Allen and Merfyn have built Owen Clarke Design on a legacy of accomplishment in offshore racing. Starting with their early in building and designing offshore racing multihulls, their big break came when they led the design team for Ellen MacArthur's 'Kingfisher'. Since then OCD has penned such boats as Kip Stone's Open 50 'Art Forms', Dominique Wavre's Open 60 'Temenos II', and two generations of the 'Ecover' Open 60's sailed by Mike Golding. It was this history that first attracted Hennessy to OCD, "I had the chance to check out Art Forms during the 2005 Bermuda 1-2 and just fell in love with the boat. She was obviously fast, but I also loved how well sorted she was", he says. "The opportunity to have the lessons of those Open boats applied to a Class 40 is enormously attractive."

The Class 40 box rule was born in France from the fertile imaginations of Patrice Carpentier, Pierre Rolland, Sam Manuard, Thomas Seitz and Christian Bouroulec. They saw a need to have a fast-passage, box rule boat that could be safely used to race in transoceanic events, could be cruised when not raced, and be built of materials that kept the price within the realm of reason. The gap between Mini-Transats at 21 feet and the Open 60s at the other end was too wide, and the founders of the class saw an opportunity. Their conviction was justified when shortly after introduction the class exploded in popularity. Within two years of its inception there were more than a dozen designers who had drawn boats for the rule, and over 30 boats launched. After a modest debut in the 2005 Ostar, the Class hit its stride in 2006 with a massive showing in the Route du Rhum where the Class 40's trounced their Open 40 brethren and did a very credible job of staying in the hunt with their bigger Open 50 competitors.

With two semi-custom Class 40's on the water, three semi-custom Class 40's on order and in build, as well as six Express 40's on the order books of Paul Metcalf's Sail Ventures, Allen and Merf have made a serious commitment to the Class. Allen sees the box rule, and the recent adjustments to the rule, as a challenge and an opportunity. He notes, "The box rule is focused on fast, safe boats that can have the option of cruising. There is a real dedication to maintaining cost control, which can be seen in the elimination of the canting keel designs as well as the limitations against the use of materials such as Carbon and Titanium. But the rule definitely allows designers enough flexibility to come up with innovative and very fast designs, all for a cost that can be lower than $400,000 USD." Allen goes on to state "Bolands Mills (the boat that Ian Munslow raced to a third place finish in the Route du Rhum) pushed the speed envelope for the class. She is a race boat, with the tools to be at the top of the podium in any race. The Class has recently tightened the rules, but I think it is safe to say that there are still opportunities to optimize the designed performance of these boats. The design for Michael's boat represents a logical step forward in development."

Hennessy's boat is being built in Devon, England by Martin Boulter's Composite Creations. Martin is currently hard at work on Alex Bennett's OCD Class 40 'Fujicolor', and Hennessy's boat will be using the same moulds as Alex's boat. The build should start in late April, for delivery to the US in the fall. After a fit-out over the winter, Hennessy plans to start campaigning her in 2008 in the classic middle distance races along the East coast, including the Block Island Race, Vineyard Race, Bermuda 1-2, ALIR, Newport Bermuda, Marblehead Halifax, Newport Solo Twin, Offshore 160 and his own Rock2Rock. Ultimately he hopes to be able to enter her in one or more of the trans-Atlantic races.

03/29/07