Might this be ultimate sportboat? Brett Bakewell-White designed, 67.25ft, tons of sail (all asymmetric kites on 15 foot prod). Looks pretty cool to us. Interestingly, it is intended to be a shorthanded cruising yacht. Now that's a cruiser! For more info, go to:www.bakewell-white.com

10/28/02

Yesterday we gave you the basic intro to this 67' sport boat (As I called it). Here is the more detailed update, from designer Brett bakewell-White:

The boat is home built but is full Carbon/Kevlar foam composite construction. The brief called for a fast day sailor that the owner could sail with the wife and kids, so the deck layout is such that the yacht can be sailed two-handed, but we have also managed to arrange things so that they are not too congested when sailing fully crewed. A very comfortable cockpit, both sailing and at rest. There is no water ballast but the yacht does have a lifting keel to allow access to his marina pen. 8.2 ft with the keel up and 14.76 ft when it is down with 6 tons of ballast in the bulb.

The rig is designed around the dimensions of a Volvo 60 to allow the use of the abundantly available leftovers from various Volvo campaigns and has allowed for a very good sail inventory. The rig is carbon with spreaders swept at 22 degrees so that the yacht can be sailed without runners when shorthanded. The mainsail has an IMS girth profile to allow the use of a permanent topmast backstay but the boom is 6.5 ft longer than a Volvo to get back the area. The yacht has a comfortable if limited interior - two bathrooms, two double berths, galley and saloon, plus pipeberths for racing crew.

Two races so far and two wins! The first was the first round of Auckland's Gold Cup Inshore series and the second was the 1st Division of the 21st NZ Coastal Classic Race - a 125 nm coastal sprint. For more info, go to:www.bakewell-white.com

10/29/2002