|
Harry Melges
|
 |
Interview by Eric Hood
 EH -
Congratulations on winning the Melges 24 World Championship this
past year! We would like to learn more about you, your
career as a sailmaker , boat builder and everything that has
led up to this latest great championship win. First, a most
obvious question for some would be how is your dad and what
is he up too?
HM - Buddy is doing great! He is busy sailing and working on
his iceboats all winter and this summer he will once again be
racing
the A scow, E scow and MELGES 24. He is still the one to beat
on the water, I am sure you will all see him on the water soon.
EH - Growing up with Buddy and your grandfather Harry Sr. who
also founded Melges Boat Works must have really been special.
At what point when you were a youngster did you realize that
sailing was something you loved and were going to stick with?
Also, tell us about growing up with your older sister Laura and
your younger brother Hans and how they affected your sailing
in the early days? HM - Sailing was our life. That is what we grew up with and that
is what we knew. It doesn't take much to fall in love with sailing
and sailboats. I think at a pretty young age I was hooked, at
least with boats and sails and building and designing them. I
think when I was 9 or 10 I built my first boat and my brother
and I won our first championship. From then on, I think my future
was pretty well laid out.
My brother and I grew up sailing together and crewing together
for Buddy. Together we learned a great deal about sailing and
going fast. Sailing is a great family sport. For several years
our entire family sailed together on an E scow, all five of us,
Buddy, my mom, Laura, Hans and myself. Those were great years!
EH - Tell us about your early days working in downtown Zenda
at Melges Boat Works and Melges Sails? At what point did you
focus on Melges Sails? Also, who were some of the influential
sailors that shaped your thinking with regards to sailmaking?
HM - In the early days, Hans and I would come to Zenda and sweep
the floors and clean up, that is when we were 8 or so. As the
years progressed, we began to work in the shop building boats.
We learned every aspect of the business at a young age, building
a boat from start to finish, delivering it to the customer, tuning
all the boats, racing all the boats, and we learned what a fast
sail should look like. Buddy was the most influential in terms
of sailmaking and what a fast sail should look like. I learned
from Frasier Beer, John Gluek, Bill Allen, Jeff Baker some finer
points of sail construction, material, and how to design and
build a sail from scratch. I always enjoyed creating new sail
designs, visualizing fast shapes and what would be the fastest
sail and then trying to put that imagined shape into a real sail.
First, by hand on the floor with some shaping battens and pins
and now with the aid of computer sail design software and 3D
flying shapes on the computer.
EH - You now are President of Melges Performance Sailboats,
Buddy is fun-retired (we sure see him a lot in Zenda), Hans is
at the Chicago Board of Trade. Tell us a little about your two
companies Melges Performance Sailboats and North Sails Zenda.
Who are the key sailors in the group? I know a pretty big portion
of your company includes employees with lots of service years
to the organization. How do you attract such a good group to
the cornfields of Zenda?
HM -Melges Performance Sailboats and North Sails Zenda are as dedicated
as ever to producing the greatest high performance recreational
sailboats and their sails in the World. We have a great team
of boat builders and sailors, some who have been in Zenda for
over 35 years, true craftsman with loads of experience. We all
have a passion for sailing and boats and that has probably brought
us all together. To learn more about our people, please visit
melges.com Zenda is kind of a strange place to have a sailing
business, but, there really is a tremendous amount of sailing
and talented sailors in the middle part of the country. I believe
that the strongest one desing sailing in the country is in the
Midwest and in the scow fleets. They are still very family oriented
and about having fun while doing well too.
EH- Your sailing career
has just about as many, in some cases more national and world
championship victories than your dad
Buddy. The one thing missing from your resume would be the Olympics
or America’s Cup. Do you have aspirations to do the Olympics
or America’s Cup? You certainly have the talent to be driving
a cup boat . If you joined a group would that be your goal to
drive or join as a tactician ?
HM -I really do not have high asperations to go to the Olympics
or sail in the America's Cup. I love to sail and I love to win.
I have a lot of confidence in my sailing ability, but, I problaby
sail more to advance our business than to advance my own sailing
career. I have a stronger desire to maintain and grow our business
to new levels of prosperity than to sail at a higher level.
EH - Being one a sailing industry leader in the world of Sportboats
how do you see the future of sailing? I guess the question is
fair to say how do you view the sport as a whole . Also, in your
view what is the most important thing to growing and promotion
of our sport of sailing?
HM -The future of sailing is definitely one design. This is the
grass roots of the sport and this will always be it's strength.
One design will always be there and will always be the proving
grounds for talented young sailors. One design puts sailor against
sailor, not boat against boat. One design feeds all other aspects
of the sport. Our goal is to continually simplify and improve
our one design products to make the sport more fun and easier
for all involved. There are so many other things to occupy everyones
free time these days and we must make the sport as enjoyable
as possible. The most succesfull fleets are the ones that are
the most family oriented and focus on fun first and fore most,
and not on winning at all costs. Keep it light, keep it fun!
Harry, on behalf of North Sails One Design we would like to
thank you for your time. Again, congratulations of your recent
Melges 24 World Championship win.
Other web links about Harry:
To contact Harry, click
here.
|
