35th America's Cup, Pete Melvin on writing the rule for the next Cup multihull

From the following article on americascup.com

http://www.americascup.com/en/news/48_Writing-the-Rule-Pete-Melvin-talks-about-the-next-Cup-boat.html

Pete Melvin has come a long way since the first boat he built as a 6-year old, which, unfortunately, would not float.

But he didn’t let that initial setback discourage him. Now a respected and successful sailor, designer and engineer, Melvin has been hired by the Defender and Challenger of Record of the 35th America’s Cup and tasked with coming up with the class rule for a second consecutive time.

“The process is to listen to the requests and desires of the Defender and Challenger of Record, which includes reducing the costs of the boats and in fact of the entire campaign. On the boat side, that means smaller boats, with less crew, and less personnel involved in design, logistics, and reduced construction costs,” Melvin says.

“We are looking at concepts that are similar to the AC72 - a foiling cat with wingsail. The consensus from teams is that this was a good concept and we want a smaller version in the 60 to 65 foot range. We’re looking at various ratios of beam to length and wing size and power and running VPPs on those boats to see performance, speed, controllability etc.

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34th America's Cup, interview with designer Pete Melvin of Morelli and Melvin by pressure drop on the Emirates Team New Zealand AC72 catamaran design and development and the future

America's Cup update, Pete Melvin of Morelli and Melvin on his involvement in the Emirates Team New Zealand AC72 catamaran program

From the following article in the New Zealand Herald by Paul Lewis

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11113513

If Team New Zealand manage to bring the America's Cup back to Auckland, one of the little-known heroes will be an American and a former Oracle team member.

It's not overstating matters to suggest that designer Pete Melvin is the father of the AC72s, the blisteringly fast catamarans of the 34th America's Cup.

Even more surprisingly, Melvin - a sailing coach for Oracle racing before becoming a multi-hull design guru - is the man who played a major role in designing the wingsail for the giant 90ft trimaran, known as BOR 90; the yacht which won the Cup for Oracle in 2010 in a deed of gift showdown against Alinghi's giant catamaran.

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