Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

Above

The boat’s stability

inspired a great

deal of confidence

straight away, and

will readily enable

less experienced

sailors to push

their skills to

the next level

Below

1.The forward

section of the hull

is contemporary

in shape

2.Lines are kept

out in the open

to make for easy

maintenance and

aid understanding

of which rope

adjusts what

3.RS has not

skimped on the

fittings, as seen

with the high-end

spinnaker sheet

turning blocks

4.A familiar and

easy to use vang

purchase via a

cascade system

it has strong echoes of the shape drawn

by Shaun Carkeek for the new Fast40+

Rán. High form stability translates to

power and speed in strong winds, but

is also reassuring for newcomers to

move around a steady and stable boat.

he marked chines are primarily for

stability, but have the added beneit

of helping to keep the crew drier.

Two prototypes were reined before the

inal production model was produced.

“RSispreparedtoinvestproperlyinthis

part of the process,” says Whitehouse.

“hey don’t just accept our best estimates

• an important part of their philosophy

is to get the production boat exactly right

with feedback from sailors, dealers, etc.”

Most of the tweaks at this stage were in

line leads, plus a slightly modiied keel

shape to make handling more forgiving.

A lot of efort also went into

production engineering considerations

to reduce build time and costs. his

process also reduced the weight and

designed out opportunities for error

during the build process. In addition,

thehullanddeckshapeissuchthatsix

boatscanbestackedina40tcontainer,

which considerably reduces shipping

costs when competing in events overseas.

“Sustainability was also an important

consideration for us,” says Alex

Newton-Southon, the technical mind

responsible for design and development.

“As well as using a bio-derived resin

and recycled core materials, we spent

a lot of time looking at how vacuum

bags and so on could be recycled to

reduce the amount of waste from the

build process that goes to landill.”

he boats are built by Paul Jennings’

Projects by Design in Cowes. “We

were also really keen for it to be made

in the UK,” Newton-Southon says.

“hatwasabitofachangeforus,but

234

IMAGES: RUPERT HOLMES

July 2018 Yachts & Yachting 69