Bill Lee

Bill Lee is the designer of noted ocean racing yachts, and one of the founders of the Santa Cruz school of boatbuilding. Known to many as the Wizard, Lee's designs achieved notoriety in the 1970s, with Chutzpah and Merlin having won the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu many times. Merlin set and held the course record between 1977 and 1997, making the 1977 crossing in only 8 days, 11 hours and 1 minute.

Life

Early life Originally from Idaho, Bill's family moved to Pasadena, California when bill was eight years old. When Bill was fifteen years old, his family moved again to Orange County's Newport Beach where he first began to sail in El Toro dinghies at age 15. Newport Beach provided many opportunities for Bill to interact with yachts, from the Sea Scouts to competitive ocean yachts. Bill Lee graduated from Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo in 1965 with a degree in mechanical engineering. His first job as an engineer was in Southern California in the defense industry evaluating armored personnel carriers, as well as other similar military tools. His evaluations included stress and weight analysis. His designs helped define the class of boat known as an ultra light displacement boat (ULDB), which tend to excel at surfing downwind with spinnakers in heavy breeze. These boats required fewer crew, made better use of scarce resources in their construction, and generally attracted highly skilled sailors with big-wave surfing backgrounds at breaks such as Steamer's Lane and Mavericks. Many folks had to get their hair cut before sailing on one of Lee's ULDBs since they went so fast their hair often got quite tussled.

Mr Lee is also known for his boatyard on Hilltop Rd, Soquel, CA,

Santa Cruz 27 The Santa Cruz 27 was born by request in 1973 with the first customer asking, ""Quarter-tonner racing is really catching on here in Santa Barbara. I want a quarter tonner that is like WITCHCRAFT and CHUTZPAH only smaller." After only two iterations, the first Santa Cruz 27, VANISHING POINT was finished and was a roaring success. Approximately 145 Santa Cruz 27s were built in Bill Lee's boat yard in Soquel, California.

The Santa Cruz 27 is 27 feet long with 8 feet of beam, it carries a masthead rig with long J and short boom.

The molds and right to produce Santa Cruz 27's were sold after boat #141 and again after #145.

Santa Cruz 70 After a rule change from the Transpac Committee set a maximum IOR rating of 70.0 for the race (Merlin rated 70.5), Bill Lee modified the design of Merlin to create a boat which would rate exactly 70. First launched in 1985, nineteen Santa Cruz 70's were built.

Merlin 68 Merlin is an Ultra Light Displacement (ULDB) racing yacht constructed by famed yacht designer Bill Lee in 1977. At 68 x 12 ft. and 25,000 lbs., the vessel set multiple course records over its illustrious career. Merlin's unprecedented success on the racecourse includes winning the 1977 Transpacific Yacht Race, in which the vessel established a course record that stood for 20 years. The current owner is William F. "Chip" Merlin, founder of Merlin Law Group. Merlin currently races and maintains the boat as part of his team, Merlin Yacht Racing.

Boats of Note Chutzpah: 1973, 1975 Transpacific Yacht Race Overall Winner; Merlin: 1977, 1981, 1987 Transpac "First To Finish"; 1993 Transpac Division and Overall Winner; 1977 to 1997 Transpac "Fully Crewed Monohull Elapsed time" Record Holder for 8 days, 11 hours and 1 minute;