The late Gary Mull is internationally recognized as a pioneer of performance yacht design. His groundbreaking work and revolutionary contributions to sailing have earned him a well deserved place in yachting history. It is an honour to be taking the dream of the Pocket Rocket into the new millennium and to have the support and goodwill of everyone who knew Gary. The new Rocket 22 will enhance an already outstanding racing boat, as well as provide the day sailor with a comfortable and stable cruising boat. A brief excerpt from “Good Old Boat Magazine” is included below, highlighting some of Gary Mull’s credits.

“By any measure, Gary Mull was a successful designer. His credits include the Santana 22, 27, and 37; the Ranger 22, 23, 26, 29, 32, 33, and the SORC-winning Ranger 37; the Newport 30 and 33; the Kalik 44; the Freedom Independence, 28, 30, 36, 42, 45; a variety of winning raceboats from the Half-Tonner Hotflash, built by the Gougeon Brothers in 1976, to Two-Tonners like Carrot (1976), to the 12-Meter USA; the Capri 22, which he designed with Catalina's Frank Butler in 1983 (more than 800 sold); and custom designs including the light-displacement speedster Improbable, the 6-Meter match racers St. Francis IV, V, and VI; Ranger, built by Goetz Custom Yachts and raced by Ted Turner in the 1979 6-Meter Worlds; and the maxi-boat, Sorcery. His boats were built in numerous other countries, including Australia , New Zealand , Italy , Taiwan , Turkey , and Yugoslavia .”

Gary was very proud of the Pocket Rocket as it represented many years of design experience and thinking about high performance sail boats. In 1986 he spoke with Pacific Yachting about the design, summarizing it as

“My design team took all our experience in designing successful small race winners and boiled away the fat. We gave it the longest waterline possible, powerful bilges, and a good rig to produce a fast boat in all conditions and pared away all the weight that adds cost, weight and complication .”

Given Gary ’s extraordinary contribution to the international yachting community in his all too short life, it is hardly surprising there is a wealth of information available about him on the Internet. Some of the better links include:

http://members.dca.net/pwink/ranger/garymull.htm

http://www.latitude38.com/features/bomRanger33.htm

http://webhost.sailnet.com/newport/garymull.pdf