The Mull 34 is a

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

Gary Mull Gary Mull (September 27, 1937 – July 14, 1993) was an American yacht designer who created many popular fiberglass sailboats. Early life and education Gary Mull began his college career with a year at Pomona College as an English major, th ...

under the

International Offshore Rule The International Offshore Rule (IOR) was a measurement rule for racing sailboats. The IOR evolved from the Cruising Club of America (CCA) rule for racer/cruisers and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) rule. Rule context - past and present rating ...

. The design, although similar in many ways to Mull's Ranger 22 design, is striking for its wide beam, carried well aft, and the quintessential IOR transom. Several Mull 34's have been built to the Swampfire design: New Orleans Marine built ''Swampfire'' in 1974 using Bill Seemann's C-Flex system. ''Swampfire'' went on to win every race in the 1974 ¾-ton world championships, establishing C-Flex as the material of choice for amateurs building one-off sailboat hulls. A Michigan family built ''Soma 3'' in 1978 for racing on the Great Lakes, and she carries the Detroit River Yacht-racing Association sail number of 25777.Soma/Maria Keelboat Manual (http://144.92.9.188/hoofers/sailing/keelboats/kb_manual/kb_manual.html) The family donated ''Soma 3'' to the Hoofer Sailing Club in 1989. Club members in 1996 painted the boat with its iconic cow spots as a practical joke, a riff on the notion that the boat "sails like a cow" due to its wide beam. The joke stuck, and the boat has become a local landmark, even gracing the cover of the 2004 State of Wisconsin highway map. Other Swampfire designs were built on the West Coast for the Victoria 3/4 Ton Championships - a GRP version named Impatience and an alloy version named New Infidel. Neither did very well as the design was quite outdated for top-level competition by then.

References

{{reflist Sailing yachts 1970s sailboat type designs