boatspeed.info

The medium of my profession

2012-01-17T12:55:00.003Z

Merry X-mas and the best results for 2012

2011-12-22T21:51:00.010Z

.....and to all the other nationalities I've sailed with this year:

Buon Natale e un felice anno nuovo (Italian)
Prettige kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar (Dutch)
Merry Milied u sena ġdida kuntenti (Maltese)
С Рождеством и Новым годом (Russian)
Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr (German)
God Jul och ett gott nytt år (Swedish)
Glædelig jul og et Godt Nytår (Danish)
Geseënde Kersfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar (Afrikaans)
God Jul og et Godt Nyttår (Norwegian)
メリークリスマスと新年あけましておめでとうございます (Japanese)
Vesel božič in srečno novo leto (Slovenian)
Crăciun fericit şi un an nou fericit (Romanian)
Feliz Navidad y un feliz año nuevo (Spanish)

Looking forward to see you in the New year.

Jochem Visser ( Dutch cheese, Boatspeed doctor......Cloggy)

The art of carving water

2011-09-12T16:37:00.000+01:00

IRC Nationals XP 44 impressive

2011-07-19T10:14:00.002+01:00

During the windy IRC nationals, organized by RORC on the Solent, the brand new XP 44 took the lead ahead of all the other production yachts and finished 4th overall.
On the first day of the regatta the Xp 44 even took the lead among the high ballast ratio's custom IRC racers but the remaining two windy days, with gusts up to 35 knots the 3 lighter custom Kerr boats took off downwind. She was impressive against the bigger, higher rated Grand Soleil 46 Antilope. Matching her speed in most conditions and beating her overall on handicap comfortably.

In more moderate conditions she seems to excel and point well upwind compared to her rivals. In the stronger conditions she was able to plane and excel downwind. She will be one to watch as the team sailing her is still learning to untap her full potential and more performance is definitely still to come.

Full results on RORC Website

Action pictures on Paul Wyeth website

On offer limited edition "Destructive art" by the artist formerly known as Teacher Tom

2011-07-18T12:53:00.004+01:00

I thought I would give readers the first opportunity to make a bid on 3 pieces of art created by the infamous artist formerly known as Teacher Tom but better known as the “Grim Reaper of kites”

The artist has produced a stunning reflection of inner aggression by shredding nylon in tantalizing patterns. Each piece, approximately 170 m^2, will be signed by the artist and caries a watermark in one of the corners (if you can find that piece ) which has the letter N above a S, which we think stands for Not Salvageable.

Each piece has been appropriately named by the artist:

Lot number 1:

“A3 asymmetric reflection of anger in 1.2 ounce”

Statistics: 158 m^2 of nylon in more than 8 pieces. This piece was created on Saturday the 16/7/11 and the original piece only survived 2 min and 15 seconds in the hands of the artist, a new record.

Lot number 2:

“S4 small tears lead to bigger problems”

Statistics: 173 m^2 of 0.75 oz. nylon. This piece was created by the artist on 17/7/11. It was carefully ripped across and then up and down both leeches to be finished by removing at least one clew and head.

Lot number 3 :

“S2 extended range of anger”

Statistics: originally 173m^2 of 0.5 oz. nylon stretched to at least 180 m^2. This piece was created on 17/7/11 by using a new method. The artist took the range of this piece to a new level by flying it in a 38 knots gust. This piece might also interest people who are into 1000+ pieces of puzzle games.

I’m inviting offers on each piece. The artist has been highly productive and went in 48 hours through 516 m^2 of nylon. An average of 10.75 m^2 per hour even when he was asleep!!!

It’s a remarkable period in his career and each piece will bring a lifetime of memories.

Seascape 18 nationals in Plymouth Race week

2011-07-18T12:50:00.001+01:00

With six bullets Simon Baker’s ‘Drama Queen’ is the MOCRA National Champion followed by Rupert Kidd, ‘Suenos’. On equal points for third and fourth place was Matt Baker and Julian Spooner. Back inside the breakwater the UK National Sportsboat Championship was continuing to provide exciting racing. Toe in the Water’s ‘Big Toe’, skippered by Sam Thompson won the J80 class, and in the Seascape Championships, Jochem Visser was the clear winner. Croatia’s Ratko Stibric was second ahead of local sailor Peter Wanstall. Runner up in the National Sports Boat Championship was Richard Littlejohn sailing his Open 5.70.

Afterwards at the prize giving in the race village marquee Barratt Homes Managing Director, Tim Larner, thanked the organisers for a successful event which they were proud to have been title sponsor for. And, after being crowned the Overall National Sports Boat Champion, Jochem Visser who was presented with a stunning Richard Vassey yacht sculpture, thanked the Royal Western’s Commodore, Chris Arscott for a friendly, welcoming and exceedingly well run regatta in some of the best sailing waters he had experienced.

Cool Runnings in the RTI

2011-07-18T12:46:00.001+01:00

Cool Runnings is ready to impress this season

2011-06-08T13:29:00.003+01:00

The new Cool Runnings, an extensively refitted Open 7.50 Finot design, is finished and left the Boatspeed doctor shed. She had one of her first succesfull outings in the Island sailing Club's Tuesday evening race yesterday which she won convincingly. See video below

Untitled from Jochem Visser on Vimeo.

.......testing the foot straps.......

2011-04-28T17:46:00.002+01:00

Work on the new Cool Runnings 3 is progressing well. In attempt to save time to lift the boat of the keel projectmanager Jochem Visser took a leap of faith, and some real finger power to lift the boat off. The foot straps are fine......

Noonmark VI with Jochem on Nav are the provisional overall winners of the Newport Bermuda race

2010-06-22T16:33:00.001+01:00

Hot from the press. It looks like the elaborate and precise preparation on the gulfstream and her bizarre weather patterns has paid off. Noomark VI is leading the overall handicap results under ORR. With many of the smaller boat still racing it's a waiting game to see if the results will stand......more to follow soon.

Location:Bermuda

Gulfstream going to be dominant feature in Newport Bermuda race

2010-06-18T11:48:00.002+01:00

The 2010 edition of the Newport Bermuda race is going to be a tough one for the navigators. With light winds forecasted and the gulfstream being wider then usual with both a warm eddy to the North and a cold eddy south being on the rumbline.

With currents aproaching 5 knots at places it is going to be essential to ride the complex eddies succesfully in this Newport Bermuda race.

Location:Newport Rhode Island

Arriving in style for the Newport Bermuda race

2010-06-18T11:38:00.001+01:00

Touch more vang please!! Just to stop it rolling a bit!

2010-06-14T20:19:00.000+01:00

How to mend a broken relationship!!

2010-06-04T10:17:00.000+01:00

Repair of a carbon pole

Deckman controlled through Iphone

2010-04-15T14:58:00.004+01:00

Iphone can now control your Deckman tactical software through a wifi link. Based on an open VNC/remote desktop connection which I have customised to suit the purpose and speed up the connection you can now control the software from your Iphone. Your basically use your Iphone as the external/remote screen and control. It works well and with the usual zoom action from Iphone user interface. Even though the screen is small it is remarkably well to use. I'm still tweaking the system to reduce the time lag when the iphone refreshes the screen but commands, like pinging the starting marks, all work instant with no time delay. See the video to see all the features.

Sailtesting

2010-04-10T21:59:00.000+01:00

To get something done is an accomplishment, to do it right is an achievement.

2010-03-01T15:13:00.004Z

The fruits of fairing a rudder to perfection.......faired, sprayed with Durepox........sanded with 600, 800,1000,2000........and 4000 grid. And than you have to do the other side...........................

Interview with the Dutch online magazine Zilt about the AC

2010-02-28T12:52:00.003Z

Interview with the "Boatspeed Doctor" on the recent technology in the America's Cup.
Pick up issue no 47 here and go to page 30:

http://www.ziltmagazine.com/zilt47.html

Or listen straight to the interview on thsi link:

http://www.ziltmagazine.com/video/nummer47-2010/jochem.swf

.......and for those who are not up to date with their knowledge of the Dutch language..............a great opportunity to learn some throat breaking manoeuvres.

The beauty of innovation.....

2010-02-28T12:34:00.002Z

If you want this picture for your desktop; click on this image and than right click and save image or save image as back ground

The deck's mould M34 is ready

2010-01-13T16:52:00.000Z

On January 11, the deck's mould had been removed from the mould. It will be operational very soon.

The hull's mould should follow in few days.

Meanwhile, Isotop Company is making the M34 composite keel fin. The first parts should be received around mid-February.

Is it a bird, is it a plane….?

2010-01-12T10:45:00.000Z

Port America’s Cup passers-by have been doing a double take recently due to the new arrival of two small weather planes at the Alinghi camp. Jon Bilger, Alinghi’s chief weather man, has the answers …

Can you describe these devices? Are they planes, gliders?
They are a combination of both. They are basically a plane with floats on them, so they can take off from the water and fly, but the idea is that we can measure the wind speed at any height we like. With a boat we're stuck at six metres but the planes can go to the height of the mast which is the equivalent of a 17-storey building.

What are these planes used for?
We're using them like a weather boat to measure wind speed and direction. They can fly relatively slow: from 25 knots up to 60 and we can cover a large area. The last America’s Cup was a race area of nine square miles and we have now an area of 450 square miles to cover, so we need some different equipment to do that effectively.

When will these planes be used and who will fly them?
We have two planes and we'll use them pretty much every day that the conditions are good for sailing Alinghi 5. The company we use is from Australia and we have a couple of experienced pilots to fly them.

Is this a landmark in the history of the AC weather collection?
Back in San Diego, they used helicopters for wind observation, so you had some sailors up in those helicopters to look at wind on the water, but this is quite a different application because we're actually measuring the wind speed and direction. It's quite hard to measure the wind speed and direction on a helicopter because of all the down draft, but on these we can do it very accurately.

How will the collected data help the team and the boat?
Because these boats are going so fast and because they are so large, the sailors won't be going up the mast unless absolutely necessary, not to spot wind. On an old America’s Cup course you could see quite a long way when you were at the top of the mast, so the decision making from the sailors was quite important but this time, because they are going so fast, and they tack relatively slow compared to how fast they go, deciding which side of the course is going to be done before the start of the race on the information we give them so it will be quite critical for them to go the right way. If the two teams go different ways they are going to be a long way apart in a short space of time.

How will the weather data collection work in the next AC?
Last time we were very fortunate to have the MDS (Meteorological Data System), which is a great programme. We had 23 weather buoys and a lot of land based stations, so a lot of the data we received was supplied that way. This time we have to do it ourselves...

London Boatshow.......

2010-01-11T19:59:00.000Z

London Boatshow.......lots of shoe polish .....but hardly any boats!! A reliable source informed me tonight that the Boatshow seems to be rather empty when it comes to realizing the dreams of a sailor. Years of dwindling visitors and the lack of overseas interest have made many yacht dealer think twice about participating in the London Boatshow. Due to a build up of the stands over the festive holidays and the related long build up time, the Boatshow has become an expensive investment for many of the dealers. One of them remarked " for the cost of presenting a yacht, build up the stand and staff it at a London Boatshow I can fly my customers in by concord!" Many are putting the emphasis on finding their clients in alternative ways through inhouse shows and marketing weekends.

The London Boatshow in happier (2004) times

New X35 tuningguide to be published soon

2010-01-09T07:37:00.000Z

The long awaited X35 tuningguide is close to completion. This comprehesive guide does not only address the usual rig tuning but is also full of usefull tips on how to prep your X35. With lots of pictures to explain how the work is done and plenty of speed secrets. Many recognized Cool Runnings as the boat to beat with consistent good boatspeed and top 3 results in all the key world events.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New M34 seems to be spot on

2009-11-29T22:22:00.000Z

The new M34, the chosen One-Design for the Tour de France a la Voile, seems to have all the right design parameters. Design and deck lay-out seem to be well influenced by the TP52's. The M34, built with resin infusion technology by Archambault in France, attracts plenty of attention worldwide and is a positive step up from the Melges 32. The latter seems to be very restrictive with it's current "owner only driver rule", even amateur drivers with good intentions have been oozed out of the class. Also many sailors disliked the lack of jib inhaulers and other key trim options on the Melges32. The M34 has an exciting set up and promises to be the ultimate replacement of the aging Mumm 30. Keep up to date on the class at www.m34.eu

Location:France

Round the Island Race Cowes 50 nm 20-June-2009

2009-06-20T13:13:00.001+01:00

Rising at 5am to an excellent breakfast, the crew of Seawolf walked through a damp and overcast Cowes to rig the boat early on Saturday morning.
Round the Island race attracts over 1800 yachts, from the slowest 24fters to the jaw dropping sleek canting keelers with their powered winches and professional crews. IDEC with round the world record holder Francis Joyon and Ben Ainslie on Team Origin Extreme 40 were just two of the participating multihulls.

At 0730 Seawolf got a good start on the mainland shore under jib, then peeled to Code Zero, then back to jib, in lightening winds and adverse tide. Progress was slow to the needles, where we avoided the submerged hazards, then hoisted the R1 and gybed back to the island.
Our goal was now to catch and pass "oystercatcher" a very similar although lower rated craft. We achieved this by St Catherines Point, where we peeled to the R2 as the breeze had increased. A weakening gradient wind was battling with the adverse nascent sea breeze and we were surprised to come round the point and sight the becalmed larger and much faster yachts in the near distance.
Gybing to the point of grinder exhaustion, we worked every shift along the shore and reached Bembridge ledge buoy having made huge gains on the fleet and left the raft of pursuing smaller boats on the horizon.
As we reached Bembridge we transitioned into the weak SW sea breeze and beat uneventfully up the island shore. Finishing at 1606, with 100fters Liara and Leopard in sight, we came third in class.
Tom Whitburn

Custom laser measurement machine to check foil shapes

2009-05-25T21:42:00.000+01:00

In house development is continuing with a new laser measurement machine. This laser measures foils and allows us to get accurate data on the fairness of the foils. Foils can then be graphed in a variety of programs to check the fairness and foil shape and compared to the original design. It also allows us to re-design foils around the existing base sections. Proper foil prep is one of the key elements of sailboat racing.

Article in the Dutch Online magazine Zilt about the recent breakages in the Volvo ocean race

2009-02-28T13:14:00.000Z

An article in the Dutch Zilt about the recent probelms with the VO 70's in the leg to China. Are these boats to light, sailed to reckless......is it the audience who demands this kind of spectacle....read more in the magazine on page 8.

http://www.ziltmagazine.com/flash/zilt35/nummer35.html

X-34 wins Boat of the Year trophy

2008-11-25T18:35:00.000Z

X-34 wins Boat of the Year trophy in the Hamble Winter series

During the prizegiving at the Hamble River Sailing Club skipper Tim Smyth not only collected his silverware for the IRC 3 class win but was also awarded the overall trophy for the Boat of the Year for best preformance over all classes. With a smile from ear to ear Tim Smyth left the podium with a rather large trophy.

X-34 wins the heavily contested Hamble Winterseries

2008-11-24T18:34:00.000Z

Aeolus must have had a bad week as the winds gusted up to 60knots in the Solent for our supposedly last race in this series. The race committee made a wise decision to abandon all racing as they remarked ”It’s time to put our toys away for the winter”

With our 7 point lead in this series and only 6 points in total out of 6 races, this made the X-34 the undisputable winner in the biggest IRC class with 31 competitors. Looking back on our series, the only non wins were caused by our own mistakes. Changing one win into a 7th due to a Z-flag penalty and another one into a second as we lost control of a spinnaker halyard.

Originally intended as a fast cruiser, I was truly impressed with her upwind speed and even in the lighter conditions she was remarkably fast always outpacing her opponents on any leg of the course.

She was primarily sailed by a relatively new amateur crew and driver. Although there were times where we made mistakes our boatspeed always came to the rescue. She is a well balanced boat and with her high stability she is easy to sail over a wide range of heel angles and courses. Our average lead on handicap was 2 minutes or more on a 1 1/2 hour race.

With the class in the past being dominated by X-332’s I think a new era has come. From a perspective of speed and comfort, the new X-34 has proven to be a true winner!

Jochem Visser

Cool Runninngs dominate at X-35 nationals

2008-07-24T18:28:00.001+01:00

At the Dutch X-35 nationals team Cool Runnings suprised friend and enemy after being very dominant in this highly competetive fleet with 28 entrants. The team sailed straight 1st's and where looking comfortably untill...... the racecommittee called Cool Runnings over on a black flag start in this no discard series. Although several witnesses clearly confirmed that Cool Runnings had a very conservative start the protest committee did not reverse the decision. This left Cool Runnings in 3rd place.

X-35 Worlds a near miss for Cool Runnings

2008-04-18T11:04:00.000+01:00

One Design - At the Next Level

The X-41 will be yet another hit on the sailing scene. She will be sporting the latest within fast hull and appendage design; a non overlapping headsail confi guration; double spreader, carbon mast and boom from one of Europe’s leading suppliers; large diameter carbon wheel; all trimlines leading to both sides of the coach roof; and a backstay adjustment run via the Magic Wheel.

X-yachts

Conny van Riestchoten trophy (Dutch yachtsman of the year)..... in Dutch

2007-11-22T18:32:00.000Z

Op donderdag 22 november 2007, werden de winnaars bekendgemaakt van de Conny van Rietschoten Trofee 2007. Het zijn Marcelien de Koning en Lobke Berkhout die voor de tweede derde maal op rij de Conny van Rietschoten Trofee winnen.

De jaarlijkse ‘Zeiler van het jaar’ uitreiking vond plaats in de Sociëteit van de Koninklijke Roei- en Zeilvereeniging ‘De Maas’ in Rotterdam in het bijzijn van eenieder die in de zeilwereld een rol van betekenis vervult.

Het juryrapport:

‘Hoewel er in het afgelopen jaar door meerdere zeilers geweldige prestaties zijn neergezet, was het voor de jury niet moeilijk tot een keuze te komen.

Drie keer is scheepsrecht moeten Marcelien de Koning en Lobke Berkhout hebben gedacht toen ze dit jaar aan het WK begonnen. Na hun titels in San Francisco in 2005 en Rizhao in 2006 was het in het Portugese Cascais opnieuw raak. De jury heeft diep respect voor deze uitzonderlijke prestatie. Een prestatie die ook in Den Haag niet onopgemerkt is gebleven en de Koningin heeft kunnen behagen, want het duo ontving na afloop van de prijsuitreiking bij het Open Nederlands Kampioenschap een koninklijke onderscheiding.

De jury onderschrijft de woorden van de Commissaris van de Koningin in Noord-Holland, de heer Borghouts, die Marcelien en Lobke op 7 oktober jongstleden de versierselen omhing welke behoren bij het ridderschap in de Orde van Oranje Nassau. Drie keer achtereen wereldkampioen en dat onder zeer verschillende omstandigheden, is een unieke prestatie in de Nederlandse zeilsport. En wie dat klaarspeelt, is simpelweg de beste.

Maar Marcelien en Lobke zijn van mening dat volgend jaar de kroon op het werk moet worden gezet met een gouden plak op de Spelen. Niet voor niets hebben de dames hun campagne Xpedition Gold genoemd. De jury wenst het duo dan ook heel veel succes toe op de Olympische Spelen.’

De Conny van Rietschoten Trofee is sinds 25 jaar de belangrijkste zeilprijs van Nederland. Hij is vernoemd naar een van de grote zeilers die ons land heeft voortgebracht, Conny van Rietschoten, in 1977/1978 en 1981/1982 winnaar van de Whitbread, een zware zeilrace rond de wereld. De huidige naam van de race is Volvo Ocean Race.

De Trofee wordt elk jaar uitgereikt aan een Nederlandse zeiler of zeilster, die zich heeft onderscheiden door een opmerkelijke prestatie in wedstrijdverband, dan wel aan een persoon die zich op bijzondere wijze voor de zeilsport verdienstelijk heeft gemaakt.

Aan de watersporters van Nederland is de afgelopen maanden gevraagd kandidaten voor te dragen in een of meer categorieën.

Kandidaat-genomineerden waren dit jaar:

Margriet Fokkema/Marieke Jongens en Nina Keijzer/Anneloes van Veen (Categorie Jeugdzeilen/surfen), Marcelien de Koning/Lobke Berkhout en Pieter Jan Postma (Categorie Internationaal en Olympisch zeilen/surfen), Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen en Jochem Visser (Categorie Zeezeilen) en Fred Imhoff en Gerard Dijkstra (Categorie Bijzondere verdienste). De vetgedrukte namen zijn de categorie-winnaars.

Uit deze winnaars koos de jury dus Marcelien de Koning en Lobke Berkhout als winnaars van de Conny van Rietschoten Trofee 2007.

Stichting Zeiltrophy

Hans Zuiderbaan

voorzitter

Best navigator Fastnet 2007

2007-08-28T18:29:00.000+01:00

RORC ANNUAL CHALLENGE TROPHIES & SPECIAL AWARDS

2007 YACHT OF THE YEAR

winning the

SOMERSET MEMORIAL TROPHY

for outstanding racing achievement by a yacht owned or sailed by a RORC member

as voted for by the RORC Main Committee. In recognition of winning the Rolex Fastnet Race,

and second place in IRC in the HSH Nordbank Blue Transatlantic Race 2007

CHIEFTAIN, (Cookson 50) Ger O’Rourke

Navigator/Tactician Jochem Visser wins Afred Loomis trophy for best navigator in the fastnet 2007

A picture speaks a thousand words.................

How the Fastnet was won

2007-08-21T18:28:00.000+01:00

When I started to look at the first weather routing options on Thursday, before the start of the Fastnet, we were still on the entry waiting list. However owner Ger O'Rourke is one of those people who never ever gives up (a quality I highly admire in him) and was relentlessly pushing the crew and RORC to find some way to enter the race. The good news came on Friday and luckily the boat was already prepared and the crew was ready to go.

Whilst doing my first routing, based on several weather models, I realized that the two stage passage of the fronts with 35-40 knots of breeze and related shifts seem to match perfectly with our routing animation, reaching each key part of the course at the right time, matching the tidal gates as well. As we came closer to the start the newer forecasts seemed to delay the second front with 60-70 degree right hand shift, which meant we would reach the Rock too quickly to benefit from this shift. When RORC decided to delay the start for 25 hours suddenly it all started to look more promising. With plenty of wind forecasted it looked like it would become a "classic" Fastnet.

Starting in a breeze of 16-20 knots and in a west going tide it was important to play the tides coming out of the Solent and use the compressed currents of the Shingles bank to "propel" us out past the Needles. With all six independent weather models predicting an early left hand shift we took the unusual option to stay on Starboard tack on the short leg of a long 180 mile beat to Lands End. This worried us all, as progress on this tack towards Portland Bill and Star point, with their imminent tidal gates was slow. As the shift didn't seem to arrive in time, I decided to tack earlier rather than wait for the shift, to ensure we would make enough progress towards the west to make the Star point tidal gate. Within hours after the tack we slowly got lifted onto a perfect lay-line to Star point.

As predicted, in the first night the wind went further left and quickly increased to 35 knots. Taking its toll as a big part of the fleet retired that night. We managed well with two reefs and the No 4 up. Chieftain is a well traveled boat and has raced many miles. This is one of the key factors of her success as the boat has been well tested and excellently maintained by boat captain Mark Tighe. Coming up to the Lizard, in the early hours of Tuesday morning I had a bit of a shock when I realized, after a short nap, that we had made virtually no progress. After investigation I found out that the active GPS antenna had shorted and brought down the GPS with it. The handheld GPS gave up the ghost as well. Luckily I had brought my wrist GPS as well as a very battery hungry handheld plotter. Therefore, navigating the remainder of the race primarily on dead-reckoning and an occasional fix to save batteries.

At Lands end the wind dropped to a mere 6 knots, far less than I expected, and became worried about our timing to the Rock. A late arrival would mean a beat to the Rock as the front would move over. The crew pressed very hard on this fetch and with the wind returning to 20-25 knots all looked OK. Getting headed just 5 miles before the Rock we gently tacked and got lifted perfectly to round the Fastnet with the breeze now behind us. A short run to the Panteanius buoy followed by a perfect reach to the Scillies in an increasing breeze of 25 - 35 knots. In this stuff Chieftain excels as she is one of the most controllable boats I have ever driven downwind. With a high 5 metre swell still coming in from the Southwest it wasn't an easy ride though. A bit like trying to take speed-bumps with your car at 70mph!!. With speeds ranging between 18 and 26 knots, we quickly climbed the handicap ranking. This was further helped by the fact that we managed to keep up with the front where the breeze was more headed than for our opponents.

The jibtop reach from the Scillies to the finish was quite straightforward. With speeds still regularly over 20 knots you realize how great it is to sail a canting keel boat. In my 20 years as a professional sailor I feel a canting keel is by far the best investment per knot you can get. Especially if you look at the money we have had to spend in the last decade on carbon masts, rudders and other high tech gear which each gave us a few tenths of a knot more of boatspeed! For those sceptics, I can only recommend one remedy: sail one and you will be cured.

Coming over the finish, a typical Irish celebration started which lasted far longer than my Dutch body could cope with. Ger O'Rourke and his crew can be proud. It is their dedication and commitment way beyond what the ordinary sportsman is willing to put in which has made this campaign so successful over the last few years.

Jochem Visser

Tactician & Navigator Chieftain

08/21/07

X-35 Worlds a near miss for Cool Runnings

2007-07-24T18:26:00.000+01:00

After leading the X-35 worlds In Kiel for most of the series, Thorkild Juncker and his talented crew under the guidance of Jochem Visser, had to settle for 2nd as the last race was shortened. The crew fought hard but after a bad start the team could just not recover enough ground in the extremely short race which was shortened after only one beat and

one run.

Cool Running in the X-35 Worlds 2007 achieving a 2nd overall after leading most of the series

BMW round Ireland race

2006-11-24T18:12:00.000Z

BMW round Ireland race

FORTIS IRC UK NATIONALS

IRC SZ

Ger O’Rourke’s Cookson 50 Chieftain was the runaway winner but surprised many by also winning in light airs which should not have suited the yachts design compared to the other competitors. Ger O’Rourke commented after racing: “I have really enjoyed the event and having the opportunity to show what Chieftain can do. Most of the crew come from West of Ireland but we were very happy to have some local talent on board. It’s just a pity that we will not be racing in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup but I understand the reasons for that. We have grand plans for the season and will be heading off to race around Ireland shortly. When I started the campaign I was planning on doing a lot of offshore sailing but after this I will definitely be racing round the cans again.”

2nd was Panthera owned by Benny Kelly and 3rd in class Kit Hobday’s Bear of Britain.

KINGSPAN CHIEFTAIN VICTORIOUS in Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race

2006-08-16T18:22:00.000+01:00

KINGSPAN CHIEFTAIN VICTORIOUS in Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race

An elated but exhausted crew on Kingspan Chieftain went through the finish line at Cowes just after 8 pm on Tuesday night, whilst the race is still on for many of the fleet, Kingspan Chieftain’s corrected time can not be beaten for the gruelling 1780 mile SevenStar Round Britain and Ireland title.

Kingspan Chieftain team celebrating the finish of the RBI

Ger O’Rourke brought his beautiful Cookson 50, Kingspan – Chieftain, ghosting across the Royal Yacht Squadron finish line in Cowes to cap an utterly dominant performance in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race and claim the overall prize for IRC Division A. In winning this coastal classic, one of the flagship RORC races of the season, O’Rourke adds to his impressive list of victories around the world that started with a class win in the 2005 Rolex Sydney – Hobart Race, a corrected time victory in the 2006 BMW Round Ireland Race and an outright win in this year’s Fortis IRC Nationals.

“The boat is just fantastic to sail. I have never experienced anything like it, on the run down the east coast, we had an amazing amount of sail area up for the conditions but the Cookson 50 was so stable and every time we buried the bow into a wave she popped right back up. It was just the most awesome sailing for two days but I must admit that the stony silence on deck a we topped out at 26 knots in the pitch black of night with water everywhere had an element of fear factor in it.” explained British crewman Tom Whitburn.

“Kingspan Chieftain is a superb boat for offshore racing but a lot of credit must go to the hard work of the crew, they are all good lads, cracking guys, myself I am the oldest man on the boat but besides Jochem Visser, the navigator, all theses lads are in there twenties and I am really happy for them as much as myself that they have done so well, I would have to give special thanks to Mark Tighe, the boat captain, he has done a great job in preparation as well a sailing her.”

Kingspan Chieftain is now safely moored up in Hamble but it will not be long before she is back in action again, she is entered for the RORC Cascais race, on the first of September, 750 miles from The Solent to Cascais in Portugal, taking on all mother nature can throw at them.

UPDATE 15 AUGUST SEVENSTAR RBI

2006-08-15T18:21:00.000+01:00

Kingspan – Chieftain: Wet & wild ride down the East coast

After over 5 days of beating into strong and viciously gusting headwinds, Kingspan Chieftain had a memorable sleigh ride down the East coast of the United Kingdom, Kingspan Chieftain revels in these conditions, her canting keel increases righting moment and her light carbon fibre hull means she is like a rocket ship down waves, with boats speeds in excess of 20 knots for much of the time, Kingspan Chieftain was eating up the miles to the finish and with about 90 miles to go looks like Ger O’Rourke’s team will be winning the overall prize for the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. But the downhill slalom ride has taken its toll and the crew are soaked through and close to exhaustion. The Cookson 50 has just entered the Dover Straits and needs to cross the finish line at Cowes, Isle of Wight by 23:09 tonight, the race is certainly still on but the mood on board is very good and victory is close by, as Jochem Visser navigating on board explains: “We had a rough, tough last 30 hours, with wind speed ranging up to 35 knots, we pushed the boat to the limit with speeds in the 18 to 26 knots range. At those speeds Kingspan Chieftain is like a wild bucking bronco and extremely wet, because of her swing keel and high sailing angles the bow wave drenches the whole boat, it is like a very powerful fire hose! Our downwind ride has been exciting but we have paid the price with two spinnakers in kite heaven, a boat totally soaked in water and a crew staring around with blood shot eyes due to the immense amount of salt water they have to deal with. We can smell victory around the corner, we are nearly there and it feels very good indeed.”

Chieftain, overall IRC winner, at the start of the Round Britain & Ireland with Artemis the eventual linehonours winner to leeward

Bish Bash Bosh!

2006-08-10T18:16:00.000+01:00

Louay Habib 10.08.06

The SevenStars Round Britain and Ireland continues today with the leaders experience some pretty sever weather conditions on the west coast of Ireland. Currently winning the race on corrected time, Kingspan Chieftain

are beating into head winds gusting up to 33 knots and are just south of Black Rock off the coast of Galway.

Kingspan Chieftain’s navigator Jochem Visser spoke by satellite phone about the conditions on board;

“It is really uncomfortable down below and really wet on deck, it is pretty wet down here as well as I lost the battle to stay on the toilet this morning, I won’t go into any details but it was quite messy! We also had some problems with the code 3 gib which blew the tack shackle off and damaged the luff tape. After a few hours stitching it is all back together now. ”

Mike Broughton of winningwind.com has sent this analysis of the weather picture;

“The lead boats are experiencing strong north westerly winds of between 23-33 knots coming from Iceland and the seas state is adding to the discomfort of beating into this head wind with waves of about 3 meters.Ocean weather buoys in the vicinity are showing 2 knots north westerly. These conditions are likely to remain the same for a while possibly until Saturday morning.

Further back in the fleet in the vicinity of the Fastnet Rock, the fleet are experiencing north westerly winds of 18-25 knots generated by a low pressure system in the North Sea and affected by a high pressure system 300 miles off the south west of Ireland.”

Hydro foil sailing yacht

2006-03-14T19:55:00.000Z

The eXplorius was awarded 1st price of the Pininfrarina design award in 2006

Arnold Freidling

X-35 IN THE WARSASH SPRING SERIES

2006-03-12T18:06:00.000Z

X-35 Gets off to a great start

Only 24 hours after arriving by truck, we managed to get the X-35 on the water for a short 2 hour tuning and training session. On the short sail in 8 knots of breeze, she felt great and showed great speed towards an IMX 40. The next day we competed in the first race of the Warsash Spring Series. With a rating of 1.057 we were in the competitive IRC 2 class with 26 entrants.

The conditions were quite different from the tuning day before, with 15 to 24 knots of wind, we had to do some more tuning of the rig, nevertheless, she showed excellent speed and height off the start and although we were still learning how to sail her, we managed to go around the first windward in 2nd place just seconds behind the first boat.

As we are one of the smallest rated boats in the fleet, the X-35 was solidly in the lead at the time. On the next jib reach and spi reach, she showed great speed and hung onto the bigger boat easily. On the next two beats the wind increased to 20+ knots and we lost some on the two leaders of the fleet. Primarily because of a windshift and the fact that we sailed the boat with a crew of 8 instead of the 10 allowed for this IRC series.

With the tide increasing, the two leading boats sailed slightly ahead of us on rating leaving us in a credible third place. We were extremely happy with the result, considering we had had very little experience in the boat and spent most of the race getting to grips with her. During the race, she showed phenomenal speed and height upwind and was really fine to helm. I can't wait until the next race to reveal more of her hidden potential!

Jochem Visser / X-Yachts (GB) Ltd.

FARR IRC 46 C/R

2005-08-18T10:37:00.001+01:00

The new 46' racer/cruiser is the result of collaboration between Vismara Yacht Design and Farr Yacht Design.

A careful research was carried out for this sailing boat in order to optimise her rating for the IRC class rules. For this reason, both design offices have analysed the principal characteristics of different vessels, which are racing under the IRC rules at the moment.

Farr Yacht Design have developed different hull shapes, appendages and sail plans, while Vismara Yacht Design developed the materials specification, the interiors and the deck layout and carefully analysed the racing conditions in the Mediterranean Sea in order to optimise the performance.

This new racer/cruiser results particular against the IMS class and the mass production boats such as X-Yachts and Grand Soleil:

- The hull lines are wider at stern and higher sides to obtain a longer-dynamic waterline

It has a large sail area of 126 m 2

- It has a high stability index, with a keel weight of 4800 kg

- The boat is made of vacuum bagged E-glass and carbon/epoxy sandwich in order to obtain a very light vessel

Not only the performance of the boat was carefully studied for the IRC class but also his interiors. The vessel has three comfortable double cabins and a forward toilet (another one can be added on request). The interiors layout is symmetric and it was studied to be easily transformed from a single wide-open space during racing to more private areas during cruising.

The interiors style is typical of the Vismara sailing boats. It's warm and welcoming but at the same time very modern, mixing the composite materials of the hull and bulkheads to ‘Tanganica’ plywood panels in order to obtain the effect of separation between structures and furniture, even if every panel has an important role in the overall structure. In this way the boat results much lighter but also robust.

The boat is now under construction at Marine Services boatyard in Viareggio (Italy) and it is due for launching at the beginning of Summer 2006.

Farrdesign

Cookson 50

2004-03-18T10:33:00.001Z

It is like a natural cycle by now. Every few years Mick Cookson decides that it's time he built himself a new boat, and after much doodling and invention, out pops something that is fast, fun to sail, and hopefully, commercially attractive.

His two most recent High Five yachts were the Cookson 39, which proved very competitive during the heyday of the IMS rule, and the Cookson 47, a development of Big Apple, which, with its sister ship Seahawk, won the 2000 Kenwood Cup in Hawaii. Both were from the drawing boards of Farr Yacht Design in Annapolis, MD

Now his sights are set on a 50-footer with a canting keel and trim tab arrangement. As with all his own projects, he has once again chosen Farr Yacht Design to develop the concept, which is aimed at plugging a hole in the market for an affordable, seriously quick, high-performance production