Since 1983, their studio has been creating designs for yachts of all sizes, successful on the race scene and garnering widespread acclaim.
In the words of Jim Pugh, the story began in 1983. “That was when John and I decided to set up Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design. Its head office was my garage”. Jim, a Liverpool-born Brit was a professional race yachtsman and then managed the construction of the 42’ Williwaw designed by Doug Peterson, who brought him into his San Diego studio. It was here that he met John Reichel, who spent his childhood sail yachting off Long Island. At the age of fifteen John began offshore sailing and then he graduated in naval architecture at Michigan University, eventually joining the Peterson studio. Jim and John worked there together for a number of years, then set up in Jim’s garage. Since then Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design has designed all types of sail yacht, from pure racers to performance cruisers. J
im puts this down to John’s “Innate ability to design any type of sail yacht”. John himself says that “I had a good teacher during my five years at Peterson”. And it’s true that their yachts appear on the roll of honour of the major international sail yacht events, from the Morning Glory’s thirteen victories in the Sydney-Hobart to the nine records set by Wild Oats XI, the victories of the two Alfa Romeos, the latest overall victory of the 66’ Alive and the second and third places won by R/P designs. Not forgetting the 2021 victory won by Black Jack in the Sydney-Hobart Race. The yacht then enjoyed a spell in the Mediterranean, dominating the Rolex Giraglia 2023. This was followed by the Fastnet Race, Newport-Bermuda, the Transpac, where R/P yachts set the record three times and Transatlantic Race with a victory in 2018 by the 130’ My Song. Plus the America’s Cup, with Bill Koch’s 1992 winner America3.
With a portfolio like that, one question is just begging to be asked – is there a secret to designing winning yachts?
“We’re continuing to develop the performance of our designs”, says Jim Pugh, “In line with the classes, race courses and weather conditions. Every new commission is exciting in its own way and offers new opportunities in terms of design and technology. We’ve included complete CFD studies in all aspects of our work, for racers and superyachts. For example, for the Reichel/Pugh Nauta 154’ Nilaya we brought in America’s Cup specialists like Caponnetto-Hueber and Gorgio Provinciali to analyse performance and the Velocity Prediction Program”.
You’ve designed other superyachts as well as Nilaya, including the 200’ Hetairos, the 130’ My Song, the 100’ Magic Carpet 3 and Galateia. How do you think the sector and yacht design will evolve?
J.P. Superyachts are particularly exciting. There’s a lot of room for the development of performance, sea-handling, manoeuvrability and comfort. They’re for people who want to cross the oceans more quickly and sail on yachts that are easy to manage. In general racing encourages the development of better systems, gear and sails. Every superyacht is different.
You’ve also designed monotypes like the Melges 24 and handled the naval engineering of replicas of the Ranger, the J Class designed by Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens in 1937 and rebuilt in 2002…
J.R. The Melges 24 came into being during our encounters with Buddy Melges (Melges was helmsman on the America3 – ed) at the America’s Cup 1992. For the Ranger it was a pleasure to see the drawings and recreate the design. Many race yachts of that period were highly advanced in terms of design and engineering. The old Rangers were in steel, but were empty. The replica’s in steel, too, but is fully fitted out. Despite that it’s won a lot of races.
What projects are you involved in at the moment?
J.P. We’re working on Magic, a new 44-metrte superyacht, and a 100-foot racer.
Last questions. Is there a project that’s special to you? Where can we find your “signature”?
J.R. The special project is always the one we’re currently working on. I want our designs to be known for their performance and beauty ten, twenty years from now.
J.P. One of our special projects is Abracadabra, the 50-footer from 1990 that won the Class World Championship that year and the next. Our signature is our ability to listen to our owners and create yachts that exceed their expectations.
Emilio Martinelli
