Charley E. Morgan (November 17, 1929 - January 7, 2023) was a legendary American sailboat racer and designer. He was best known as the founder of Morgan Yacht Corporation.[1][2]
Morgan was born inChicago November 1929 and raised in Florida.[3] Morgan built the yachtBrisote and completed a St. Petersburg, Florida to Havana, Cuba race with Bruce Bidwell.[3] Morgan attended theUniversity of Tampa[3][4] and took a job with Johnson Sails, located at theJean Street Shipyard on theHillsborough River.[3] In 1952 he founded Morgan Racing Sails in Tampa, FL.[3] While making sails Morgan met yacht designer George Luzier, who got him interested in designing boats.[5]
In 1957, Morgan, along with Charlie Hunt, designed and builtBrisote, a 31-foot plywoodyawl.[6] After successfully appealing disqualification due to a lack of engine, he entered the Havana race and took second inBrisote's division.[3][4] In 1960 Jack Powell commissioned Morgan to build the 40 foot centerboard fiberglassyawlPaper Tiger.[3][6] The "famously successful"[6]Paper Tiger won the SORCSouthern Ocean Racing Conference in 1961 and 1962.[5]
Unable to find a builder to manufacture theTiger Cub, a smaller version ofPaper Tiger, Morgan founded the Morgan Yacht CorporationSt. Petersburg, Florida, 1965 after graduating high school and starting his own sail company.[6] Morgan suffered the misfortune of falling ill with tuberculosis, delaying production.[5] Morgan asked Bidwell to join the business, delivering the first yacht in 1965.[5] Early models included the Tiger Cub and fiberglass sloop Morgan 34.[5] The company grossed 1.7 million in 1965.[3]
The company's first model was the Morgan 34 built in fiberglass. This was followed by the Morgan 24, 30, 41, and 45. The Morgan 41 designed by Morgan, his most popular design, became a standard in the sailing charter industry for its strength, simplicity, and space belowdecks. In response to customer feedback while operating Morgan Yacht, Morgan designed the shallow draft Morgan Out Island 41, "the most popular boat over 40 feet overall ever built."[6] First built in 1971 the spacious boat became popular with charter companies, becoming "the standard charter boat."[3][6] The Out Island 33 was designed and first produced in mid-1971 as part of the Morgan Out Island series.[7]
Morgan's involvement in the company ended in 1972.[8]
Ownership of Morgan Yacht was sold toBeatrice Foods in 1968, providing funds for Morgan to design and build the wooden12-meter yachtHeritage to compete for selection as defender of theAmerica's Cup.[3] Morgan acted as skipper during the defender selection trials but lost toIntrepid.After Morgan left the company was passed from one corporate entity to another, until it came into the hands of Catalina Yachts in 1984. Catalina continued manufacturing a few models, including the Out Island 41, before the Morgan name was retired.
Morgan left Morgan Yachts in 1972.[6]Beatrice Foods sold the company toCatalina Yachts in 1984 and sold a redesigned Morgan Out Island 41 from 1986 to 1993.[9]
Morgan found Heritage Yacht Corporation in 1975, producing trawlers and sailing yachts. The company was forced into bankruptcy andownership transferred toCatalina Yachts.[3] Heritage Yachts sold the tooling for their line of Morgan Trawlers toChris-Craft[10] and Morgan began working for Chris-Craft, doing design work on their trawler line.[3]
Morgan later designed the Com-pac 35 under contract forHutchins Yachts.[11]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)In the late 1960s, Charlie Morgan saw sailboats evolving from comfortable CCA Rule racer-cruisers into out and-out IOR ... Catalina Yachts took over Morgan Yachts in 1985 and introduced the redesigned Ol 41 Classic, which they produced ...