in the St. Petersburg-to-Venice, Florida, race.

In 1965 business was so good the company temporarily stopped taking orders. They were building a wide range of boats, from the $995 Wind- mill to a $44,900 45-footer. Gross that year was $1.7 million. Unlike a lot of builders, Charley handled finances well, once remarking, “Nothing leaves that driveway out there unless and until it’s paid for.”

Charley’s childhood friend, Bruce Bidwell, joined him that year and together they introduced the Morgan 34, which the ads described as “an immediately successful racer/cruiser and an attractive, beamy, keel-centerboarder, CCA-style yacht . . . for families for whom yachting is a way of life.”

The Cruising Club of America (CCA) rule attempted to encourage designs that would be safe, comfortable family cruisers as well as decent performers on the racecourse. Notable features included short waterlines (the long overhangs would immerse when heeled to increase sailing length beyond the measured length), large mainsails and small foretriangles (partly because big multispeed winches hadn’t been developed yet). These boats were often yawls because the mizzen staysail was essentially unpenalized by the rating rule. A lot of them were centerboarders because shoal draft was important in Charley’s native waters of south Florida.

Smaller wetted surface

In the Morgan 24, the rudder was separated from the keel-centerboard — a major step forward in yacht design. Charley wasn’t the first to do this, but the Morgan 24’s racing record helped to validate the idea. Not only did the emergence of the fin keel help the boat turn more quickly in prestart maneuvers, it also greatly reduced wetted surface area, which meant less friction and, therefore, faster speeds.

The Morgan 24 is still a good performer by today’s standards, with moderate displacement and shoal draft. And — priced around $5,000 — it’s a terrific value for anyone looking for a boat in this size range.

Morgan 41 Illustration

Other boats to follow included the Morgan 30, 41, and 45, which later was built as the Starrett & Jenks 45. But it was the development of the Out Island series — 28, 33, 36, 41, and 51 — that gave the company a big burst of business.

Charley’s interest in racing never waned, though, and he continued to de- sign and build custom boats. One was Rage , which he, with Halsey Herreshoff as navigator, took to second place in the 1968 Newport-to-Bermuda race.

The Out Island series

“The Morgan Out Island 41,” Charley says, “was the extension of a long study period, where we tried to create a commodious and comfortable tri-cabin arrangement. In 1970 we finally got it worked out — human engineering and ergonomics. We designed and aimed it at cruisers as well as the charter-boat market. We sought input from a lot of companies big and small, including the Moorings and Jack Van Ost [a dentist who became a successful builder of CSY boats for his charter business].

“The boat was designed to compete with the boats being put out by Gulfstar, which were for a new market that Vince Lazzara [who by now had left Columbia in California and started Gulfstar in Florida] had perceived. Our dealers had requested for a long time a boat without a centerboard that was shoal with lots of room; it didn’t need to sail like a rocket. It came out at the Annapolis Boat Show and was an instant sellout. We built, in the first calendar year, over $4 million worth — 120 units. Eventually we built those boats on two lines, with them coming off the combined lines one a day. They number in excess of 1,000.”

In all, Morgan Yachts built more than 40 different production models, beginning with Charley’s trademark centerboarders, the Out Islands, the Henry Scheel-designed 45/46 (originally built by another builder as the Scheel 45), and a number of boats designed to the International Offshore Rule (IOR), including the Morgan 33 ¾-Ton and Morgan 36 One-Ton. Sailing Kit Craft made a number of designs avail- able in kit form because, as Charley says, “there were so many people who wanted to get a hold of one of our boats who couldn’t afford a finished boat.” But along with a handful of other 1970s builders, such as Islander and Columbia, Morgan Yachts dropped the practice because many owner-completed boats were poorly finished, reflecting adversely on the manufacturer.

Retirement day

Charley remembers well the day he retired. It was June 6, 1972, he recalls with certainty. It was easy to see that divorcing himself from the company he’d created was a watershed in his career . . . and life. He’d merged the company into Beatrice Foods four years earlier (1968) and had stayed on as chairman of Morgan Yacht Corporation. But for Charley, like many people, working for a large corporation was difficult after he had been in business for himself.

Later, Beatrice Foods sold Morgan Yachts to Thor Industries. Subsequently, in 1984 it was passed along to Frank Butler and Catalina Yachts, which continued to build the Morgan 38 and the Out Island 41 (Classic 41) for a number of years before finally putting them to bed.

Of Morgan Yachts’ many accomplishments, one that makes Charley positively beam is the boats he built for Disney World long before it got into the cruise business. “There was a time we built the largest fiberglass boats in the world,” he said. “Morgan Yachts designed and built the principal original watercraft for Disney World, a whole fleet of them, the largest of which is around 120 feet — sub- marines, the jungle cruise boats, the steam launches. In all, more than a hundred. It’s exciting the way you can completely create out of glass some- thing that looks like wood; on the submarines we faked the scales and rivets. We created an incredible theatrical appearance for Disney.”

Charley also designed motor yachts such as the West Indian 36, a hover- craft, and Heritage , the last wooden American 12-Meter ( France II was the last in wood among all nations). Alas, Heritage lost to Intrepid in the 1970 defender trials.

Between 1971 and 1984 more than 1,000 Morgan Out Island 41s were built. Later, after Catalina Yachts acquired some Morgan molds, the 41 was resurrected with minor modifications and sold as the Morgan Classic 41.

Way of measuring

Cindy Goebels, reporting in Southwinds magazine, said Charley ex- plained his interest in the America’s Cup thus: “It’s all just another way of measuring yourself. Competitive men always want to know how big they are in relation to others, how they can perform. Dollars are a way of keeping score. There may be other means in a more mature society. Why this? Well, there’s damn little you can justify out- side of wanting to keep on breathing.” Charley Morgan was always a good interview, seldom mincing words.

Morgan Yachts’ St. Petersburg facilities were considered modern and first-class. “We maintained a laboratory and did a lot of outside testing,” Charley says. “We were using balsa cores from the beginning. Later I was a great proponent of Airex. Then came Divinycell, Klegecell, carbon fibers, Kevlar, and the utilization of high- modulus materials. Way back in 1965 and 1966 we were researching work done in the aircraft and aerospace industry. But those materials had no place in yacht building in those days because lightness was not the key- note; the economic issues were more important . . . and the ability to have readily available resources.”

Charley likes to talk about how the advent of fiberglass changed the face of American boating. “You didn’t have to be an extremely wealthy person to think about owning a boat,” he says. “The concept of the non-wasting asset. You could treat ’em and deal ’em like automobiles. You had an orderly market and the burgeoning charter boat and used-boat market. It just altered completely the brokerage firms. Back in the days after the end of World War II, you could count on your fingers the brokerage firms: S&S, Northrop & Johnson. Bang, bang, in one fell swoop, the tides changed and ripped over us.

Dramatic change

“The thing that kept coming through to me was the dramatic change that was made by fiberglass and the huge opportunity given to the American boater.

“Look at the Ensenada Race – all the ones going down to Mexico – huge clusters of boats! In the Great Lakes, the Mackinac Race had a few entries before the war, but bang! At the end of the war they started getting some fiberglass boats on the scene – my word! — you’re looking at 100-boat fleets or better. It made a major change for Americans who wanted to become part of sailing and yachting. Our ad used to say, ‘The past decade’s most exciting new construction medium.’ How prophetic those words were.

“What sort of disturbs me these days is when they tag the sailing boat people as elitist. I like to say that they’re really more dedicated and enthusiastic about their sport and therefore have organized it more so it has the appearance of elitism.

“The only boats I’ve seen break up are some racing boats that were really lightly built, crossing the Stream or something. I’ve traced a few of those stories about boats splitting in two – bull! I’m sure there are some examples, but the truth is that fiberglass is marvelous.”

And of the strength and longevity of fiberglass?

“I hate to tell you how quickly a wooden boat goes down. We crossed the finish line down in Sarasota after getting chewed up in a nor’wester at the crack of dawn. We could see the committee boat in the murk, saw her lights and the farewell marker at Sarasota Pass. We went zooming by, struck the chute and mizzen staysail, jibed over, cranked up the engine, cleaned up the forward deck and started banging through the slop up toward the pass. Dawn had come. I looked up and yelled, ‘Hey, look! There’s some spreaders sticking up out of the water.’ The committee boat broke its line, blew up on the bar, popped like a cantaloupe, and went straight to the bot- tom. Pieces floating; heads bobbing around and lifejackets. She went down that fast. You kidding me?

“Yet I saw a whole night when [the fiberglass sailboat] Inferno sat over on the bricks at Lucaya [Grand Bahama] banging and slamming and scream- ing and moaning on those bricks. My heart was going out to that boat . . . the sea bursting over her. Three days later I saw her hauled out at Spencer’s in Palm Beach, and I went over and got up inside the boat, looked at the keel – gnawed up a little bit. Not bad!”

Another company

Guys like Charley Morgan are never really retired, even though they sometimes think they are. In 1975 he started yet another boatbuilding company, the Heritage Yacht Corporation. Perhaps anticipating the trend toward power, this time he built both fiberglass sailboats and trawler motoryachts. That venture wasn’t as financially successful, however, and he was forced to seek protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. Subsequently, in the early ’80s he served for a short time on staff at Chris-Craft, while the remaining assets of Heritage went to Catalina, which had also bought Morgan Yachts from Thor Industries.

Today, Charley keeps a design studio in his home. Recent projects include two long-range motoryachts, one steel, the other aluminum, by Top- per Hermanson. But, he says, new de- sign commissions have fallen off considerably since 9/11. He says, “I’d love to do a full-powered steel auxiliary for the right person. Totally self-sufficient with watermakers, air-conditioning, whatever they want.” Like a lot of other people in the industry, he sees his aging followers taking an interest in the comforts of motoryachts, but not all want to go to sea without some sort of stick overhead.

To fill his time, Charley is teaching himself painting, taking after, in a reverse sort of way, his son and daughter, who are both artists.

And, of course, he still finds time for sailing. He was active in the local Star fleet until his wife became ill six years ago; he nursed her until her death in February 2001.

But, he says, he’ll do his yacht club’s Mexico race this year, and there’s always the Morgan Invasion, a rendezvous for owners, in which he participates.

Last October, the 19th annual Invasion was held at the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club in Treasure Island, Florida. The event coincided with Charley’s 75th birthday. More than 100 boats participated. Nothing makes a designer or builder happier than seeing his boats still going strong and his owners happy. One of his favorites, Paper Tiger , recently resurfaced in the West Indies,” he says with pride. “And she’s till honkin’.”

So, too, one might add, is Charley Morgan.

Note: This article is a revised version of information included in Heart of Glass: Fiberglass Boats and the Men Who Made Them , by Dan Spurr.

About The Author

Daniel Spurr

Dan Spurr is a contributing editor with Good Old Boat and editor-at-large with Professional Boatbuilder. He is the author of seven books on boats and sailing and was formerly senior editor at Cruising World and the editor of Practical Sailor.

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All Inductees > Class of 2023

Charles Eugene "Charley" Morgan Jr.

November 17, 1929 - January 6, 2023

Chicago, Illinois

There are many words to describe Charles E. Morgan, Jr. — enthusiastic, inquisitive, industrious, and friendly are a few that come to mind. Charley, as he was known around the waterfronts of the world, enjoyed a long career making sails, flying airplanes, designing and building boats, racing for the America’s Cup, creating artwork, making exhibits for Disney World, and working as an expert on handicap rating rules.

After attending the University of Tampa, he worked at Johnson Sailmakers for a brief time before starting his own loft in 1952 at the age of 23, Morgan Racing Sails. He focused on small one-design yachts like Stars, Thistles, and Snipes. To help sell his sails he competed at a high level. Charley Morgan won the Star Class North American Championship and many other regattas.   He was a sought-after crew on larger boats and became fascinated with finding ways to improve boat speed.   In 1955 he teamed up with Charlie Hunt to design and build a 32-foot hard-chine yawl. The hull was coated with a new material called fiberglass. The boat won several races, and they built more boats. In 1960, Morgan had a breakthrough when he was commissioned by Jack Powell to build a 40-foot, centerboard yawl named “Paper Tiger.”   The boat won the Southern Ocean Racing Conference in 1961 and again in 1962. Capitalizing on the success of his racing boats, Morgan founded the Morgan Yacht Corporation with partner Bruce Bidwell. The company’s order book was filled with racing and cruising yachts ranging from 24 to 54 feet in overall length.   Many of the 1,000+ Morgan Out Island series cruising yachts are still on the water today.

Morgan sold his company to Beatrice Foods in 1968 and used the funds to mount an America’s Cup campaign.   He designed, built, made the sails, managed, and skippered Heritage in the 1970 America’s Cup Defense Trials.   The 12 Meter boat was too large to put on a trailer to transport it over the road to Newport, R.I. so Morgan and his crew sailed the boat from Florida to Rhode Island. The boat was built out of wood and coated in varnish.   Heritage was a beautiful yacht but did not make the cut losing to Intrepid.   Critics wrote that Charley Morgan had tried to manage too many tasks to be successful.   Still, he was a popular character that Cup summer.

Morgan built several watercraft for Disney World including Mark Twain’s river boat and the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine. In his later years he studied art by traveling to Europe to study master works. He took courses and lessons on how to be a better artist.   In 2018 a large sculpture of the frames of a sailboat hull was placed along the Riverwalk in Tampa. The title of the work is “Paying Homage to Charley.”

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Charley morgan 1929 -2023.

By Dan Spurr , Apr 10, 2023

Charley Morgan steers his 12 Meter Heritage on Narragansett Bay. He liked to wear vests with big pockets, probably to hold all the big ideas he had.

A bright, kindly bear of a man who seemed like he might live forever finally gave up the good fight on January 6, at age 93, reportedly just hours after the passing of his second wife, Maurine. Timing is everything and Charley, as he was affectionately known by just about everyone, seemingly aced it even at the end.

His timing for entering mass production of fiberglass boats was also excellent. He founded Morgan Yachts in 1962 with a 28′(8.5m) sloop called the Tiger Cub. Aided by Dick Valdez and Vince Lazzara—who at the same time were running Columbia Yachts in California, and who purchased the plans to the Tiger Cub (which became the Columbia 31) and Morgan’s 38 (11.6m) Sabre (which became the Columbia 40)—Morgan kept a watchful eye on their success, particularly on the business end, and more specifically development of a dealer network akin to the auto industry. Key to the growth of both companies, Morgan told me years ago, was that unlike wooden boats, which he termed a “wasting asset,” banks were willing to finance fiberglass boats, which enabled the middle class to become yacht owners. To support his dealer network, Morgan worked with banks to “floor plan” dealer inventories. Emulating another aspect of the automobile industry, Charley’s first wife, Sally, collected car brochures and used them as a guide for their own promotional literature, substituting key words like “yacht” for “automobile” and “icebox” or “locker” for “trunk.”

There are still hundreds if not thousands of Morgan yachts afloat in all corners of the U.S. and around the world, which will make the name familiar to a young generation of sailors. In total, Morgan produced more than 40 models. The look of a 1968 Morgan 41 (12.5m) today, pretty as she is with low sweeping sheer and graceful overhangs, belies the layered story, Charley’s story, that fills in behind her and the thousands of other boats bearing his name.

Charley Morgan’s Impact on the Industry

Though born in Chicago, Illinois, Morgan grew up on the west coast of Florida and attended the University of Tampa, where he majored in economics and pre-engineering. A man who loved words and always seemed to search for a clever and precise way to say something, he liked to quote one of his professors, who told the class, “There is no economic advantage that cannot be duplicated or nullified.” Those became Charley’s watchwords.

He built model airplanes as a kid, and got a pilot’s license, but during World War II something shifted, and in Charley’s words, he “went queer for boats.” He fell in love with sailing and recognized that speed is a combination of hullform, construction, and sails. So, after graduating in 1951 he moved to St. Petersburg and opened Morgan Yacht Sails in an airport hangar. With no time for formal education in naval architecture, he soon taught himself the other ingredients in the recipe for speed—design and boatbuilding skills.

In 1956 he commenced his first build, the 31′ (9.4m) Brisote , constructed of plywood, with a scavenged Star-class keel, a Thistle mainsail, and a modified Penguin mizzen sail. He took third in fleet and second in class in that year’s St. Petersburg-to-Havana race. Encouraged, he designed and built the 40′ Paper Tiger with a steel backbone, fiberglass skin, and wood decks. Pundits at his St. Petersburg Yacht Club mused that it would “rust, shatter, and rot.” What it did do was win the SORC (Southern Ocean Racing Circuit) in 1961 and ’62, a damn impressive start to anyone’s career.

Charley’s successes caught the attention of yachting’s elite, and in 1962 he was invited to crew on the 12-Meter Columbia for the America’s Cup trials in Newport, Rhode Island. “I was in the cockpit with Glit Shields [Cornelius Shields Jr.] steering and Olin Stephens navigating,” he said. “Olin took me under his wing, and we had a lot of good conversations. Olin was so generous…without giving away business.”

The 12-Meter Heritage—designed and built by Morgan, who also skippered her in America’s Cup trials—cruises at sunset on Narragansett Bay.

Eight years later, in 1970, Charley decided to have a go at the Cup with his own boat, embarking on a project never done before or since: designing, financing, building, and skippering a 12-Meter. Oh, and he built the sails, too. Heritage was sailed from Florida to Newport on her own bottom. During trials she had a few noteworthy wins but did not perform well enough to earn the right to defend. Heritage , the last American 12 to be built of wood, still sails Narragansett Bay as one of several Cup veterans operating as day charters.

During the heyday of Morgan Yachts in the 1970s Charley built what was at the time a modern production boat facility, with several model lines moving simultaneously, with chain falls and gantries to move hulls and decks, and scaffolding to elevate crew. Their capabilities landed contracts with Disney World to build all its large fiberglass structures for the new amusement park in Orlando, including a 120′ (37m) submarine ride and jungle cruise boats. At the time, Charley believed the sub was the largest fiberglass structure in the world.

In 1968 Charley thought about going public with a stock offering but instead was enticed by the Beatrice Foods conglomerate to sell, staying on for four years. In 1984 Catalina Yachts bought Morgan Yachts, mainly to obtain an East Coast manufacturing facility, and to get the tooling for the hugely popular center-cockpit Out Island 41, which helped popularize the bareboat charter industry in the Caribbean.

After Morgan Yachts, Charley says he retired but not really, trying his hand at designing trawlers and expert witness work. He and wife Maurine took up painting, and the last time I visited their Treasure Island home Charley was packing one of his works for donation to a local charity. He spent hours with me aiding my research for Heart of Glass , the history of fiberglass boatbuilding, because he loved boats, loved the industry, and felt it was important that the pioneers be remembered and properly acknowledged.

And because it was his nature to always give more than he got.

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• Sailboat Guide

Morgan 41 is a 41 ′ 0 ″ / 12.5 m monohull sailboat designed by Charles Morgan and built by Morgan Yachts between 1967 and 1972.

• 2 / 4 Bonita Springs, FL, US 1969 Morgan 41 $60,000 USD View
• 3 / 4 Bonita Springs, FL, US 1969 Morgan 41 $60,000 USD View
• 4 / 4 Bonita Springs, FL, US 1969 Morgan 41 $60,000 USD View

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Westerbeke 4107 Diesel 40 hp. available as an option. The OUT ISLAND 41, a completely different design and built much later, was also at one time, called the MORGAN 41.

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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Charley Morgan Legacy

Charley morgan.

1 9 2 9 - 2 0 2 3

P O R R O E T S U R S U M

IN MEMORIAM

On Friday January 6, 2023 Charles (Charley) Morgan, Jr. passed away at the age of 93. He was preceded in death by his current wife Maurine Horsman (d. 2023), his former wife Frances (Sally) Crawford (d. 2001) and former wife Laura Marie Garrard (d. 2016). Charles (Charley) E.Morgan, Jr. born November 17, 1929, Chicago, IL to Mary Lee Morgan and Charles E. Morgan, Sr. He grew up in Tampa, Florida with his siblings, Mary Ann Morgan and John Fredrick Morgan (d. 1950). He married Laura M. Garrard in 1956 they had three children, Charles W. Morgan (d. 2019), Jennifer Morgan Holloway and John F. Morgan (Andrea Marciani). He had two grandsons Garrard Holloway and Grant Morgan and three great granddaughters Keatly Holloway, Koral and Kayla Holloway Grueser.

• Commodore Brian Smith
• MC Page Obenshain
• Bill Ballard
• Courtney Ross
• Fred Bickley
• Les Lathrop
• Don Krippendorf

Charley Morgan and his family request in lieu of flowers, please contribute to and support the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Junior Sailing program. Contact Colleen in the Executive Office at (727) 823-1061 .

HISTORY AND BODY OF WORK

To prove the concept of his theories, he began actively racing in these classes. In the Snipe class, his design efforts were rewarded with his winning the prestigious hard fought Clearwater Yacht Club Midwinter Championship 3 times (1961,1962,1964). He carried his competitive design ideas into the Star class where he won the North American Championship in 1972 and the Western Hemisphere Championship in 1974.

While crewing on larger boats, Charley became fascinated with the different relative speeds and hull shapes of various boats. In conjunction with his friend Charlie Hunt, they decided to design and build a different type of boat. The result was Brisote, a 32 foot, lightweight hard chine yawl. Built in 1955 of plywood in a Lake Wales warehouse, she was coated with the new magic material “Fiberglass", and sported a 900 pound Star keel. Brisote was raced in the 1956 St Petersburg to Havana race where she took 2nd in division. The design was completely successful and led to several later copies.

PAPER TIGER

In 1960 local businessman Jack Powell asked Charley to design a new boat to compete in the Southern Ocean Racing Conference. The result was the 40 foot fiberglass centerboard yawl - Paper Tiger. The boat was built in Clearwater, using some unique construction features, including a steel backbone for added stiffness to the hull. She was immediately successful, winning the SORC for 2 consecutive years (1961,1962). Several 28 foot Tiger Cubs were constructed locally on a custom basis. In 1962, Dick Dungan, a Palmetto sailor, commissioned a design of a 40 sloop, Sabre. (Later the Columbia 40). Sabre won the 1964 St Petersburg to Ft Lauderdale and the Miami Nassau races right out of the box.

In 1962 Charley employed sailing assistant Paul Curry, a high school student, to aid in outfitting of custom yachts. Paul continued to assist throughout Charley's custom yacht production. In 1964 Homer Denius, a former owner of Paper Tiger, commissioned Charley to design and build a world class Ocean racer - so Maredea was born. Constructed in a large shed on 4th Street South in St Petersburg, and she was beautifully finished by Courtney Ross. At the time Maredea was one of the largest fiberglass boats in the world. Years later, Maredea was donated to the U S Naval Academy. Charley was on the cutting edge of the new technology. While Maredea was being constructed, shipyard owner Jimmy Turner, had Charley design a 72 foot centerboard yawl, which was built entirely of epoxy and became Big Toy. In 1963, due to the demands of design work, Charley, together with his long time friend and sailing companion Bruce Bidwell, formed Morgan Yacht Corporation

BUILT WITH PRIDE BY THE MEN AND WOMEN OF MORGAN

One of the first priorities for Charley was the establishment of a proper design office. This included 2 young yacht designers, Jack Corey and Page Obenshain. Jack continued to lead the design team for many years. Among the first engagements for Morgan Yacht was the design and construction of 2 - 42 foot sloops, one Privateer for Sir. Eldon Trimmingham of Bermuda and Juniper for George Whitney of Massachusetts. With the proven racing success and comfortable sailing characteristics of these two boats, it was decided to venture into the production of a series of centerboard cruise/race sailboats. 34 feet appeared to be an ideal market position of sailboats at the time. It was large enough to sleep a family, small and economical enough to "be all the boat a family would need" as quoted by a local banking legend. The M34 was soon followed by the M24, M30, M27 and several other models. With the addition of the M45 and M41 models, it was became apparent that more production space was required. A nearby second plant was established, which included a separate machine shop. Charley continued to create forward looking designs, including Panacea, a 52 foot center cockpit centerboard yawl, which was designed and built for the drugstore founder, Jack Eckerd. When Panacea was completed, Homer Denius, former owner of Maredea, proposed designing and building another ocean racing boat. Charley took the challenge and spent many hours studying test tank results to achieve reduced resistance through the water. The result was Rage, a highly successful 54 foot racing machine. 1968 Saw the merger of Morgan Yacht Corporation to Beatrice Foods, a conglomerate from Nebraska. In 1969 the requirement for more production space became apparent, so a 40 acre parcel of land was purchased and developed to complete a new modern manufacturing facility.

HERITAGE - US 23

In the early 1960's Charley became intrigued with the development of the 12 Meter class. Through his close friendship with master 12 Meter designer Olin Stephens, Charley became a crew member on the12 Meter contender Columbia, during elimination trials in Newport RI. In 1968 Charley drew the lines of HIS 12 Meter. After conducting hours of test tank testing, he made the decision to build, and sail to Newport to participate in the trials for the 1970 America's cup races. This became a huge challenge - to build a large, perfect wooden boat in a fiberglass production plant. The beautiful varnished hull was finally precariously launched into Tampa Bay. and test sailed. As the hull was too large to move over the road, Heritage was sailed by a small crew up the East coast to Newport RI, which is a long dangerous voyage. Heritage was excused from the trials, after a hard and valiant Americas Cup series. An excellent 43 minute documentary "Duel In the Wind" was produced describing the races and is available for viewing online. Charley Morgan is the only person to finance, design, build, make the sails, transport and sail a boat in the America's Cup Trials.

MORGAN YACHT AND DISNEY

To the St. Petersburg Yacht club for your generosity and hospitality. To all friends, co-workers, and competitors. Dad loved you all. He celebrated your achievements and success, and he grieved your losses. You made his life colorful, rich and meaningful. We can’t thank you enough for your kindness. He never forgot any of you nor shall we. Godspeed Jennifer M. Holloway and John F. Morgan

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A Cyber-space Place connecting Owners of Morgan designed and built yachts, and all who sail aboard them, or anyone interested in the history of The Morgan Yacht Corporation, to this living chronicle of the company and to the sailing adventures of Owners and Crews of Morgan Yachts, past, present and future, to whom these pages are dedicated.

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• Sailboat Reviews

Used Sailboat Review: Morgan 30

An affordable, shoal-water racer-cruiser, the morgan 30 is a classic charley morgan design..

If youre looking for an inexpensive 30-footer from the 1970s with pretty lines that can double nicely as either the family escape pod or a Wednesday-night racer, the list of choices is long. In the February 2008 issue of Practical Sailor , we looked at nine 30-footers from the 70s: the C&C 30, Cal 2-30, Hunter 30, Irwin Competition 30, Newport 30, 0Day 30, Pearson 30, Tartan 30, and the Catalina 30. Three climbed to the top of Practical Sailor s short list: The Pearson 30 was noted for its performance; the Tartan 30 for its Sparkman & Stephens pedigree; and the Catalina for its avid fan base.

All of the classics featured in that article were fixed fin-keel boats that drew just under 5 feet of water, although a few, like the Hunter and the Catalina, offered versions with less than 4.5-feet draft.

The advantages and compromises of a shoal-draft race-cruiser bring us to this months featured boat, the Morgan 30. The design predates most of the boats highlighted in our 2008 article and features a shallow, nearly full keel with a swinging centerboard that reduces draft to 3-feet, 6-inches, permitting access to some prime gunkholing waters on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

The Morgan 30 was introduced in 1967, when Charley Morgan and Morgan Yachts were still riding the wave of success following Paper Tiger and Sabre , the legendary Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) racers of the early 1960s that helped launched Morgans career as a production boatbuilder.

At that time, racing was an essential part of the equation at Morgan Yachts-based in Largo, Fla.-so the rig and underbody were guided by the dominant rating rule. After the 1970 launch of the Morgan Out Island 41, the builder became more closely identified with the roomy Out Island series, the pure cruising line that played a key role in the emerging Caribbean charter trade.

Two driving forces lie behind the design of the Morgan 30. The first, and most influential, is the Cruising Club of America (CCA) rating system, which, because it made allowances for livability, generated some pretty, sea-kindly boats that easily made the transition from SORC racer to long-distance cruiser.

Morgan proved very adept at working within this rule. While none of Morgans production racer-cruisers like the 30 pushed the CCA envelope to a great degree, they incorporated several signature features that worked well in Morgans early custom designs. Ultimately, Morgans racer-cruiser archetype was a boat with V-sections forward, conservative beam, long overhangs at the bow and stern (to extend the sailing waterline beyond the measured length when heeled), internal ballast, a swing keel, and a relatively low-aspect sailplan featuring a big, overlapping genoa.

On the water, the Morgan 30 is a fine boat to look at, with springy sheer and an attractive stern. Although the boat has a full 6-foot, 2-inch headroom, the freeboard is low. This graceful form predates World War II and can be found in late CCA-era boats from Al Mason, Phillip Rhodes, and Ted Hood, designers who also excelled at maximizing performance under the rule and maintaining an aesthetic appeal. Construction

The Morgan 30 shared many of the construction details of the 34, its predecessor, which is reviewed in depth in our “Practical Boat Buying Guide” ($39, www.practical-sailor.com/ products/books/). The Morgan 34 review can also be purchased online at

www.practical-sailor.com.

More than 300 Morgan 30s were built, and the construction methods evolved over the years, so what follows is a general description.

The hull was hand-laid woven roven and mat cloth with polyester resin. The layup schedule was on par with production models of that era-lighter than some, heavier than others. Blisters have been documented in many Morgan hulls, but the earlier models seem less prone. These reportedly also have thicker layup schedules. The deck was through-bolted to an inward-turning flange on the hull, with a bedding compound used to seal the joint. This is a common source of leaks on older boats.

Early boats were stick built, with floors and furnishings bonded in place individually, but later boats incorporated molded fiberglass pan-liners in the bow and main cabin to expedite production. Some owner-finished kit boats, sold as bare hulls, are likely to be floating around as well.

The deck was cored with plywood on some boats, balsa on others, and sometimes both cores were used to suit the location and loads. Encapsulated ballast is used in the keel. About 500 pounds extra was added after the first few hulls.

The jacknife centerboard is fiberglass and neatly seats into the keel without intruding into the cabin space. (Morgan based his design on one he admired in Wirth Munroes famous Comanche, now owned by Wirths son, Charles.)

DECK DETAILS AND SYSTEMS

The standard Morgan 30 is tiller-steered, an arrangement Practical Sailor generally prefers in boats of this size for its adaptability to cheap self-steering (see “Tillerpilot Sea Trials,” June 2009) and its responsiveness. Although the tiller consumes cockpit space, the area is roomy enough for four adults to sail comfortably.

Low coamings surround the cockpit, helping to keep it dry. The cockpit drains, however, are small, and anyone serious about taking this boat offshore should increase their diameter to 2 inches. Only a low sill protects the companionway; a raised bridgedeck is preferred for offshore work. Cockpit stowage is limited to a lazarette. Some ambitious Morgan owners add a bench-seat locker in lieu of one of the quarter berths below.

The volatile metal prices of the Vietnam War era forced Morgan and most builders of that period to cut back on premium metals like bronze and monel. Nevertheless, some of the chrome-plated bronze hardware on earlier Morgan 30s has withstood the test of time. One metal component that often raises the concerns of riggers is the cast- aluminum stemhead fitting at the bow, but weve heard of no widespread reports of cracking or failures.

Virtually every bit of sailing hardware was optional, so youll see a wide range of gear. In the typical running rigging layout, the mainsheet leads through a multi-purchase block on the boom end, where the load belongs. The traveler stretches behind the tiller. The jib sheets lead through blocks on rail-mounted tracks. Primary and secondary winches are mounted on the coamings. Tiller steering generally places the helmsman out of easy reach of the mainsheet. Wheel steering brings all the sail control lines closer at hand.

The mast is a slightly tapered, deck-stepped, single spreader rig. The boom is a heavy extrusion that was designed to spin on bearings in a forgettable iteration of roller-reefing. Morgan strongly suggests going back to good old slab reefing and a lazy-jack or Dutchman system (“Taming the Main,” PS February 2008.)

The sidedecks are wide for a boat of this beam. Grab rails on the cabin top and a low teak toe-rail provide a measure of security going forward. The shrouds lead outboard, so there is no tight squeeze impeding quick movement fore and aft.

The foredeck, as that of most racer-cruisers, is relatively clear of trip hazards, but also short on ground tackle arrangements. Due to the cast stemhead, adding a bow roller or even roller furling may require a little ingenuity. The chain and rode lead below decks through a hawse pipe, typical of boats of this period.

Systems are extremely basic on the Morgan 30, which came standard with one battery and a simple 12-volt DC panel for navigation lights and seven interior lights. Propulsion was gasoline, either a Palmer M60 on older boats, or a Universal Atomic Four. In either case, the buyer should assume that an original engine is probably due for replacement, a significant investment.

The standard tankage called for a 58-gallon water tank and a 14-gallon fuel tank, adequate for most coastal cruising needs. Pumps for the sinks in the galley and head were manual.

The CCA-era overhangs yield an interior space that is markedly smaller than 30-footers of today. On paper the boat sleeps seven, but four is about the limit for those who hope to remain on speaking terms.

The standard layout, featuring a galley running fore and aft on the starboard side and a dinette to port, works fine at the dock, but at sea on a reach either the cook or the diners will be on the windward side cursing their misfortune as they try to stay in one place. On modern boats, a U-shaped galley and settees on each side add civility to mealtime underway.

The forward V-berth, head (to port), and hanging locker (to starboard) are separated from the main cabin by a pocket door. The door seems like a good idea until it gets wet, swells and jams, something that is likely since it is located beneath the mast partners. The V-berth and quarterberths are snug, and the drop-down dinette berth is a bit tight for tall folks.

There is no navigation station, so if you like electronics, plan to improvise. Several owners have done fine with swing-out plotter-sounders (see “Petite Plotter Sounders,” October 2008) that can be viewed from below, where the galley countertop serves as a chart table, or from the cockpit.

For short family cruises, coastal sailing, and Wednesday night racing, the interior is perfectly functional, though less than ideal.

PERFORMANCE

In terms of performance, Morgan 30 owners are in unanimous agreement on a few points. It is not the fastest boat around the cans, nor the most maneuverable under power, but its extremely well balanced and presents an easy motion in a seaway.

“This boat is great on a reach!” summed up one owner who responded to our survey.

For a benchmark rating for the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) we turned to the 2008 North Carolina PHRF fleet, which gave the Morgan 30 a 195 handicap, slightly behind ratings for the Catalina 30 (186), and well behind the numbers for the Tartan 30 (174) and Pearson 30 (177), all more modern, lighter boats with less wetted surface.

Our sea trials aboard reader Ray Mummerys Morgan 30 Wavedancer in South Floridas Biscayne Bay, offered proof of the boats impeccable balance. In 12 knots of breeze, with a 130-percent genoa, Wavedancer easily steered herself to windward, even holding a course as deep as 120-degrees relative wind angle, with no attention to the helm. In modest gusts, the boat didnt miss a beat, picking up a half-knot with little or no weather helm. The ability to tweak the centerboard added one more tool for balancing the helm.

Compared to modern 30-footers with canoe underbodies and fin keels, the boat is far from nimble. Backing the boat under power requires due diligence and the boat is not quick to accelerate under sail. What the boat lacks in thrills, she makes up for with a seakindly ride. Wavedancer maintained headway in a chop with little complaint, punching though some steep wake generated by passing yacht traffic. The boats V-section shouldered aside the biggest waves, although it was obvious that the low freeboard and short waterline length would make for a wet cockpit in rough going. All in all, the boat delivers a very rewarding ride. Neither sluggish, nor sprightly, her behavior could best be described as confident.

A Morgan 30 that has been repowered and is in good condition can be found for about $15,000. A new production 30-footer runs about $100,000. While the Morgan might seem like a bargain, this is a very old boat, prone to problems that could easily set you back $30,000 or more and a big chapter of your life. If a qualified professional surveyor finds your prospective Morgan 30 free of serious problems, and it has some, if not all of our recommended upgrades, then it is worth a look, It will be particularly appealing for sailors who enjoy a “character” boat that can squeak into shallow water. On the other hand, if it has been sitting neglected for years, prepare for a long haul.

Blisters, broken centerboards, leaky ports, and corroding mast steps are just some of the problems Steve Cocklin faced during the ongoing restoration of his Morgan 30 documented online at www.myholeinthewater.com .

• Critic’s Corner Morgan 30
• Interior Notes Morgan 30
• Morgan 30 In Context
• Download PDF Format

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

I have a Morgan 30, 1971, with two large port lights in the main cabin rather than one. I’ve seen this design only on my boat. I wondered if perhaps she was a mislabeled Morgan 30-2. She has a center board and fits the 30 characteristics. Any input is welcome. How does one get in touch with Charlie Morgan?

Bill, I have acquired a 1972 22ft Morgan Sailboat.. The mast was down and in a cradle when I picked it up. All of the rigging appears to be in good shape. I am hunting for a manual or guide to setting the mast and rigging. I don’t want to mess something up. I am 85 years old and have learned to ask for help. Thank You Larry R. Witt

Larry, did you find what you needed? I have an original manual with all the specks I’ve needed. I’ll share it with you in photo copy form. By the way, I’m 74. Bill Lamp

Larry I own a Morgan 22 1970. Did you find what you need? I have a lot of data. Call me if you like 317 679 4970

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Architects and Fashion Designers Are Penning Yachts, and It’s Changing How They’re Made

Vessels by names like benetti and foster + partners look great, but can they handle the seas experts share insights., by lucy alexander.

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That design rulebook has now been thrown out, thanks to shifting priorities, new technologies, and the pandemic-fueled boom in yacht ownership. A rising generation of younger owners prefers watersports toys and wellness suites over cigar lounges and book-matched mahogany. Seductive superyacht concepts on social media promise a life in which families waft unbounded through fluid, open-plan, indoor-outdoor spaces devoid of clutter and supporting walls. 

Suffice to say, such experimentation is not typically dictated by dyed-in-the-wool naval architects but comes from a fresh influx of creative outsiders from the land-bound worlds of hotels, private homes, furniture, and even fashion. The designers serving the yacht-owning class of 2024 may be disparate, but they have one thing in common: Boats are not their area of expertise. 

For decades, a group of former apprentices of Jon Bannenberg, the godfather of yacht design, dominated the field with their trademark lavish style. Bannenberg, part of London’s “swinging ’60s” creative wave, designed celebrated vessels for the great and the not-so-great, including Malcolm Forbes, Adnan Khashoggi, and Robert Maxwell. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, his protégés—Andrew Winch, Terence Disdale, and Tim Heywood—catered to the tastes of their plutocrat clientele (think fussy moldings, high-gloss hardwoods, tinkling crystal, and veiny marble), with their brand names adding pedigree to ships and their style seen as the hallmark of opulence. 

An embrace of the outdoors was a crucial focus for Norman Foster , one of the world’s most famous architects, whose designs for the 2008 YachtPlus fractional-ownership fleet, though controversial, prefigured some of today’s trends. Foster was perhaps the first outsider to disrupt the industry—“a conservative world” at the time, according to Angus Campbell, a senior partner at Foster’s practice who worked on the project: “You spend all this money, and then you have to look through these tiny little porthole windows; you’re on the sea, but you can’t see out. Why is that? So we looked at creating windows and external space that you can walk around.” 

In 2010, Vitelli found herself asking similar questions and decided to hold design competitions specifically for creatives from outside the industry. A successful initial collaboration with architect Achille Salvagni that same year led to a series of partnerships with other architects known for their global portfolios of luxury retail, hotel, residential, and product design, including Lazzarini Pickering in Rome, which did two interiors in the Benetti Motopanfilo line; Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez in Milan, who are producing sustainable designs for the Azimut Seadeck series (the first of which will launch at Salone del Mobile this month); and Bonetti/Kozerski in New York, responsible for the interiors of Benetti’s 40M and 34M Oasis series. 

The results upended yachting convention. The traditional, strict divisions between interior and exterior were eroded, with “huge glass, huge doors” and a drop-down stern, recalls Vitelli, referring to Benetti’s pioneering “Oasis deck”—a lowered rear section with wings that fold down to create an expanded beach-club zone. 

Oceanco , a full-custom builder that counts Jeff Bezos and Steven Spielberg among its clients, now works with non-yachting designers under its NXT program, while Amer, a smaller semi-custom brand from the Permare Group , recently partnered with Milan-based architectural studio Palomba Serafini to create the award-winning F100 Glass Cabin. And in 2020, Giovanni Costantino, founder and CEO of the Italian Sea Group (TISG), reeled in the Moby Dick of designers: Giorgio Armani . The fashion maestro, who has owned his own yachts for two decades, not only signed up to create two Armani-branded 236-foot Admiral megayachts, including one launching at the Monaco Yacht Show this year, but also bought a 4.99 percent stake in TISG. 

The brand-name appeal of famous designers targets a new type of buyer, one who shops for a yacht as they would a luxury car, says Philippe Briand, a naval architect and creator of racing vessels as well as Vitruvius superyachts. The previous generation “came with sailing experience,” he says, “so they were more aware of functionality and constraints. Today, this generation are newcomers, and they’re consumers. That’s fine, but they need to be a bit educated about how complex it is to create a boat.” 

Ownership is expanding and changing. There were 1,203 superyacht projects under construction in 2023, according to the Global Order Book, an annual industry survey. That’s nearly twice as many as a decade prior, and demand looks likely to grow in line with the boom in multimillionaires: The most recent UBS Global Wealth Report predicts that the number of people with over $50 million in assets will rise to 372,000 by 2027, up from 243,060 in 2022. 

Gregory C. Marshall, a veteran naval architect based in Victoria, British Columbia, says his millennial clients (some are in their 20s) “just don’t seem to be interested in traditional superyacht thinking, ” adding that “they travel with a backpack and surfboards.” They want ships that are “less polished on the outside and a little more ‘How many toys can I pile on?’ ” 

But yachts are still status symbols: No one buys a superyacht solely from a love of sailing. “If people like the sea, in general they buy a sailboat,” Rodriguez notes. For grander vessels, clients see no reason not to bring in a famous name with no knowledge of the category “like they use a designer for a house in the city or in the countryside,” he says. “It’s a floating house.” 

Roberto Palomba’s vessel for Amer was commissioned by a client for whom he had designed projects on terra firma. “He knew me and he loves my style, so he wanted my style in his yacht,” says Palomba, who had no previous marine experience. 

The older generation of owners believed that conventional layouts by established industry professionals locked in resale value; today’s clients are much more comfortable with risk. Concepts aimed at this market include vessels shaped like sharks, the Star Trek Enterprise, and bird skeletons. Oceanco’s NXT offerings include Aeolus, a 430-foot gigayacht with a huge, sculpted primary suite and panoramic windows, and Kairos, which has the cosmic, asymmetric feel of a Tokyo shopping mall. 

Much of the work of external designers involves removing clutter. Giorgio Armani tells Robb Report that his blueprints were inspired by the clean lines of military vessels “and the optimization of space characteristic of old ships—away with all the infrastructures that can normally be seen, such as the tenders.” 

Inside his Admiral yacht for TISG, windows feature sliding panels to help create “spacious interiors flooded with natural light,” he says. “The sensation is wide-ranging and of total immersion in the surrounding environment.” The effect, enhanced by the stealth-wealth decor, recalls his relaxed yet deceptively decadent suits. 

Touring yachts as part of his research for the Oasis series, Enrico Bonetti, of Bonetti/Kozerski, found the interiors “very stiff, rigid, with furniture where nobody would sit” while also prioritizing “something flashy here, something else flashy over there. So what we tried to do is to link all the spaces together and have a continuation of materials and textures and colors.” The aim, he says, is nonchalance: “sophisticated but without showing it too much.” 

The main difference between the old and the new is a shift away from ostentation and toward a discreetly refined simplicity. Rodriguez’s mantra is “Always remove.” Instead of a bunch of gold and marble, he says, “we try to do the opposite, to keep only the materials you need, and never, never to show off.” He calls this approach the new luxury. 

Sustainability is another driver of change. For the interiors of Azimut’s Seadeck, Rodriguez says he selected exclusively recycled or recyclable materials, including a carpet made from discarded fishing nets, which Vitelli describes as “pleasant to touch.” She adds, “You don’t have that cold plastic effect—it’s like silk.” 

Change isn’t always welcomed by the technical teams who have to turn outsiders’ nautical fantasies into seaworthy vessels. “I’ve seen a lot of examples of yachts which have been controlled by the interior designer, and in the end [it] does not hang together,” says Philippe Briand, the naval architect, who prefers to work only with marine-specific interior designers. 

We were trying to push the boundaries and create a better experience for the guests, rather than make it easy to tie up when you’re trying to bring it into shore. – Angus Campbell

He particularly abhors the proliferation of unrealistic concepts on social media: “They’re all fake, to be honest, because they’re not representing any existing boat—they’re only the dream or the marketing of a young designer.” Moreover, these renderings are “polluting the market,” he says, because they give clients improbable expectations. “The client says, ‘You’re creative, you’re inventive, so I’m going to order a boat from you [only] if you’re able to do the same design I saw.’ Which puts us in a very difficult situation.”

Briand cites the trend for ultralow beach clubs, which he calls unfeasible in even slightly choppy water. “To make an attractive image in a magazine,” he says, the rendering needs to be “flat, all open, two feet above the water—and, of course, on the rendering, the water is [also] flat. It’s not corresponding to any real functionality. I mean, it’s basically fashion.” 

Marshall, the Artefact ’s architect, agrees that clients often bring concepts that are impractical but usually finds that, with “some minor adjustments,” the designs are “buildable without losing the aesthetic inspiration.” He says it largely depends on the purpose of the yacht, with an oceangoing vessel requiring more serious engineering than a Monaco posing platform—not every model needs to be able to “survive a hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic.” 

Marshall likewise welcomes the creative tension inherent in a meeting between external creatives and in-house engineers. “We look at it like a war,” he says, cheerfully. “Because the reality is each discipline is in conflict with the other disciplines. You may love the styling, but the structural people go, ‘Thanks, how do I build that?’ ” The way he manages the mediation process is to “start with the concept, go to a certain point and stop, then do a structural pass, then do a mechanical pass, [then] go back to styling—and the stylists of course look at it and go, ‘Oh, my gosh, all these engineers just slaughtered my brilliant design.’ And we go round and round.” The conflict is the point, he says. “When you get the balance right, then it’s a good design.” 

Palomba and Bonetti both encountered resistance to their initial ideas for Amer and Benetti, respectively. According to the former, he had to “force the producer to create big windows,” while Bonetti recalls continually clashing with what he refers to as “the rules,” such as having an elaborately set but unused dining table in the main salon. “For us, not knowing the rules [made it] easier to do things a little bit differently.” 

That often fruitful tension between outsiders and insiders can tip out of balance in the presence of what Marshall calls a forceful stylist. He’s happy to incorporate “round windows, triangular windows, giant staircases,” as long as the vessel operates as more than a stage set. 

One veteran yacht designer, asking not to be named, points to Foster’s YachtPlus as an example of form outweighing function. “It just didn’t function as a boat that well, in terms of the normal day-to-day things, like simply tying it up. A lot of the aesthetic inspiration that non-boat people come up with is very clever, but if it doesn’t meet the core usage, it doesn’t last very well.” 

Maritime regulations often curtail the ambitions of owners and designers. A client’s desire for double-height ceilings is hard to square with fire regulations, which limit the number of open spaces. “A boat is not a bag, it’s not a dress,” says Vitelli. “There’s a lot of substance—you’re buying a floating object full of technology, so [safety] has to remain the priority.” 

In terms of interiors, most still agree that the nautical nature of a yacht should be reflected in its fixtures and fittings. “A boat should remain a boat and should remain marine,” says Vitelli, adding that she rejected some architect proposals that were too close to “a New York loft.” Bonetti also cautions against mimicking residential styles too closely. “We’re seeing some boats that if you [replaced] the view from the windows with a street, it could be an apartment in the center of Berlin,” he says, adding that vessels can reflect their authentic purpose “without going back to the old mahogany interiors.” 

But exactly how should a yacht’s design convey its marine essence? It’s partly a matter of safety, says Vitelli: It must have “rounded shapes,” because no one wants to encounter a sharp corner in a storm; handrails and non-slip floors are also crucial. But for a superyacht, it’s also a matter of luxury aesthetics—which means bespoke built-in furniture. Anything off-the-peg “is not perceived as top luxury by certain customers, it’s luxury that we can more or less all afford to buy—Poltrona Frau or Minotti.” In other words: mass luxury. 

If the glass is actually stronger than my aluminum structure, why would I make it out of aluminum and not glass? – Gregory C. Marshall

When is a boat not a boat? When it is, in Armani’s words, “a moving house, with particular characteristics.” Today’s owners employ residential architects precisely in order to create the feel of a floating home. Such personal designs will inevitably conflict with the mathematical certainties of naval engineering. But the best shipyards welcome outsiders who bring the friction that sparks creativity—such open-mindedness is especially necessary as technology continues to expand what’s possible. Yacht design is not “an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken,” as Shakespeare might have it, but instead it must trim its sails to the prevailing wind. 

Lucy Alexander

Lucy joins Robb Report from Tokyo, where she spent six years reporting on people and places in Japan for The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, The Financial Times and the BBC. She was…

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Published on January 9th, 2023 | by Editor

Eight Bells: Charles Morgan

Published on January 9th, 2023 by Editor -->

Charles Morgan, (November 17, 1929-January 6, 2023), an icon in the world of sailing from the late 1940s, passed away at 93 years. His passing came just hours after his beloved wife Maurine had died.

Charley was born in Chicago in 1929 but grew up in Tampa, FL. He was a boy when his uncle took him sailing on Lake Conway near a sleepy town called Orlando. At 10 he built his first sailboat out of discarded orange crates and sack cloth.

He attended the University of Tampa and took a job with Johnson Sails. In 1952 he founded Morgan Racing Sails in Tampa, FL. While making sails, he met yacht designer George Luzier, who got him interested in designing boats. In 1960 Jack Powell commissioned him to build the 40 foot centerboard fiberglass yawl PAPER TIGER.

The famously successful Paper Tiger won the SORC Southern Ocean Racing Conference in 1961 and 1962. Because of that triumph, his prior success building racing sails, and a newly developed relationship with legendary yacht designer Olin Stephens; Morgan Racing Sails received an order to build some sails in 1962 for the Stephens-designed America’s Cup defender Columbia.

Unable to find a builder to manufacture the Tiger Cub, a smaller version of Paper Tiger, he founded the Morgan Yacht Corporation in 1962. Early models included the Tiger Cub and fiberglass sloop Morgan 34. The Morgan Yachts line of boats quickly grew to a fleet of sizes from 22′ to 54′ Morgan Marauder. In 1968, he sold his company, which increased his wealth substantially, but continued to design and help with the company.

Charley’s interest turned to the 1970 America’s Cup where he designed, built, and skippered his 12 Meter Heritage, which was launched May 3, 1970. He even sailed the boat on its own bottom from St. Petersburg, Florida to Newport, Rhode Island.

There were four 12 Meters competing for the America’s Cup defense in 1970: Weatherly (12 Meter US-17), Intrepid (12 Meter US-22), Heritage (12 Meter US-23), and Valiant (12 Meter US-24). Heritage started the trials off well with a win over Weatherly but was later knocked out of the trials by Intrepid.

In response to customer feedback while operating Morgan Yacht, he designed the shallow draft Morgan Out Island 41. One of the most popular boats over 40 feet overall ever built. First built in 1971 the spacious boat became popular with charter companies, becoming “the standard charter boat. Charlie left Morgan Yachts in 1972.

He found Heritage Yacht Corporation in 1975, producing trawlers and sailing yachts. He later worked for Chris-Craft, doing design work on their trawler line. He designed sailboats in the 60s for Columbia Yachts including the Columbia 40 and Columbia 38 as well as other yacht builders and private clients. Later in the 70s till the early 90s, he also designed for other manufacturers including the Com-Pac 35 for Hutchins Yachts.

Sailmaker, racing sailor, yacht designer, boat builder, and America’s Cup designer and competitor; Charley was accomplished in all aspects of sailing and was truly a sailing legend.

Tags: Charles Morgan , Eight Bells

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Sunrise Yachts Sponsor 2011 Moscow International Boat Show (MIBS)

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Written by Mike Smith

Sunrise Yachts, a luxury yacht building company which is based in Turkey, has been made a main sponsor of next year’s 2011 Moscow International Boat Show (MIBS). The four-day Russian yacht show event is currently scheduled to run from April 14-17 at the Moscow’s Crocus exhibition centre.

moscow boat show

MIBS is organised by the ITE Group and it is one of Russia’s leading boat shows and is an internationally recognised superyacht event. The show covering everything from small parts and accessories to large superyacht with over 9,000 people and 178 exhibitors attended the last year show.

The Paolo Scanu-designed Sunrise 45 yacht is an ocean-going cruising yacht that was released in 2009 to much acclaim at this was the group’s first-ever model.

Sunrise Yachts was founded in 2007 by the German entrepreneur Herbert P Baum along with the French-British yacht builder Guillaume Roché. The luxury yacht group is based in Antalya, Turkey and utilises a 10,000sq m shipyard facility. Sunrise has two sheds measuring 100m (328ft) x 16m (53ft), as well as a 70m (230ft) x 16m (53ft) fully acclimatized paint shed that can accommodate new-build and refit projects up to 65m (213ft) in length and 1,200 tonnes displacement.

The sunrise 45m superyacht by Sunrise Yachts

Along each side of the yacht-building facility, space is available for long-term sub-contractors with the latest equipment and logistics capabilities, along with air-conditioned storage, ventilation and extraction plants. The shipyard is organized as an “assembler,” based loosely on the car industry’s model, with a small, yet powerful project management team charged with running all the in-house long-term sub-contractors.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "Sunrise Yachts Sponsor 2011 Moscow International Boat Show (MIBS)".

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