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Bruce Nelson is a Naval Architect who specializes in high-performance yacht design, and who has competed as a sportsman at the upper echelons in his chosen field.
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Bruce Nelson is a Naval Architect who specializes in high-performance yacht design, and who has competed as a sportsman at the upper echelons in his chosen field.
Nelson is a University of Michigan graduate in Naval Architecture. He won the 1972 Sloop National Championship at college. He has been most notable as a principal yacht designer for the America's Cup contenders and America One challenge. Nelson is a veteran America's Cup racer as well as a designer, he teamed with Dennis Conner on three Stars & Stripes boats (12-meter, catamaran, and IACC) from 1985 to 1995 as both a racer and designer. In 1995, he was the principal designer for the PACT 95 defense syndicate yacht Young America, which was ultimately chosen to be the defender.
Nelson is also an Etchells 22 sailor of some note, having won many local regattas in the San Diego fleet at the National level.
Bruce Nelson and Bruce Marek were the principals of a prolific San Diego California yacht design team, Nelson Marek, formed in 1979. Their first custom design was the incredibly successful One Ton class RUSH. Built in just 72 days, and launched 3 hours before the San Diego Yachting Cup, it lived up to its name. It was the most successful racing yacht in the U.S. in 1980 winning 21 races including the North American One Ton, Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race, and Great Lakes champion. Nelson continues to operate Nelson Marek, while Marek is an independent designer on the East Coast. Most of their designs are for custom-built yachts including world-class racers, although they have designed some production models including the Catalina 42 hull and the Merit 28.
One of the more interesting stories is the Catalina 42, the hull of which was originally designed as a limited production ocean racer. Catalina Yachts which at the time produced mostly smaller yachts 30-foot (9.1 m) and under, acquired the rights to produce the Nelson-Marek designed hull in the late 1980s. Designer Gerry Douglas modified the hull to accept a higher cabin top and cruiser-style cabin—the result was Catalina's largest sized offering for many years, with roughly 1,000 hulls on the water.
Dennis Walter Conner is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup.
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years. The most recent America's Cup match took place in March 2021.
NZL 32, or Black Magic, is an International Americas Cup Class yacht which won the 1995 America's Cup by defeating the American defender Young America in a 5–0 victory off San Diego, California.
Stars & Stripes is the name of an America's Cup syndicate operated by Dennis Conner and its racing yachts. The name "Stars & Stripes" refers to the nickname often used for the flag of the United States. TDC was registered under the flag of the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC).
The International Americas Cup Class is a class of racing yacht that was developed for the America's Cup between 1992 and 2007. These yachts, while not identical, were all designed to the same formula to offer designers the freedom to experiment whilst keeping the boats sufficiently comparable to race in real time. The class was established for the 1992 America's Cup because of perceived shortcomings of the 12-metre class, which had been used in the America's Cup since 1958.
KZ 1, formally called New Zealand, is a one-off sailing yacht built to challenge for the 1988 America's Cup. She was designed by Bruce Farr and is constructed from a carbon fibre and Kevlar/Nomex sandwich, skippered by David Barnes and crewed by a team of 40 from the Mercury Bay Boating Club in Whitianga, New Zealand.
The 1995 Citizen Cup was the defender selection series regatta for the 1995 America's Cup, held in the United States. Three defense syndicates competed over four round robins and a semi-finals series in order earn a berth in the Citizen Cup finals; the winner earned the right to defend the America's Cup against the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
New Zealand "Kiwi Magic" was the America's Cup challenge boat sailed by Chris Dickson in the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger series held in Gage Roads off Fremantle, Australia during the summer months of 1986 through 1987. She was New Zealand's first America's Cup entry and was the premier boat in the New Zealand Challenge syndicate.
The 1983 America's Cup was a 12-metre class yacht race which pitted the defending New York Yacht Club's Liberty against the Royal Perth Yacht Club's challenger, Australia II. The September 1983 match race was won by Australia II in the first successful challenge of the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defense of the Cup. The Australian syndicate's boat, skippered by John Bertrand, fought back from a 3–1 deficit to best the Dennis Conner-helmed defender, ending both the longest winning streak in sporting history and U.S. domination of the racing series.
The 1988 America's Cup was the 27th America's Cup regatta, and was contested between the defender, San Diego Yacht Club represented by Stars & Stripes H3, and the challenger, the Mercury Bay Boating Club represented by New Zealand Challenge's KZ-1. Run under strict Deed of Gift rules, the regatta was won by the San Diego Yacht club, in a two-race sweep.
New Zealand Challenge was a sailing team funded by Michael Fay that challenged for the America's Cup three times between 1987 and 1992. New Zealand Challenge was the first team from New Zealand to enter the competition.
Stars & Stripes 87 was the 12 Meter challenge boat sailed by Dennis Conner in his bid to reclaim the America's Cup from the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia in 1987.
Britton Chance Jr. or Britt Chance was an American naval architect who developed core elements of three yachts that won the America's Cup and won the World Championship six times. The New York Times said he "was known for having a mathematician's precision and a renegade's willingness to experiment". Professional Boatbuilder called him "one of the brightest minds in yacht design".
The Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race is an annual 125-nautical-mile international yacht race. First run in 1948, sailors gather each spring in Newport Beach, California, to participate in one of the West Coast's premier regattas. The Newport to Ensenada yacht Race (N2E) is a race to the city of Ensenada, Baja California.
Young America (USA-36) is an American International America's Cup Class yacht that unsuccessfully defended the 1995 America's Cup.
The W. D. Schock Corporation is an American boat builder originally based in Newport Beach, California, later in Corona, California and currently located in Santa Ana, California. The company was founded by William "Bill" D. Schock in 1958 and specializes in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats.
The Catalina Catamaran is an American catamaran sailboat that was designed by W. D. Schock Corp's in-house designer, Seymour Paul, as a racer and day sailer, It was first built in 1960.
The Schock 34 GP is an American sailboat that was designed by Bruce Nelson and Bruce Marek as an International Offshore Rule racer and first built in 1985.
The Schock 34 PC is an American sailboat that was designed by Bruce Nelson and Bruce Marek as a racer-cruiser and first built in 1986.
The Schock 55, also called the Nelson Marek 55, is an American sailboat that was designed by Bruce Marek of the design firm Nelson Marek, as a racer and first built in 1990.