Phil Morrison (yacht designer)
He is noted for blending innovation with elegant well engineered structures and high performance, whilst also delivering users controllability and sailability.
The National 12 is a development class where anyone can design and build new boats within specific restrictions, such as length, beam, weight and sail area.
His next step was to design an International 14, "Snoggledog", built by Laurie Smart, with which Morrison and Ray Sellings took second place in the Prince of Wales Cup race in Torbay in 1973, their second year in the class.
"Exmouth Challenge" a 53 ft offshore trimaran designed and built for Mark Gatehouse was Morrison's first multihull.
She wasn't exactly of high tech construction, quite the reverse simply plywood and strip plank cedar sheathed in glass and epoxy.
This classic trimaran - right on the leading edge of multihull design and construction development in the early 1980s had a long and distinguished competitive history and remains afloat today (2020) as a fast cruiser.
[2] Fauconnier then planned a 26 metre (88 ft) trimaran follow up teaming up Morrison with Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost leading to the three designers working together in France on the project for several months.
Peteghem and Lauriot-Prévost had trained in Yacht & Powerboat design in Southampton and had developed their initial appreciation of trimarans in the UK.
Lauriot-Prévost says: "Because in the meantime, the winner of the OSTAR 1984, it was Umupro Jardin ... (Phil Morrison design, first name was Exmouth Challenge).
Previously, the amas were sinking into the sea and Phil Morrison was successfully exploring a new approach with his 1982 Exmouth Challenge!
We did not know all that yet but either we were gaining length at the waterline with a lot of finesse of hull, or we had a small ama with a foil: we discovered the balance sheets issue at all speeds ... With a large ama, we had a better dynamic stability in difficult conditions and we were more efficient in light winds because the foils dragged a lot.
"After Exmouth Challenge Morrison was recruited with Joe Richards, Pete Allen, Derek Clark and others by Peter de Savary's British America's Cup Challenge "Blue Arrow" ultimately aborted but a radical foil assisted boat recognisable as the original predecessor of today's foil borne AC75s.
Spud Rowsell and Jon Turner won the Merlin Rocket Championships in "Foot-Loose" at Abersoch in 1978 with a points performance that has never been bettered and guaranteed the future success of Morrison's approach to designing a complete boat.
All modifications were discussed in great length with the Proctor family and the Kestrel Class Association and since then we have never looked back.
A prototype of this new design has been produced, and Mr Hartley requested advice on whether the performance objective has been achieved, so that the new model could be satisfactorily incorporated into the Class.
Having witnessed this measurement exercise and analysed the results, it is my considered opinion and advice that this new hull will have a good performance in relation to all existing boats.
