Boat Report

New Found Glory

We asked Peter deRidder, principal of Team Mean Machine, to give us a few observations of sailing his new (to him, it is the former Pirates) VO 70. Enjoy.

1) I was happily surprised with the speed potential of the TP52, when I stepped on board and took the tiller early this year for the first time. Today, being for the first time at the wheel of a VO70 in a breeze building through out the day from 25 to 35 knots, I have entered into another level of mono hull sailing.

2) When the speedo drops below 20 knots you are wondering why the boat is getting so slow and you start to look over your shoulder for a new gust or wave to arrive in order to accelerate again.

3) Doing 25 knots and still being able to send the boat into whatever direction it needs to stay on the plane is so rewarding that you want to continue to play for hours.

4) Relative to all the power the beast is able to generate, the steering stays light, easy and pretty much balanced. Compared with a VO70, steering an expensive high end cruiser racer of similar size in the same conditions is a hand full. And I am not talking about small hands.

5) You cannot say the boat is not wet, but the thrill to stand on the wheel and power the boat through the waves outweighs by far the negatives of getting soaking wet.
6) In the early 1980's I was windsurfing a lot and pretty handy at it. This VO70 reminds me a lot to being on a board and doing tricks. It's just a bit bigger.

Photo courtesy of Richard Page.

12/18/06