A Brief History Of The Frers Yacht Design family

German Mani Frers is the third generation of his family to design high speed racing yachts and motor yachts, his grandfather German Frers having been designing and building yachts based on the Colin Archer double enders back in 1926 at his yard in Buenos Aires which had a workforce of 60 boat builders. German Frers Snr went on to design and produce over 600 yachts. In 1949 his yacht Fjord III was the outright winner of the Buenos Aires / Rio Race. In 1964 Fjord V was 2nd in class in the Bermuda Race, and in 1972 Fjord VI was 3rd in class in the same race, beginning a trend toward flush-decked no-compromise racing yachts.

Mani's father, German Frers II, caught his father's passion for design and speed and in 1965 was invited by Rod Stephens, the American designer, to join the firm of Sparkman and Stephens in New York which was at the time the best-known designer of America's Cup, off-shore, and ocean racing yachts. He spent three years there, after which he returned to Buenos Aires to take over the family business. He is still designing yachts to this day – both sailing yachts and motor yachts – including a range of yachts for Nautor's Swan - and one of his superyachts, Unfurled, won the 2016 Sailing Yacht of the Year Award. Last year he was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Showboats Magazine.

Mani himself studied at the Southampton Institute at a time when pencil was giving way to CAD. He graduated in 1993 with First Class Honours and joined his father at the studio in Milan which German II had set up the previous year. He then honed his design skills by drawing the Boomerang which won the Bermuda Race, the 40ft IMS Champion Yah-Man, and several yachts that were successful in Mediterranean races. He and his father worked together to produce a series of yachts for Nautor's Swan including Rebecca, and the 155ft Hyperion for Jim Clark which is still winning races twenty years later. Mani also designed the MY78 Bill and Me motor yacht and has a current commission for another one from McConaghy Boats in China, together with a 56m carbon world cruising yacht which, when launched, will be the largest composite sloop.