Favorite

Designer Bruce Nelson shares his all time favorite boat(s) with the anarchists…

Of the numerous designs we have produced, it is very hard to single out one as a favorite. Many were very special to me within their own space in time, but then the next latest and greatest version came along, and each was generally superior to the predecessors as we learned and materials and techniques advanced along with us. Of course, the early designs (Blivit, Renegade and Rush) were especially dear to me, with the remarkable success of the One-Tonner Rush (designed and built in 78 days!) propelling Nelson/Marek Yacht Design into national prominence into 1980. An avalanche of designs soon followed for SORC, Admirals Cup, Transpac, Kenwood Cup, Canada’s Cup, Key West and other competitions. I was fortunate to have started out in a golden era of yacht design competition – IOR, MORC, IMS and Americas Cup designs were in demand then. Many of the boats reflected the customers personalities as much as, if not more than, my design philosophies – Bill Martin’s Stars & Stripes, Larry Harvey’s fleet of Brooke Ann, Crazy Horse, Cowboy and Babe Ruthless, Nick Frazee’s Swiftsure, Lowell North’s Sleeper, Fred Krebiehl’s Insatiable’s, George David’s Idler’s, John Thomson’s armada of Infinity’s, and others. Each was so beautifully executed and maintained and campaigned with such drive and enthusiasm, it makes it impossible to choose one as a favorite over the others.

But when I think about which boat in history was the most awesome and impressive design, my answer comes easily – Herreshoff’s Reliance from 1903. The most impressive full race boat in every dimension, a remarkable feat of engineering and construction, innovative in hull and rig design under a cloud of sail area towering 200 feet above the water while measuring 201 feet from bowsprit to end of the boom, Reliance must have appeared as surreal back then as it still seems today. And it never lost a race. As a student of Herreshoff while a youngster, Reliance epitomized the magic and greatness of Herreshoff and the America’s Cup competitions of the past to me – something that I and many others have strived to approach since but nobody has come even close.