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With putting results through RaceTrack, you occasionally get to see the odd item of news related to movements of boats and so forth. 

In the interests of getting a little more talk in RaceTalk, I thought I'd throw out one or two observations, some will be news, some will prove that I'm about 10 years behind the news and the rest will no doubt aid in putting people to sleep.

Anyway, in no particular order, :

Wellington, late last year a Mumm 30 arrived ex of Aus (Loco).  Had a fairly respectable Port Nic regatta.  Good to see, the Farr/Mumm 30 is pretty much the benchmark in high performance 30s and IMHO one of the best designs Farr ever did.  Hopefully will be the catalyst for one or two more of these boats to be imported.

Also from Wellington and a touch more recent, arrival of the Bull 12000 Bullistic.  Hasn't really raced yet that I know of, accepted the odd rum race but will again be interesting to watch.  There's a bit of a build up in higher performance 40s happening in different parts of the country, not sure we'll ever see them all get together but if we did, it'd be a cool sort of a group. 

Speaking of 40s, another second hand import, a Soto 40 now racing out of Westhaven.  Javier Soto is probably not the first designer that springs to mind here in NZ, I think Argentinian and has done a few pretty interesting boats, about 20 Soto 40s around the world Probably not quite as quick as the Ker 40 but not a whole lot slower, Ice Breaker, Anarchy, Young Guns and her should have fun keeping each other honest.

Also noted in a recent rum race the Young 11 Legacy crop up in the entries.  Young 11s aren't typically that noteworthy, we do tend to lose a lot of Jim Young designs to Noumea and I comment on Legacy only because she's the first example I know of of a boat that's returned.  Not sure, maybe the Young 8.4 Wild thing had started life as Young n Frisky and went to the French islands, just a guess given the sail number of YnF being Fra6781 vs Wild thing as NZL6781

Finally have to comment on boats going to Norway.  People will recall a few years back the three 30ft canters Karma Police, Deep Throttle and Overload racing regularly here.  A good while back, Karma Police went to the states and subsequently found her way to Norway.  Just noticed in the most recent updates in ORC, Overload is now also in Norway, you kind of have to ask what is it in Norway to drag these boats over there.  It's kind of a cool place, as in really cool at times.  Have had the odd beer with some Norwegian sailing types, they tell me the racing season is about 12 weeks long and features no wind. 

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I found that pretty interesting, thanks.  Nice to see some fast boats being brought into NZ.  Having a browse around it seems some of our newer faster yachts are listed for sail overseas but not in NZ, Rikki & Crusader as examples.

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Well, it appears a fully tweaked Ross 40 with new rig, keel, rudder and prod is still slower around NI then a new 36' plastic import.....

 

*no disrespect to either boat(s), id love either of them

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Forties and how quick, Looked into this a few months back, theoretical answer based on the ORC Vpp.  Traditionally your Ross 40/Elliott 12 (cruiser / racer variant) was considered as on average about 556 seconds to the mile.  Going off memory a bit so not trustworthy, but tricked out with prod, zeros, mh big stuff etc that comes down to around 525 - 530, hard to be really certain because to be accurate you'd need to rerun with all the new keel measurements etc and no one has done the measuring thing in the last 10 years with a keel upgrade.  Anyway, theory goes you're average speed changes from 6.47kts to somewhere close to 6.8kts or a bit higher.

Newer class 40s and not overly tricked out will be under 500 seconds to the mile, the Soto 40s range from 505 to 520 or so, MC38 low 500s and a touch more for a Farr 400.  The Ker 40 which is a bit of a rule beater around 515-520.  GP42s a bit quicker coming in around the 490 and best guess for the likes of a Blink, 460.  Translating that to average speed, 500 seconds to the mile is 7.2kts, 460 is 7.82kts.  Overall, you're looking at maybe 6-8 minutes an hour quicker for the new boats and more for your absolutely no holes barred machines.

Same but different using IRC ratings, new fast 40s in England would rate about 10% faster than your traditional Ross or Elliott 40 and your swinging flapping everything boats theoretically about 8% more again, in reality I'd guess somewhat less.

 

Six minutes doesn't sound too horrendous, that is though a whole long way on a race course.

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Great thread Mark and one I am interested in as I own Provincial Cowboy.  Having spent a couple of years figuring out how to sail the boat in various conditions we have a pretty good handle on speed and weaknesses versus other types of similar size boats.  

 

We were fortunate that the boat came with a deeper keel and bulb and had also had work done to move chainplates aft and sweep the spreaders.  I know what some of the other R40's have faced when changed keels and it's hard to justify.

 

It's been really rewarding, we have had a lot of fun and a bit of success for a fraction of the cost of buying and running a new raceboat, and I for one would love to see more of the older boats out there raced, the SSANZ series is a perfect way to do this, starting in the no extras divisions.  The boat was perfect for the RNI (although I would not want to understate the preparation and cost we put in for that one race) and there are a heap of other similar boats around NZ that would be equally suited, if that's your ambition - it was mine.

 

Having said that I totally get the marina and other cost of ownership issues.  Personally we won't ever be a candidate for a dedicated race boat, although I like the thought of doing so, the ability to cruise our boat in summer and race it through winter is great and helps justify things.

 

In terms of racing all these different boats together you just have to accept that PHRF under it's current structure cannot possibly handicap the boats equitably through a complete range of conditions using a single number and that there is an element of luck involved in winning as well as obviously sailing well.  I have heard some talk of corinthian type divisions and maybe that is a way to encourage boats back out onto the racetrack.

 

Australia does have some boats that look good to bring over, some would be repatriated home. But the extra costs including GST/Duty do usually make this prohibitive.  There is also an Australian-built E12 headed to Napier shortly which was pretty cheap.

 

Anyway, I've just been appointed to CIORC and so I am interested in hearing people's thoughts on how to address frustrations and barriers, support the fleets and grow numbers if possible, bearing in mind the huge variety of boats out there.

 

cheers

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