There are hard ways to move a raceboat around and (relatively) easier ways...

'Time and tide wait for no man’, so the saying goes, and when it comes to precious time spent campaigning racing yachts then you do what’s necessary to run everything as efficiently as possible. That’s one of the reasons why a growing number of raceboat owners and their skippers are calling on Sevenstar Yacht Transport to run their logistics for them.

The head of Racing Yacht Logistics at Sevenstar, former top navigator Wouter Verbraak, knows the grand prix racing scene well. ‘At Sevenstar we like to say we make the world smaller,’ explains the Dutchman. ‘By which we mean we help to deliver racing yachts from one place to the next more quickly and with the least hassle.’

Verbraak says there is no job too tough for the company. ‘One of the advantages for us is that we have direct access to the specialist vessels owned by our parent company, the Spliethoff Group,’ he explains. ‘We don’t have to negotiate terms for a charter, so this speeds things up and makes discussions a lot more straightforward.’

Sometimes, when there is important work to be done on the yacht between regattas, the only opportunity to do it is while the yacht is being transported. For example, the Maxi72 calendar is intense and the boats undergo regular switches from offshore to inshore mode, or are re-moded for rating or venue purposes. Requests for shore crew to travel with the yacht are not uncommon.

‘We’ve done this with Farfalla and also with Proteus, when a lot of the deck non-slip needed replacing,’ explains Verbraak. ‘It’s a big job but the work was completed by the time the boat was offloaded at the next event. Owning our own vessels within the same group makes these discussions between the boat captain and the ship’s captain much easier.’

In the case of the Maxi72s, the fast turnaround offered by Sevenstar meant the fleet could squeeze an extra regatta into the summer schedule. ‘Last year the owner of Proteus kindly invited all the teams to come and race in his home waters in Greece. Time was tight but, because we work closely with the boat captains already, we knew how they operate and what they required for fast and safe transit of their precious cargo. That inside knowledge of the industry enables us to deliver a good service with shorter lead times.’

The Dutch company is also picking up a growing amount of business from smaller classes like the Etchells, while at the other end of the scale the J Class yachts continue to take advantage of DYT’s submersible vessels (DYT is also a part of the Spliethoff Group which owns Sevenstar). ‘We have shipped Shamrock and Svea several times, and now we’re looking at the possibility of providing shipping for the whole J Class fleet from Auckland back to the Med after their regatta ahead of the next America’s Cup. The advantage of the DYT is there is no hoisting or craning required.

‘With the J Class the challenge is the inline spreader rigs, so you cannot easily detach the backstay which you need to do for a crane operation. DYT is really the best option for any yacht over 120 tons where you would otherwise need to use two cranes to lift on and off |the vessel.’ S

evenstar is looking forward to working with the America’s Cup teams again for Auckland 2021, just as it did with Land Rover BAR and Groupama Team France in Bermuda. ‘Moving 75ft foiling monohulls around will be a different proposition from the last Cup, but we’re looking forward to it,’ says Verbraak. But of more immediate concern is providing support and assistance to the hurricane-ravaged islands of the Caribbean.

‘We work closely with events like the RORC Caribbean 600 and we have built a lot of special relationships with the islanders over the years so we’ve been heavily involved in the shipping of supplies such as medicines and generators. It’s not part of our usual line of work, but we owe it to both the islanders and the sport to help out in any way we can.’

Click here for more information on Sevenstar Yacht Transport »

The new VPLP-designed Gunboat 68 is the first model of the brand to be launched since the company moved into French ownership

Sailing upwind at a true wind angle (TWA) of 50° in light air, then bearing off and accelerating to 15-16kt, still in no more than 12kt of true wind… These are typical performance prediction figures from the designers of the latest Gunboat and the first of its kind to emerge from its new French builders. And reaching in a good ‘working breeze’, VPLP’s Xavier Guilbaud is confident you will often see 25kt with additional potential to be realised under the big rig option. Not bad for a boat as luxurious as this?

The launch of the first Gunboat Tribe 17 years ago marked the invention of a new sailing concept: the long-range high-performance but luxurious, large multihull, a combination only made possible through borrowing the best raceboat technologies and materials.

The original Gunboat catamarans designed by Morrelli and Melvin were light and quite purist in form and with a relatively more minimalistic internal fit-out.

The next-era Gunboats, designed by Nigel Irens and manufactured in China and the USA, were more refined and luxurious, with designer interior and exterior styling and more geared for luxury cruising. The objective with this new French-built Gunboat is to combine the two philosophies and make use of the best qualities of the two earlier generations of boats. Through research with owners and crews of Gunboats over the years, it was determined how people used their boats, from the cruisiest to the raciest. It was important to ensure that the new platform could fit everybody’s interior requirements and that it was versatile enough to satisfy an owner’s need for maximum living space, maximum performance and maximum luxury.

A successful boat has to be realistic in its approach to space, so the pragmatism of the early boats was preserved with easily serviced parts, good system design and use of space, yet with the fresh aesthetic touches the later models acquired; but it was essential the new designs should have no wasted volume or dead spaces.

The new design was entrusted to VPLP who already design Grand Large Yachting’s Outremer 5X. VPLP have race and cruising divisions delivering state-of-the-art solutions from the Ultims Macif and Sodebo to superyachts like the 145ft Hemisphere and popular cruising market designs for Lagoon.

According to Xavier Guilbaud, this 17.8-ton (dry displacement), 20.75m catamaran has benefited from some very advanced hydro and aero studies, similar to those carried out by VPLP for their latest raceboats like Macif. The aero studies were undertaken in conjunction with North Sails’ JB Braun for global VPP simulations, as well as for CFD calculations to investigate different rig and appendage configurations.

‘A key characteristic of a boat like this,’ says Guilbaud, ‘is to be able to achieve top speeds beyond 25kt, but also to cruise comfortably at average speeds of 12-15kt. The challenge is to maintain good performance for the occasional regatta or offshore race without penalising ease of operation in a much gentler sailing mode…

Below: the stand-out Gunboat forward sail handling cockpit and inside helm position remain on the latest design. The Gunboat 68 was the product of a unusually style-driven design (above) process at VPLP – beginning with base influences including the great Bugatti Royale motor car of the 1930s (on the left). It requires enormous confidence (or bluster) for the designer of a powerful, light and fast big multihull to allow style to dictate his design progression – of course being one of the most successful race multihull designers of the modern era allows you to take those risks. The result is stunning…

‘The hull sections below the water are quite narrow, to ensure smooth passage-making, but not so narrow as to create excessive form drag. At rest the transoms are immersed which ensures plenty of dynamic waterline at speed. The trade-off is an excess of drag in light airs, but flotation (and displacement) has been carefully calculated so that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages over 8kt of boatspeed.’

Since the first sketches, beam grew by some 500mm in order to increase righting moment with little performance cost elsewhere. ‘The 68,’ said Guilbaud, ‘will be relatively beamier than previous boats as we wanted to match the performance of the existing turbo fleet but without the need to fly a hull at low numbers.

The choice to increase righting moment is also consistent with a boat that must remain safe when cruising; under the standard 25m carbon rig we do not expect hull flying below 21kt of true wind.

The so-called wave-piercing bows used feature reverse stems, with heavy sheerline chamfers as you move aft towards the bridge deck. This bow treatment helps to save material and therefore weight in the ends of the boat, but also it improves the way the bows recover (bounce up) after being immersed. ‘We also avoided simply moving the volume distribution higher up in the bows to prevent the boat being “stopped” when sailing into a steep wave,’ Guilbaud explains. The fine bows are certainly a striking element of the aesthetics of the boat, suggesting elegance with an attractive hint of ‘edginess’.

Patrick le Quément and Christophe Chedal Anglay played a strong role in defining the overall look and the influence of these two talented designers can be seen throughout, from the cabin windows, with their fine framing, to the curvature of the windshield, the flowing deckhouse and the long tapered smoked glass windows just below the sheer. As le Quément says rather proudly, ‘no straight lines, only curves’.

This project is quite daring in other ways. Rudders on these big cats are always an issue – access to shallow waters is desirable, but not at the expense of safety offshore. Retractable rudders are a hallmark of all Gunboats and on the latest the draft can be reduced to a minimum of 1.2m with the boards up and rudders lifted… close enough to stand on the sand when you step off your boat!

But rather than have the traditional straight blade emerging from a rotating steering drum, which makes for hard spots at the bearing points of the blades, instead Gunboat commissioned Michel Desjoyeaux’s engineers at Mer Forte to come up with a different solution. It involves a triangular support member with a nice plate, which operates with the blade up or down to limit turbulence. It’s a wet area, though, and not watertight.

Two boards are available depending on use. One extends to 3.3m and the other to a maximum of 4m below the keel. The sections are also different – the shorter board is symmetric and the longer is asymmetric with more emphasis on racing performance.

Two rig choices are also offered. In the regatta version the mast stands 4m taller, the boom is 50cm longer, and the longeron extends 1m further forward. In terms of sailplan, flown off the sprit there are an A3 and an A2 plus a smaller fractional J0, which is cut very flat and can be sheeted inside the shrouds for upwind work up to about 10kt true wind. Further aft there is a J1 which is on a furler and set on a detachable cable, plus a permanently set J2 on a furler (headstay) and a J3 which also lives on a detachable cable.

According to Nils Erickson, sales and technical director, who brings over 15 years and 100,000nm of Gunboat experience, the traditional forward trimming cockpit and inside helm position remain, but with the boat wider than previous models the forward cockpit space is increased to allow four winches abreast. ‘On the racecourse more people can work at one time,’ Erickson explains. ‘But it’s not just used as an operating area,’ he says. ‘It’s an entertainment space as well. It’s where a lot of people like to come and watch the sailing and feel more of a part of it.’

For the 68, VPLP worked hard to bring headsail sheeting inboard for better upwind performance (a sheeting angle of just 7° has been achieved). With this step forward the boat’s polars indicate that a tacking angle of 90° will be achievable in most conditions – exceptional for a large cruising multihull.

Gunboats continue to be built using semi-custom techniques. Hulls, bridge and deck are all manufactured in resin-infused carbon/M-Foam. This core has excellent resistance to slamming and can also save weight through reduced resin absorption compared with some other cores. M-Foam can also be thermoformed to tight curves to minimise resin build-up in tight radiuses. The internal structure uses pre-preg carbon/foam throughout. Interior panels and all furniture are pre-preg hot-pressed Nomex-cored.

‘We were offered an opportunity to use robotically applied thin-ply pre-preg technology, which is more common in the aerospace industry (as well as in AC50 wing components). This technology allowed us to take our build tolerances to a new level. Naturally we jumped at that,’ says Gunboat COO William Jelbert (Jelbert previously built Gunboats in China).

‘If there is one area where big weight savings are on offer on these boats it is in the treatment of the interior,’ Jelbert explains. ‘On a boat like this the interior can easily account for four tons, which we have reduced to 2.5 tons with no compromises in terms of either quality or robustness,’ he says.

The furniture in the big cockpit is easily removable for racing, including the ‘galley island’ housing all the domestic appliances This means that in less than a day, a crew can ‘lighten ship’ by 400-500kg before the other usual reductions are made by taking ashore some of the comforts…

Managed carefully with 3D modelling, the interior components, beams, bulkheads and detailing already integrate the various inserts and recesses that may later be required to add options for a future owner. Other options on the Gunboat 68 include a choice of four, five or six cabins, mast rotation or not, all-carbon standing rigging, various aft cockpit entertainment-area configurations and… carbon toilets. How far – and how fast – do you want to go?

Click here for more information on Gunboat »

The new J/121 has been created to allow fast, simple sailing for those who want to spend their time tackling classic ocean races (quickly) as well as local beer can races… and not chasing down a large crew

Four decades ago a sleek, flush-deck keel boat appeared in the summer race circuits around New England and turned heads with both its looks and its speed around the racecourses. Fractional-rigged with a large genoa and balanced sailplan, the J/24 was an instant hit; within a few short years fleets were appearing all over the US and elsewhere, with the top names in the sport enhancing the competition among rival sailmakers fighting for their share of a fast-growing new market for sails.

The newest offering from J/Boats, the J/121, is both a logical extension of other performance designs they have built over the years but also a significant departure for the company. The J/120 brought sprit-boat sailing to the 40ft range two decades ago, and more recently the J/122 brought a more modern and IRC-friendly design to the same size range. Both, however, assumed a full crew of 8-10 people would race onboard, with the sailing systems and interior accommodation arranged accordingly.

While many of us remember the J/24 era clearly, and are still struck by how many J/24s are still out there racing, what people may not remember is that designer Rod Johnstone was not just interested in performance when he drew and built his iconic little design, but also had in mind that this was a boat that could help encourage family sailing. Yes, the J/24 was envisioned to get the family out together on the water, even sleep aboard with its modest but liveable accommodation. It was not uncommon in these early days to have crew staying aboard while racing at class regattas…

Times may have changed, but the J/Boats philosophy has not, which is why literally thousands of boats across dozens of different models have been sold under the family brand name – always with one overriding consideration in every design: will this boat be suitable for sailing with family and friends?

‘Whether it’s day sailing, buoy racing, long-distance cruising or offshore racing, the family fun characteristic is very much in the J/Boat DNA,’ said Jeff Johnstone, company president. He should know: Jeff is one of several second generation Johnstones to carry on the family business. Rod’s son Alan has taken on the designing of J/Boats, including the J/121, and Jeff and Alan’s cousin Stuart is active in marketing and also publishes the weekly (sic) J/News.

Like other global brands, J/Boats’ success is founded on staying in close touch with their customers as they move through the sport. The product line has therefore evolved to remain relevant to their large, welldocumented customer base, as well as attracting newcomers with the company’s latest ideas.

Scroll forward to current times, when finding crews this large for local racing is no longer easy, nor inexpensive, and racing preferences are evolving away from the intensity of an hour-long battle around buoys in favour of something a little longer but more leisurely in pace – something less specialised and athletic and more fun for a broader group of sailors.

But those who do want the intensity of buoy racing are also well catered for: small keelboats like the J/70 and J/80 offer an easy package that has struck a chord all around the world. This immense popularity is resonating in the marketplace – within just 18 months of launch, the J/70 joined the J/22, J/24, J/80 and J/111 in receiving international class status from World Sailing.

Now imagine taking that same J/70 crew of four or five and being able to do coastal day races or offshore races in any weather, and be fast, safe and comfortable all at the same time, and without resorting to specialised systems of sail or appendage control. Or loading the boat with 8-10 people for a day race, if desired. This versatility lies behind the J/121.

‘We wanted to reach sailors who might have burnt out on windwardleeward course racing, and who would otherwise be keen on competing in more adventurous, bucket-list offshore races with a group of friends on an easier-tomanage platform,’ said Johnstone.

‘We looked at numerous signature offshore events and their prevailing sailing conditions and designed a boat with those in mind. As a result, the J/121 is a straightline speedster, more optimised for reaching than the J/122, with flatter aft sections to promote planing like the J/111. The beam on deck is carried aft, much like the J/125, but the wetted surface is kept relatively low compared with many other offshore 40-footers.

‘We didn’t want to go extreme like, say, a Class40 and give up height upwind and light-air performance.’

Below: The mid-sized J/Boats have long been a popular choice for shorthanded racing throughout the world, collecting plenty of silverware from 200nm offshore sprints as well as in longer events including the Fastnet and Middle Sea Race – at the same time as racking up the inshore victories. With plenty of stability built in for racing with smaller crews the new J/121 is again ideally positioned to become another weapon of choice for shorthanded teams of all levels of experience competing on every type of racecourse. J/Boats’ long established approach to creating good performing, reliable but not extreme yachts that sail and steer relatively easily will be an added bonus for the purpose – easy on the autopilot wins a lot of races

At 2.36m draft, the cast-iron fin keel with lead bulb on the J/121 is deeper than the J/122, and to replace four or five people on the rail there are two 400-litre water ballast tanks (one per side) positioned at maximum beam. This water ballast assist is a first for J/Boats, and employs a simple system that has been thoroughly tested for efficiency, reliability and ease of use. On a recent trial in 10-12kt of wind we could fill the weather tank in five minutes, transfer water to the leeward side in less than a minute before tacking, and empty the tank completely in about two minutes through the centreline gravity/venturi drain. In these conditions even this modest amount of extra ballast ramps up the speed, especially on a close reach, giving the boat a livelier feel even in flat water. Sail power can be carried further up range, and the addition of a detachable staysail/inner jib on the foredeck helps to further balance the sailplan as you load the yacht up.

Sail-handling systems are set up for ease of handling, using top of the range UBI Maior low-profile ratchet furlers for the headsail and staysail. As with all modern J/Boats, the asymmetric kites fly off a retractable carbon sprit, which in this case is further reinforced with a Dyneema sprit stay for code zero flying. The deck layout is simple and uncluttered with only six winches and clutches to handle all combinations of sheets, halyards and control lines. The carbon mast from Southern Spars is deck-stepped, with the option of a carbon boom.

Tooling for the J/121 was developed at Symmetrix Composite Tooling of Bristol, RI, using their five-axis CNC machining capability for accurate construction of the hull, deck and grid plugs. Hull and deck construction is resin-infused E-glass and vinylester with both Core-cell and end-grain balsa used where appropriate to accommodate slamming loads. The keel grid and bulkheads are fully tabbed and bonded with uni-directional material carefully aligned with the major load paths.

Thermal image scanning is also used by the boat’s builder (CCF Composites) to verify correct resin penetrations and check for dry fibre/voids; finally all component parts are carefully check-weighed before assembly.

There is a surprisingly short list of optional equipment available on the J/121 and – rather refreshingly – the class rules run to just six pages. This reflects the relative simplicity of the boat as well as its target audience of sailors who are simply interested in fast fun without unnecessary complication.

Already interest in this new design is strong. As of 1 December the order backlog was at 10 months with one boat coming off the line every three weeks. The first owners are spread among six countries, with the US east coast contingent, where initial J/Boat interest is traditionally strong, planning a circuit of coastal and offshore races featuring ‘Open Course’ racing, a format of multi-leg adventure day races J/Boats is developing that rewards navigation, weather routeing and strategy as much as boathandling, tactics and sail trim.

Today’s boatshows are now packed out with acres of highfreeboard designs boasting of onboard amenities… rather than sailing qualities. The J/121 sits quietly alongside the docks in an attractive contrast.

‘The strong emotional response we have had from so many experienced sailors has been especially gratifying,’ said Johnstone. ‘People are ordering J/121s to sail in their dream races. One of our newest clients plans to tune up against sisterships in Newport, RI in 2018, then ship his boat to Malta for the Middle Sea Race and then back to California for the 2019 Transpac. Other owners plan to sail the 2019 Caribbean circuit with the highlight being the RORC Caribbean 600.

‘With the 121 it’s been great to help enable both longtime J/Boat owners and new “family members” to achieve their wider sailing dreams… some for the first time, and others all over again – but maybe now sailing a little faster!’

Click here for more information on J/Boats »

Eduardo Sylvestre, Brazilian sailing coach, PE teacher and World Sailing regional development co-ordinator for South America writes about transforming lives...

As World Sailing coach working on sailing development and having been involved with the Emerging Nations Program (ENP) for the past three years on two continents, America and Africa, it is easy to see the impact that our programmes are having in transforming the lives of both sailors and coaches.

Main picture: While the First World works to keep its youngsters engaged in the sport it is important to bear in mind the vast pool of potential sailing talent – such as this young Angolan Laser Radial sailor (above) – that relies on programmes like World Sailing’s Emerging Nations Program simply to get afloat.
Below: Felipe Andre is one of thousands of youngsters – many of them talented and all of them enthusiastic – to have now benefited from the ENP, which must surely stand as one of the governing body’s most important and in the long term most influential achievements to date

In 2015 I first met Felipe Andre, a young sailor from Angola. A tall, timid teenager who was having his first ever formal coaching classes, learning upwind theory, trimming, sports psychology and boathandling. He was eager to learn and fast on the water, faster than everyone else in the clinic in Maputo, Mozambique.

When I saw him in Langkawi, Malaysia for the Youth Worlds the same year he was thrilled, and knew that without the ENP program he wouldn’t have been able even to participate in such an event. I was excited to see him and work with him again.

It was a great challenge for him competing against the best young sailors in the world. At the end of the championship he finished 40th out of 66th sailors – he was extremely disappointed.

We talked a lot about his preparation and practice routines over the previous seven months. I discovered that Felipe wasn’t able to sail very much at all at home because he didn’t have a boat and so had to borrow one from his club. Nor did he have a coach since his club could not afford one – the coach with him at the clinic was actually a sailing friend who just knew a bit more than he did! He realised that without good training and many more hours on the water it would be very hard to compete at a high level.

At the ENP clinic we talked about goal setting – Felipe’s goal is to represent his country at the 2020 Olympics. He still depends on other people because he does not have his own boat, and is currently sailing with the same old sail he took to Maputo. He attends university each evening and works during the morning to help his family. He sails Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon because it is the only time the boat is available.

I have stayed in contact with many sailors since my first clinic and Felipe is one of them. He tells me that his ENP experience was exceptional – he still has notes and works on drills we taught him over three years ago. He is still Angola’s best Laser Radial sailor and he believes he will be in Tokyo.

Last year we made some modifications to the ENP system. As the World Sailing development department we realised we had to prepare the coaches better – they will always be the key in training the athletes. So we organised our first coach-led clinic, which focused on the coach and preparing him to train his sailors using everything we have learnt elsewhere in our programmes.

This year I met Guatemalan Jose Daniel, who attended our ENP clinic in the Dominican Republic with two of his Laser Radial sailors. Jose is an incredible person, a humble coach with excellent sailing skills; his father works as a mason’s helper, a path he too would have followed if he had not learnt how to sail through the support of the Guatemalan Sailing Federation. He began competing and eventually became a Pan American medallist in the 2015 Toronto Games; his win earned him a grant from his national Olympic committee with which he was able to buy a piece of land and build his own house.

Today Jose works full-time as a sailing coach, teaching children who like him would not otherwise have the opportunity to learn how to sail and discover a great sport.

Many other coaches have been impacted by the ENP programme. All have similar stories, humble people who today work with sailing, transforming lives and ultimately helping their fellow citizens towards their personal goals.

It is difficult for an individual from a developed country, that has all the equipment on tap, great facilities and sailors who don’t have to worry about anything other than going sailing to realise the effort, strength and vigour a coach or sailor from a third world country requires simply to get out on the water.

Each day they deal with problems that might floor better-known athletes. Lack of the basics, like sails, boats, cleats, gloves and so on. Lack of time, equipment and of course the money needed to race and train overseas. Meanwhile, they are often working their way through school to secure the education they know they will need to support their own families… Yet they still maintain a dream of representing their country at big international events.

The World Sailing ENP is promoting a fair game, it is a great opportunity for coaches and sailors who wish to learn what other countries are doing and to improve their own skillset. During the Dominican clinic I met many talented coaches and sailors from difficult backgrounds as well as others who were better resourced.

In the classroom and out on the water the social differences do not matter, we have a single social class… the class of sailing. And they all give their best. It is a great thing to experience.

In one of my own lectures – on goal setting – we always open like this: ‘What am I doing today so that I can become a better sailor tomorrow?’

Properly identified goals guide our programmes on a daily basis, they give us all direction and confidence. Programmes like these bring some ‘light to the end of the tunnel’ for many ambitious but resource-poor sporting nations. It is an honour to play a part.

Click here for more information on World Sailing »