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Braveheart Goes Sailing
This is the new Brett Bakewell-White designed and Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders-built TP 52 Braveheart. While it looks very sweet, there is a fly in the ointment for the program. Brett shared a few comments with us about the boat:
Your readers may be interested to know that our boat is designed specifically for short course racing rather than offshore sleigh rides. The owner, Charles Burnett, has no desire to race in the Trans Pac race, however he may do the Vic-Maui or Pacific Cup race as a delivery to the new Hawaii series. This may seem strange, but he in fact wasn’t specifically motivated towards the TP52 class. During our initial discussions he made it clear that he wanted a fun fast boat for his team of sailors to enjoy sailing on and it had to go upwind. He suggested that the TP52 might be a good model for this but was more than willing to be talked out of it if we thought a one-off fun boat would be better – we discussed the options and decided that building a boat to a class specification would be a better investment for him and give some close racing at events like Big Boat.
Mr. Burnett has donated the class annual trophy, but it looks like he will not be competing for it himself as the class rules prevent his team from sailing in their current form. (Colin Booth is the regular helmsman, however because he is paid by Mr. Burnett to look after the boat and organise the crew he is not eligible to steer in TP52 class events. As a result “Braveheart” will not take part in class events unless the class rule changes). So “Braveheart” will likely be racing in the PHRF division in SF along with a number of other TP52s, whilst the three older boats sail by themselves. So the odds are not likely to be tested.
“Braveheart” has been designed to emphasise upwind and reaching ability in 8-20 knots and so it is wide and as heavy as the rule allows – max. Righting Moment is always quicker in these conditions. This means that the keel is biggish and the bulb is designed to reduce the Vertical CofG and to maximise the effective draft. More Pics | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
Cheer |
