Class 40, Atlantic Cup 2013 Newport

Atlantic Cup. After Inshore races at Newport.

40 Degrees Owen Clarke Design.

Bodacious Dream. Farr Yacht Design.

Dragon.  Owen Clarke Design.

Gryphon Solo.  Marc Lombard.

Icarus. Rodger Martin Yacht Design.

Lecoq Cuisine. Guillaume Verdier.

Pleiad Racing. Marc Lombard.

                        
                   When are we going to see a ScowTa?

- With the success in the last Mini Transat of the scow bowed 777, I am wondering if the same approach could be adapted for the 40 Class.

- Last year, for the purpose of assessing the possibilities, I reverse-engineered David Raison's Mini to explore what he was doing?

- The rules for 2013 have been changed to avoid the adoption of the Mini's bow to the class 40, by the control of a maximum width of 450mm. at deck level located 200mm. aft of the stem. By dropping the width almost down to the waterline the volume is redistributed in a different way and this is the Class 40 version with the killer whale bow I am coming up with.

My Fleet of Class40. Of which 2, are either in the construction stage or still on the drawing board for clients.

Spring-Newport-Boats

Most people do not realize that just about every boats in the North East are out of the water during the winter season. May first arrives and the moorings have been serviced, taxes paid and ready to go. The ritual of getting the boats in and out is a serious business with a captive audience to please.
Then there is the arrival of the ones that have spent the winter down South, be Florida or down the Islands. They start to migrate back after the last hurray of the racing scene at Antigua.
I took the photo yesterday and the Newport Shipyard has already quite a few boats to be seen.

Belle Ile 10M. Cruising Boat.

Once in a while, I have a good surprise to receive photos and now often videos about boats I have designed, some a long time ago. This is the case of "Belle Ile", this nostalgic "Colin Archer" built with steel with the twist of having twin keels limiting the draft to 4'-3".

 

As a coincidence, I just sold a set of plans of this seaboat, the 34th. to Canada. I wrote in a previous article about Belle Ile, that in times of trouble people are again attracted to simple, solid, safe, and not so slow type of escape machine.

PalmaVela 2013

Bella Mente Ran the Show.

                                       

 Last pictures after the final race. Hap Fauth with Ran's owner-driver Niklas Zennstrom. Bella Mente won the event.                                                                                           Photos by Dominique Tanton.

Antigua Race Week 2013

         John Raby and Don Ritter Circus Maximus 67' in 1978.



Well I missed again one of the best organized sailing event in the world; Antigua Race Week is a lot of fun and actually quite different from the other venues of St. Barth and St. Martin. I guess it has to do with the Island being more "British" with the Admiral Nelson's legacy hovering the docks and Shirley's Heights. I raced there a few times on different boats

John Tuttle and the 57' U.L.D.B Desperado.

We had Tee shirts reading " The 25 Knots Club". At he time it was seldom to see boats making that kind of speed, especially for boats designed under the I.O.R rule. 

                                      Hans and Gisela of the S/V Cat-Ketch Tunnix  from Venezuela.
They had one of my first Cat-Ketch T.43 built in Taiwan. They had sent a Fax to the office inviting me to race the Sailing Week and I replied yes, I would. So the next thing I know I am in Antigua, taking a launch to get to the boat. I could see her free standing masts 1/2 a mile away and as I approach, it became clear that no one was around. I jumped aboard and waited. After a while I see a Zodiac coming towards me then suddenly taking at distance a wide circle in a slow motion. Finally the two occupants came alongside to take a long look at me. A little puzzled, as much as I was by their initial reaction, they explained later that when they invited me, they had no idea if I were Chinese (Taiwanese), A girl, (Yves first name pronounced Eve), young, old or an  intruder. I did not have the same problem withe their appearance. More blond, more German, you could not find, even from Venezuela.


Christian Quoniam's Magie Noire 66'.
Incongruous to come to the starting line with a free standing rigged Cat-Schooner. A charter boat, M-N. was no match to the Maxis Kialoa and others engaged in the race. We had a great time though. This was my first sail on the boat built by the owner in La Rochelle, France. The unconventional sailboat featured wing sails, wing keel, water ballast and is very easy to sail.