At some point in the summer of 2019, Composite Builders will open the big doors on the backside of its beige 30,000 square-foot fabrication lair and roll out its AC75 for Stars & Stripes Team USA. When this happens, you can bet the town of Holland, Michigan, will know all about it. While the everyday citizen may not realize it today, they’ll soon learn their little city on the shores of Lake Macatawa, once a hub of classic boatbuilding, has given birth to one of the most sophisticated sailboats the world has ever seen.

A dead giveaway of something America’s Cup is afoot in Western Michigan these days is the presence of a few new faces around the neighborhood. They’re here to build a boat — a wicked black one at that — under the leadership of transplanted Nova Scotian Brian MacInnes, a big-armed veteran of numerous Oracle Racing Team campaigns. He’s gone from grinding to working on America’s Cup boats: from IACCs to the Dogzilla trimaran and the Comeback AC72 of San Francisco.

RELATED: Second U.S. America’s Cup Challenger Goes Live

MacInnes (above, third from left) started the composites fabrication company after retiring from professional sailing in 2013. His wife Danielle, whom he met at a regatta in the late 1980s in Antigua, manages the books and keeps the place running smoothly. His son, Rock, runs the clean room and oversees Composite’s other day-to-day production items; like parts for Harken and the Paralympic medal-winning sit skis. MacInnes’s right-hand man, Jon Holstrom, lead boatbuilder for Oracle Racing Team for four campaigns, is essentially quality control and guarantee.

Business has been good since startup, says MacInnes. He’s had to move three times already, with his footprint growing exponentially each time. He only turned on the lights in his new facility in October 2018, just in time to gear up for the production of a foiling 75-footer for Stars & Stripes. His headcount is on the rise, currently at 30 or so, and more hands are on the way.

The Help Wanted sign is out. “Early on, we reached out to a few folks we knew,” MacInnes says, “but there are a lot of good guys out here [in Holland] too.”

They’re drawing builders from coast to coast, from technical schools and connections, and are eagerly looking for young skilled, technical laborers to back the core team. “We’re bringing them in, housing them, feeding them, and building a boat,” MacInnes says. “As this continues and ramps up, we will bring in the hydraulic guys, the electricians, and all the specialists that you need to run a campaign.” By summertime, he says, there will be 40 guys or so trying to find space on the boat to do their work.

“We’re really trying to tap into the younger generation to get them onto the scene,” MacInnes says. “We need to get the younger minds and backs on the team and train them up. I’m 50 years old now and I want to pass along what I know. It’s an awesome opportunity for us to mentor a new group of people.”

Granted, the unproven AC75 is a big step for Composite Builders. Taking on a build of this scale, MacInnes admits, isn’t daunting at all. “I know the guys are super excited. We’ve got a big place and the shop is full and buzzing. Hopefully it will show what West Michigan has to offer. The buzz is getting around and folks are showing up looking for work, so it’s good.”

By springtime, he says, there will be 10 or 15 additional guys buying coffee and egg sandwiches down at the bakery nearby.

Advising on the build, remotely, is Tim Smyth, a guru among New Zealand’s high-tech boatbuilding experts. Smyth’s company, Core Builders, once based in Anacortes, Washington, has had far and deep reaches into virtually every America’s Cup team of recent times, primarily with Oracle Racing. With Stars & Stripes Team USA having purchased a comprehensive design package from Emirates Team New Zealand, Smyth will consult when necessary with Alon Finkelstein, the team’s in-house senior engineer, who will liaise with the Cup defender’s design and engineering teams. Smyth’s role, says Stars & Stripes COO, Todd Reynolds, is to ensure boat No. 1 (of potentially two), is fast, safe, and reliable.

“It’s awesome to consult with Tim,” MacInnes says. “The team was lucky to be able to retain his services for this build. He has an experienced set of eyes and knowledge. The fact that he’s built every Oracle boat that’s come out of the shed since that campaign started…he just knows the ins and the outs of it all, from the ground up. A big part of this build is making sure we have the right information when we need it.”

With an experienced team coming into shape, activity is stirring inside Composite’s facility. Today, there’s a sense of urgency, but key decisions don’t need to be forced, just yet. “With a boat like this, it’s the small parts that bite you,” MacInnes says. “The internals and the framework that’s down below — the nuts and bolts of it. A lot of people like to see the shiny new hull, but really, it’s all the internals we need to get going. We want all the bits and pieces done so we can assemble it once we get our hull.”

Reported delays of supplied one-design components from New Zealand haven’t affected the team’s build progress to date (one benefit of starting late). “For us, it’s not a big concern because, being stock standard items, we can build around those pieces and then fit them in the end,” MacInnes says.

But the clock is running, and so too, are the shifts at Composite. MacInnes had his guys on the floor through Christmas and New Year’s Day as the boat’s major components took shape. He knows his timeline is dictated by the first AC75 regatta planned for Italy in October, and the boat would ideally need to be sea-trialed on Lake Michigan before it ships.

To date, the build has gone “swimmingly well,” MacInnes says. “It was a later start, for sure, but once we got rolling, the information has been flowing very well. Every time we build a boat like this you’re hunting for kilograms, and getting Team New Zealand’s design package behind us is a huge help with their engineering staff. We have the information we need to do it right, and we have a few tricks up our sleeve as well. We don’t have to do it exactly the way they’ve done it.”

When the team does eventually haul the big hull out of Holland on a flatbed, bound for the West Coast or the Mediterranean, whichever comes first, the police escort will either be under the cover of darkness or leading a parade through Holland with a marching band and all. When it’s gone, MacInnes can sweep the space it once occupied and start ramping up the next.

The post Holland in the House appeared first on Sailing World.

Richard Swaney leans his motorcycle toward the weathered corrugated-metal building on Zenda Road, the one with the big, curvy, faded Melges Boat Works logo on its side. It’s the very same building he rolled up to on his bike in September of 1980, while rambling around in search of a job. He knew nothing of fiberglass or sailboats at the time, but today, he’s behind every single boat that’s pushed out the door and into daylight. And when the Wisconsin sun hits that hull, you better believe it shines to the moon.

Swaney, 57, is one of three Melges employees with more than three decades at the company, and it’s in his dust-caked corner of the factory that the magic happens. Before a new boat gets its hardware mounted, it’s Swaney who works methodically throughout the boat, inside and out, fairing, sanding and polishing until it meets the standards of his impeccable, bespectacled eyes.

“I can paint good, I can sand really good, and I can make it shine,” says Swaney. “Those are the most important things in my job.”

His co-workers describe him as a quiet guy with a strong work ethic. There’s a rhythm to how he works with each boat, whether it be a scow, a sportboat, or anything else that lands in his space. He has a process he’s perfected over years of laminating, building molds, and doing every possible job at the shop. But finishing is most satisfying. Back when Buddy Melges was in charge, he says, Melges would never let them use power tools. “It was all handwork,” says Swaney. “That got me good at using a sanding block.”

On this day in June, he has a bare E Scow before him as he rhythmically slides sandpaper back and forth in small strokes across the rail. The radio (he alternates between country and rock) is barely audible over whirring saws, compressors and drills.

“I get it to the point where it looks finished, but it’s really not,” he says. “It takes me five days to block the entire boat.”

This year he changed his technique. He used to block the hull with 220, 400, 600 and then 800, but he felt he was always taking off the gelcoat. Now he inks the boat and takes his time with the 400. “It takes me a couple of days, and then I’ll scribble on it with pencil and go at it with the DA (dual-action sander) with 800-grit.”

Before he hits it with wax, he buffs twice with coarse, twice with medium, and once with Finesse-it. All told, this E will have 120 to 130 of Swaney’s elbow-hours in it before it gets fitted with hardware.

“My part is making [the boats] look good,” he says. “Buddy was good at making them fast and getting them out the door, but Harry (Melges’ son) is more critical about making them fast and perfect, so that’s what we do — make Harry happy.”

At the end of the workday, Swaney cleans up, clocks out, and mounts his motorcycle, handlebars pointed toward his home in nearby Walworth. While sanding away “in the zone,” he’s been thinking about finishing the oil change on his son’s Harley. He’ll be back tomorrow, no doubt, and for at least another 10 years, he says, because “they’ve always been good to me, and this place feels like home.”

There’s that, and there are more boats that need his gifted hands.

The post The Boat Artist appeared first on Sailing World.

The backroom of Zim Sailing’s headquarters in Warren, Rhode Island, Club 420s, Optimists, Flying Juniors, Bytes, 29ers and Zim 15s are stacked to the ceiling. Literally. The retail store out front is similarly crammed with sailing gear. I hear Bob Adam long before I see him. His voice rises above ringing phones and screeching screw guns fastening hardware to glistening new hulls. Adam is the fast-talking, fast-moving salesman whose enthusiasm precedes him, and on this day he’s jazzed about the orderly chaos surrounding us. The company is bursting out of the 11,500-square-foot commercial space it now occupies, and house-hunting is underway for something twice the size. From its humble beginnings as a builder of Optimists and Club 420s, Zim is now America’s fastest-growing hustler of sailing dinghies. But still there’s this popular notion that it’s just getting started. Zim, you ask?

It’s a fair question, given that founder Steve Perry first hung his shingle in 2008, not far from rival LaserPerformance (formerly Vanguard Sailboats), the Goliath of small-boat production in the States. Back in the day, Perry was in charge of production and streamlining costs at Vanguard, until his position was streamlined in 2007.

After Perry got his pink slip, he entertained buying McLaughlin Boat Works, the company that builds Optimist dinghies. That didn’t work out. So with the approval of his wife, Perry bet the house and struck out on his own with “next to nothing.” The timing, he says, could not have been worse, and his new business had a head-on collision with the recession.

“We’ve been going against the grain for the last seven years,” he says with a smile.

In its first year, Zim started building Optimist dinghies with a group in China. In early 2009, Perry shipped his 420 tooling to China so the company could expand its product line. When he didn’t know where the next order was going to come from, the parts business kept things afloat. To spread the word and make the business viable, Perry and Adam have been on the road as much as Willie Nelson. They’ve been everywhere, driving more than 25,000 miles per year to more than 25 regattas with the big trailer in tow. The 12-by-7-foot trailer is a portable showroom, the mothership for all youth sailors who forgot or broke something they need that day.

“Showing up at regattas is critical,” says Adam. “When Mom comes running over to you after Johnny launched his Optimist, and she has the tiller in one hand and the extension in the other, that’s when you can really make a difference. Not everyone needs a spray top to go sailing, but they need that tiller extension attached to the tiller.”

In fact, Zim’s presence is so ubiquitous at youth regattas these days that many sailors assume Zim Sailing is all about parts. The partners are quick to point out the reality, however, which is that Zim carries 14 boats in its line, with individual offerings for training, recreational and performance sailing. By proving they could effectively move spare parts, the Zim partners earned enough trust to sell fleets to clubs and community sailing programs. The orders started coming in, first with a fleet for Duxbury Bay Maritime School in Massachusetts, then Sail Newport in Rhode Island. Then they finally cracked into the college scene, with fleets going to Fordham, Columbia and the University of New Hampshire. To this day, customers have the owners’ cellphone numbers. And, yes, they frequently deliver on weekends.

Having risen from obscurity to stakeholder, Zim has established itself firmly in the competitive small-dinghy market. LaserPerformance, once the supreme leader in small-boat production, declined to provide sales figures, but one industry expert says LaserPerformance North America currently sells nearly 300 boats a year to the collegiate market. Add in Lasers and Sunfish, as well as recreational boats like the Pico and Bug, and it’s estimated to be a bit shy of 1,000 boats per year.

Yet where LaserPerformance once ruled the waves, Zim and other builders like the family-owned Melges Performance Sailboats, in Zenda, Wisconsin, have accelerated efforts to claim a larger piece of the audience. For these challengers in small-boat sales, the market is small — only in the hundreds of boats per year.

Melges’ president, Andy Burdick, says it builds around 200 scows per year. The latest addition to its line is the Melges 14, designed by Reichel/Pugh. Meanwhile Whitecap Composites is a boutique builder in Peabody, Massachusetts, and builds around 100 boats per year. Partner Paul Zimmerman notes that they build boats to customer specs. When Tufts wanted a new fleet of Larks, for example, they collaborated on a new deck layout for the boat. Whitecap also built a fleet of the next-generation Tech dinghy for MIT. The carbon-fiber boats are 150 pounds lighter than the previous-generation Tech, and actually plane.

Independent specialty boat-builders, like Jibetech in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, round out the market. President Andy Pimental builds Snipes, Y Flyers, Sea Dogs and Finns with an output of approximately 15 boats per year.

Amid this competitive set in 2014, Zim built 75 FJs, Zim 15s, Bytes and Mega Bytes at its Bristol, Rhode Island, facilities, and imported 270 Optis and Club 420s for a total of 345 boats.

The word “Zim” is an abbreviation for Zou Inter Marine, a boatbuilder in Qingdao, Shandong, China, which is a partner. Perry and production manager Zimmermann (no relation to the company name) visit the factory a few times a year and have created numerous quality-control protocols for their boats.

Their focus on the dinghy market keeps Zim on task. “I don’t think we’d want to be everything to all people,” says Perry. “We want to be great, the best at the boats we have. We don’t want to be an apparel company. We don’t want to go into big boats. Dinghies are what we do.”

When LaserPerformance stopped providing boats to the US Sailing Championships in 2012, Zim stepped into the void with Zim 420s and Byte CIIs. Then, in 2014, Zim debuted the Zim 15 at US Sailing team racing events. Designed by Steve Clark and built in Rhode Island by a team led by Zim’s veteran boatbuilders Greg Ormond and Gill Oliveira, the Zim 15 is all about speed. Even its development was quick. In only six months, the Zim 15 went from CAD drawings to 24 boats competing at the 2014 US Team Racing Championship for the George R. Hinman Trophy.

“They’re a really good partner for us,” says Jack Gierhart, the executive director of US Sailing. “They’re benefiting from our programs, and our programs are benefiting from their support. They’re constantly looking at boats that can support the growth of sailing or a sustainable future for it.” While most of the boats piled high in Zim’s Warren facilities are bound for racing or club programs, they’ve also expanded into the broader market of entry-level recreational sailing. Take the Dragon Pram from Holland, a rotomolded Optimist dinghy. It’s only 4 pounds heavier than a competition-grade Opti, but retails at $2,200 with sail and rig. Zim has also added stand-up paddleboards to the mix, and sold 80 of them to camps. “Our biggest market potential is the camp market and recreational — beach houses, lake houses,” says Adam.

Dealers have responded positively to Zim’s business model, which is to deliver a product at a fair price on time. “Steve is a very detail-oriented guy,” says George Yioulos, of West Coast Sailing. “He never gets too excited about things; he’s a very ‘by-the-books’ kind of guy, a straight shooter. The dinghy market needs someone who is reliable. If I call in an order for 10 FJs, he gets it done. If I need twenty 420s in certain colors, they show up.” Since starting in 2008, Zim has gone from zero boats sold to 490 boats sold by the middle of 2015. Perry says the company’s U.S.-based manufacturing is growing, and at some point the economics of building domestically instead of abroad will swing back to favor the United States. In the past five years, the cost to import a boat from Asia has doubled on a cost-per-boat basis. As long as they keep hustling, Perry reckons, they have all the potential to be the next big thing in small-boat building, and now that they have a dozen full-time employees and have moved into a 24,000-foot facility, they’ve got all the assets they need. For now, at least.

The post Small-Craft Hustlers appeared first on Sailing World.

The sweet spot for J/Boats has always been the 30-foot range, and in years past they’ve had great runs with models like the J/29, the J/30, and the J/105. To meet the demands of owners today to be able to haul and store themselves, the team at J/Boats has come up with a design that’s more versatile than any like models before it. It’s not revolutionary, the judges say, but when it comes to practicality, it’s perfect. At roughly 5,000 pounds, the J/88 has a deck-stepped rig and a single-point lift so it can be hauled with a hoist and parked in the driveway—or put on the interstate for the occasional class championship.

The J/88 was originally conceptualized as a daysailer, says J/Boats president Jeff Johnstone, but that market got overpopulated so they seized an opportunity to revisit their range with a design that Johnstone says is a “family boat with high-performance traits.”

“The stability and sailing comfort are right there,” says Chuck Allen. “They really got this one right. It’s big enough, yet small enough, to do a lot with. For a boat its size, there’s a big interior, a really comfortable cockpit, and there’s nothing intimidating about it. Upwind, the thing just locks into a nice groove. It practically sailed itself.”

Tom Rich praised the quality continuing to come out of Bristol’s CCF Composites (also the J/70 builder). “I think it’s an incredibly well built boat,” says Rich. “There’s nothing negative we can say about it.”

Greg Stewart agreed, noting that the helm has great feel upwind and downwind. The interior, he adds, has plenty of sitting headroom, a lot of volume for a family to weekend, and the construction, right down to the finish, is excellent.

With a Hall Spars carbon rig and a low vertical center of gravity, the boat is plenty stiff. The cockpit is set up for shorthanded sailing and efficient buoy racing. To get the ergonomics right, they built a plug and fussed over hardware placement so the T-shaped cockpit is obstacle-free and uncluttered with lines.

Johnstone’s philosophy is to not immediately promote a new model as a one-design, but they were at hull No. 39 in the order book as of press time, and one-design class rules were in development.

“One-design doesn’t happen out of the box,” says Johnstone. “For us, it’s about matching a boat to people’s lifestyles, and right now that’s primarily beer-can racing. At some point soon, however, we will have J/88 racing happening.”

The boat will ideally be raced with a crew of five, or three couples, he adds, and the provisional PHRF rating of 87 seems like a reasonable starting point.

Click here to see more photos of the J/88.

DEHLER 38: Best Crossover

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The Dehler 38 is one of those boats that will catch you off guard. It blends in at the marina or the mooring field, but on the racecourse, with good sails and a crew on the rail, it will catch the attention and the envy of your club competitors.

The judges agreed after their test sail that this 38-footer, built by Hanse Yachts in Germany, is the perfect crossover package for an owner looking for a boat with which he can do anything. It delivered on aesthetics and performance. With a clean, functional interior, and a reasonable price, the judges deemed it the best of the crossovers and best value of the entire BOTY fleet.

“The interior is amazing,” says Allen. “There’s really good quality throughout the boat, no cheap stuff on it whatsoever. But what really sold me was how well it sails.”

The Judel/Vrolijk team is responsible for the Dehler 38’s slippery shape, and while it’s modern and fast below the waterline, its beam gives substantial volume to the boat, which allows for standing headroom and a three-cabin layout. A few space-saving ideas help, including a nav-station desk that slides fore and aft, and a cabin door to the port side head that can be closed two ways. One way creates an enclosed head and the other creates an aft master stateroom.

“I felt like this is exactly the sort of boat that you could take anywhere and race,” says Stewart, “especially in the local overnight races that are popular these days. It sailed with a really nice groove, and I like the cockpit layout; everything is placed where it should be for a helmsman and his trimmers to do their jobs without getting in each other’s way. It’s wide aft and really clean. The steering system is nice and light, and I could see the telltales well from the helm.”

The competition version comes with a carbon rig and a deeper T-bulb keel. The test boat the judges sailed had the standard keel, and while they were impressed with the performance, they felt the competition model would be even better. “It’s a nice rounded shape that’s not submerged,” says Stewart. “That, combined with its powerful bow profile, makes it a boat that behaves really well.”

Deck hardware is all Harken, and the boat has masthead symmetric spinnaker gear, with the option to mount a sprit for an asymmetric. Either downwind setup will get you around the track quickly, and back to the club to collect your hardware.

Click here to see more photos of the Dehler 38.

RS CAT 16: Best Dinghy

If the America’s Cup inspired you to try catamaran sailing, RS Sailing, of England, has the boat to do it. The RS CAT16, a triumph of rotomolding technology, is not just another plastic beach cat. It’s plenty high-performance. This is one for adults and kids alike to get hooked on the stoke that comes with two hulls.

The biggest challenge with polyethylene boats, especially catamarans, is rigidity where the beams meet the hulls. To address this, RS designed the hull with a deep channel that runs the length of the hull. The beams are bolted through molded hull tubes, rather than directly fastened to the deck. This makes the hulls watertight.

The CAT16 is the first in a series to come and is available in two versions: the standard has a jib and main, and the XL, which the judges sailed, has a gennaker, as well as a single trapeze (a second trap is optional).

“It’s a great boat,” says Tom Rich. “I thought it was incredibly responsive, stiff, and well laid out.” Allen agrees, and adds, “With more breeze you’d be laughing, but what’s really amazing is the build and how well it’s all put together—amazing.”

At 300 pounds, it’s not the lightest beach cat, but RS wanted strength and longevity over weight, given the abuse beach cats get. The aluminum alloy rudders kick up, and there are no daggerboards to destroy during beach or dock landings. Long hull skegs are deep enough to minimize leeway.

RS aims for simplicity in every system, and that’s true with the CAT16; the mast easily pins to a ball on the forward beam, every halyard runs externally, and there’s minimal hardware. Trampoline pockets hide unused sheets and halyards, and there are proper safety elements, too, including a righting line and flotation in the mast.

It’s built using the same process they’ve used for more than 10,000 units: The outer layer has a UV stabilizer in the polyethylene, the middle layer is foam core, and the inner layer seals the whole thing.

The boat can accommodate four people, but it’s ideal for two. The RS CAT16 is also a boat on which one adult can go it alone with the main, jib, or gennaker and let their inner Spithill soar.

CATALINA SPORT 275: Best Recreational Racer

Catalina Yachts has built more boats than most builders could ever dream to—at least 75,000 at their last count. Over the years they’ve literally come up with everything from cruising boats to small trainers, but nothing ever with a sprit-flown asymmetric spinnaker. Adding a sportboat to their lineage was a long time coming. With the Catalina 275 Sport they’ve taken a big step toward catching up with the rest of the sport, but fear not Catalina enthusiasts. This may not be your grandfather’s Catalina, but it’s one we can assure you he’d happily own.

The design concept from Gerry Douglas, the builder’s long-standing in-house designer, is that of weekender, club racer, and daysailer. His vision was a first boat for young families, or a low-hassle boat for experienced owners downsizing from a larger boat. To get there he came up with a design that’s true to the Catalina ethos: simple, functional, and affordable.

The boat has accommodations to comfortably overnight or weekend, with a settee table up in the bow that drops to convert to a double berth. A galley to starboard with a drawer that fits a big cooler and an enclosed head to port bring it one level beyond roughing it. A cavernous starboard aft berth, says Douglas, was designed to fit a stand-up paddleboard—now that’s some California thinking. But the marquee feature, he adds, is the cockpit’s long bench seats, which are all about maximum-capacity harbor cruises and casual weeknight PHRF races. The standard rig package is an aluminum mast with a self-tacking jib. The retractable asymmetric spinnaker pole, which is bolted on the foredeck through Delrin collars, is optional but highly recommended.

“There’s a lot of boat for 27 feet,” says Tom Rich. “It was comfortable to sit there and drive from inside the boat, where you feel protected by the high cockpit coamings. It’s a bit on the heavy side [5,000 pounds], but it slipped along just fine.”

The test boat, which was not 100 percent finalized, was tested with a 4-foot-5-inch winged keel, which helped it track well at lower speeds but took away some responsiveness in the turns. Douglas said he would be changing it to a fin keel, which will help. Regardless, the judges were impressed with how well it sailed in their light-air test.

“Honestly, it sailed better than we thought it would, by a lot,” says Allen. “With the 15-horsepower Yanmar it motored really well, too. It’s a great little boat that does exactly what they set out to do—it’s a family boat that you can do a lot with.”

Click here to see more photos of the Catalina Sport 275.

TIWAL 3.2: Best Innovation

The “first high-performance inflatable sailing dinghy” from Tiwal, in Vannes, France, was the interesting new standout of the BOTY fleet. Any reservations the judges had were scuttled on the water. “The thing was a blast,” says Chuck Allen. “I couldn’t believe how well it sailed. You could have some serious fun with this, especially in big breeze.”

With a high-pressure hull the boat has remarkable stiffness for a 10-foot inflatable. An aluminum hiking frame attaches to the deck, and the 110-pound boat, rig, and foils pack into two bags. It retails for $6,250 with the larger, 75-sq.ft. sail.

Click here to see more photos of the Tiwal 3.2.

Xp 44: 2014 Boat of the Year

When an owner spends roughly half of a million dollars on a sailboat, he will expect it to be worth every hard-earned or inherited penny. He’ll want to admire it. He’ll want to stay aboard every chance he gets, and show it off to his mates at the club. Most importantly, though, he’ll want to know it’s built like a half-million dollar sailboat should be. And if it’s the Xp 44, he’ll want to race it hard, too.

Full credit for the boat’s seriously high quality goes to the designers, engineers, and craftsmen of X-Yachts in Denmark. The Xp 44, the judges agreed, is the real-deal big-boat crossover. Yes, it’s luxurious for a raceboat, and yes, it’s a performance cruiser at its core, but the elements that make it a great cruiser are the very same elements that make it a great boat to go the distance, in more ways than one.

“It’s amazing. This thing has the feel of a 60-footer,” says veteran Boat of the Year judge Chuck Allen. “The keel is nice and deep, and even though we tested it with delivery sails, it sailed awesome. It sailed the best of all the boats.”

With more than 30 years in the production boatbuilding business, X-Yachts has a cult following, especially in Europe, so it’s no surprise they’ve delivered more than 51 Xp 44s since the boat’s European launch in 2011. We’re told they have orders through hull No. 72. Top results in European handicap races against Swan 42s, TP52s, and the like confirm that given a good team and a proper sail inventory, the boat can easily be pushed beyond its rating (a preliminary Long Island Sound PHRF rating is a kind 31).

“I walked up to it, and it looked like a great yacht,” says naval architect and judge Greg Stewart. “It has an excellent profile and a bigger feel because it has that nice, wide, modern shape aft.”

Just shy of 44 feet overall—with a maximum beam slightly over 13 feet and light displacement of 19,000 pounds—it feels like a substantial boat. It’s conceived to sail “superbly” in all conditions, says X-Yachts dealer Bob Rogers, “which is what makes X-Yachts race winners and enjoyable fast cruisers as well.”

In a weight-saving change to its building technique, X-Yachts now uses a composite grid structure in the hull instead of a stainless-steel grid as they did in the past. “All that extra weight went into the T-bulb keel,” says the BOTY panel’s resident boatbuilder Tom Rich. “You can really feel it in the boat.”

For their test sail, representatives presented the boat with a full-batten delivery main and non-overlapping jib, and there was no spinnaker gear onboard. I was sure the absence of a proper downwind inventory would turn off the judges immediately, but not so. They were sold on its upwind performance alone.

“It has a great setup,” says Stewart, who has a keen eye to the efficiency of cockpit layouts. “The winches on this boat aren’t oversized, and they’re set up perfectly at the helm. The powered hydraulic backstay is huge for controlling this rig. An owner doing a lot of racing might find it better to put on three-speed winches to speed up the jibes.”

Belowdeck, the boat is open, bright, and airy, and designed such that the ends of the boat are relatively empty and light. The boat has a traditional three-cabin layout—forepeak and two aft with pipe cots if need be—and convertible amidships settees. The starboard nav station is on tracks and can be shifted fore or aft depending on its intended use. The salon table can also be easily removed for racing.

On deck, the boat’s versatility makes it ideal for distance and point-to-point racing. Configured to race with masthead symmetric spinnakers, the fixed bowsprit puts any asymmetric inventory well away from the effects of the mainsail. Sheeting angles and adjustments on the headsails are excellent, says Allen, and the powered backstay gives sailors a wide range to work with the rig. There was one electric pit winch on the test boat, which the judges say is a must for a cruising boat of this size.

The appearance of the Xp 44 is close to the X-Yachts “look” designer Niels Jeppesen has developed over the years, the judges say. That too is a positive, especially for loyal X-Yachts owners.

Click here to see more photos of the Xp 44.

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Americas Cup 34: Artemis base

While the fanfare continued at the America’s Cup Park on another sun-kissed day in San Francisco, the only hint of anything sailing related was Luna Rossa challenge on the water training with its AC72 (before later announcing they would not race the first match of the Louis Vuitton Cup). Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Bay, in Alameda, the revival continued inside Artemis Racing’s converted hangar where the team’s new wing sat disassembled. A small army of builders and crewmembers tended to the team’s second boat—aka the “blue one.”

In a surprise gesture to reestablish ties with the media, Artemis finally opened its doors for an hour-long base tour co-hosted by CEO Paul Cayard and helmsman Nathan Outteridge. In stark contrast to Oracle Team USA’s base, which has the appearance of a clean and tidy garage in which to store a few AC72s and wings, the Challenger of Record’s workspace looked like a sailor’s chop shop.

As Cayard and Outteridge led the media scrum from the reception area (with a friendly reminder of “no photos or video”) we briefly entered the wing bay before being led upstairs to team’s gym. Here, on a mock grinding pedestal wired to a computer, veteran AC grinder and powerhouse Craig Monk demonstrated his explosive technique, developed over 25 years in the business. He grunted through a 10-second burst that put out nearly 1,200 watts. The point was made: The sailors of the AC34 are lean, cut, and stronger than they’ve ever been.

After our extended session in the gym, Cayard led us to the shop floor, where we stopped alongside the lower elements of Artemis’s third and final wing. Here, too, explained Outteridge, the monumental task of regrouping and relaunching after the team’s accident was hampered by the new safety recommendations issued in May. The requirement that wing films be transparent in the lower elements prompted a change in skin material to one with less shape-holding ability, which in turn required additional carbon frames to be built into the wing’s lower elements.

As we made our way to the platform (boat) maintenance bay, past work benches and carts loaded with rolls of carbon-fiber sheets, Cayard brought us to a 20-by-10 wooden shipping crate, which held the team’s new daggerboards, beautifully curved carbon J-shaped foils that had just arrived from overseas. Nearby, skipper Iain Percy was getting his hands dirty, working alone, quietly sanding, and only once glancing up from his work to survey the group.

There is another set of daggerboards coming, said Cayard. Spares are a good thing to have.

“[To make a set of these] is very complex,” he said. “It starts with a mold that’s a huge block of aluminum about the size of this box (referring to the shipping crate). They machine it, which takes four to six weeks, and then they need to laminate. We have fiber optics running throughout them so we can measure the strains on the boards. The static weight on the board is essentially the weight of the boat—about 7.2 tons.”

The boat itself was a hive of activity, its bow sections wrapped in silver padding. The bowsprit had only been attached the night before. Whether intentional or not (likely the former), the boat was not included in our tour as we were led instead to a development area that consisted of a AC72 cockpit section, presumably scavenged from the wreckage of their first boat, with a grinding pedestal and hydraulic tubes led to a steel jig of a daggerboard case. Here, Loick Peyron joined in to explain the importance of data collection on land, which would be useful in determining at least some degree of precision and understanding of their daggerboard rake adjustments before the boat is launched.

“What’s important to understand is that the rudder elevators are fixed while racing so the control of the flying of the boat is done by the daggerboard,” Cayard explained. “Every degree makes a difference.”

Daggerboard rake adjustments, he added, need to be instantaneous, accurate, and repeatable when foiling at 40 knots. “Every team has put a lot into it [the daggerboard angle control], so to fast track it we’ve built this giant jig so we can start playing with this whole system so we’re debugged before we first go sailing. This is the type of thing we’ve undertaken over the past five weeks so we can seriously prepare to race the best we can while we wait for the wing to get done.

“We have a lot going on here, more than people think. We’re busting our butts so Iain, Nathan, and Loick take a boat that’s much more advanced. We’re going to launch a brand new boat and a new wing in July. That’s a tall order for any team.”

The opportunity of having Cayard on the subject of foils meant pressing him on the impasse that could put the Artemis program in further jeopardy.

“We had four rudders, two sets that we made for Boat 2,” he explained. “They were rule compliant before May 22. When the safety recommendations came out we were told they would be rules, and in good faith, we began a six-week process to make safety-rule compliant elevators.”

They “cannibalized” one set to do so, he added, and are awaiting their arrival. “So we have those coming, and we have the class-rules compliant rudders currently in hand. We’re sort of exposed because we don’t have spares as we did before.”

When the safety recommendations came out, Outteridge said, the team’s original rudders weren’t big enough. “They were like .26 and so we’ve had to rebuild ours to be .32, and we’ve gone to a symmetric rudder with them outside the beam because that’s what the recommendations say we’re allowed to do. If they say you have to be .32, and you have to be inside the boundaries, then we have an issue because our rudders won’t fit. So we’re good for the original rule and we’re good for what changed, but in between … we’re like six to eight weeks from making those.”

While Artemis await the jury’s ruling, however, it’s “full on” for the time-challenged challenger, and Outteridge was candid in his assessment of his team chances.

“I’ve watched every team sail and you get a good understanding on how to learn how to sail the [AC72]. If we can test the structures, get the boat foiling, and start to do our maneuvers, we’ll be in a position to go up on the City Front and do the racing, but until we get confidence in the boat, and our ability in the boat, we don’t want to risk anyone’s safety.

“We’re optimistic about our chances. The lighter the wind is the sooner we can race [the AC72]. Hopefully by August we’ll be comfortable in 15 to 18 knots.”

Cayard’s parting words, however, were ominous. “If the protest is upheld, if the other 35 requirements remain, which is the draft requirement and the .32 square meters, and yet the class rules have to be respected, then Artemis is excluded from racing.”

View photos from the tour of Artemis Racing’s base in Alameda.

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Giovanni Belgrano

More than ever, the responsibility of being the principal structural engineer in an America’s Cup campaign is daunting, regardless that the design and build of an AC72 is a team effort. At Emirates Team New Zealand, where Dalton’s boys operate a lean machine devoid of the frills and extra dollars that some of the other campaigns have at their disposal, the Kiwis appear to have designed a solid boat that has successfully transitioned from the Waitemata Harbor to San Francisco Bay. Fifty-two-year-old Giovanni Belgrano, principal structural engineer for the team, has worked in the Cup for 25 years on and off as a partner in a composites consulting company called SP Systems and specifically with ETNZ in 2007, Luna Rossa in 2000, and America3 in 1992. Here Belgrano explains how ETNZ has managed to keep it all together thus far.

What’s the specific goal of your job?
GB: The design is structurally driven, so I work with the design team to come up with the best solutions in terms of getting the most effective performance that we can and the structural stiffness and strength that we need to go fast. We’re now in the final stages of development which include final refinement but mainly monitoring performance of the structure and making sure we’re ahead of the game–sailing the boat harder now that we’re in the venue, learning the San Francisco conditions.

What have you learned about the conditions in San Francisco?
GB: We sort of knew them, but there’s nothing like actually being here measuring the loads and recording the structural behavior of the boat. To give you an idea of my day today, it was a sailing day, and I have to prepare the boat and get it in the water. Then I sit on the chase boat with an iPad and look at the strengths and loads in the structure. We have a number of values that we have reached in the past, and every single maneuver and every single angle that we’ve tried in race training. I carefully look on the water at what’s happening, then what I’m doing right now back in the office is typing a memo with a list of things to check after today; that’s because we’ve hit a couple of records in a few areas. Every day we try something different and record all the strains and the values with fiber optics on the boat, so I make sure that I can report which areas have been loaded more highly than usual today. There are only two areas today which is quite good.

Can you tell me what those areas are?
GB: The mainbeam starboard–we’re keeping an eye on the fibers in one of the main beams, and there’s an area on one of the boards which today has reached a higher level than before, so we’re going to look carefully at that also, in addition to the standard checks that we do. The shore team has a set of checks that they do post-sailing, and they’ll go on the boat and check those areas more carefully.

Are you able to “see” any issues that may be occurring on the boat as you’re following on the chase boat?
GB: We work on several levels; one is that you can visually look and see that the boat is going fast and the team is developing new maneuvers and racing techniques. The other level is that you can check on the computer from the boat instruments how fast they are going, how much wind, what angle they’re sailing, etc. The final level is … if we get too close to anything we’re going to get an alarm warning if we reached a certain level. We also reference all the records we have achieved, like the highest levels we have reached with certain loads. We load test the boat before she goes in the water, then we do another load test in the water. So that’s what I’m doing: monitoring loads while we’re sailing.

Have you seen changes in the structure over the 33 days that your second boat has been on the water?
GB: No, the structure has stayed the same. The only change is the way that we sail it, the maneuvers we do. They’re like kids–you have to keep an eye on them every single second because to prevent a failure, even to anticipatem we need to visually see, then we discuss the maneuvers the guys are doing. Then we have a much better understanding when we look at the data. It’s a high priority, but we only have one thing left to do … win some races.

What is a fiber optic load sensor and how are you using them?
GB: It’s a fiber made of glass not much thicker than a hair that transmits light. Little grooves are made in th epoxy, and the fibers are dropped into those grooves–the same as is used in telecommunications. The fiber is embedded in the laminate all over the boat: in the rigging, the daggerboards, etc. If you stretch or compress certain areas, a certain amount of light transmits through the fibers which provide us with data on how much stretch or strain has occurred. We spend all our time monitoring how much everything is stretching, whether it’s rigging, or laminate on the boat, or the daggerboards or rudders–how much they are bending.

How do you monitor its behavior within the structure?
GB: There are things called interrogators which can handle about 40 channels each, and they send light through these cables. At each point where we want to know what’s happening–it’s only sensitive at a given point, every 2 meters or 1 meter or 250 mm, they are manufactured for us to the specs that we want–at that point it stretches and the light will go faster through that part of the fiber. Therefore we know how much force there is on the laminate at that point. There is a computer in each hull, and we see the data via WiFi. Then we download it when we get back to shore. It’s pretty cool actually to see the boat highlighted and everything that is happening. We initially used to go on the boat to try to look at the data, but it’s nearly impossible with the spray; then the iPads go haywire and you have no screen! So we watch from the chaseboats instead, see the data, and talk to the guys on the radio.

How long have you been using this?
GB: This is new for ETNZ, and it’s our first time using it as a primary active system. It’s typically used for very specialized testing. It’s not that commonly used as it’s very delicate and complicated.

How were you previously managing the observation and monitoring of structural issues?
GB: A more old-fashioned but still more reliable electrical resistance system called strain gauges. They’re embedded into systems called load cells which are everywhere. Fiber optic supplements the load cells and the pressure sensors. There’s a lot of hydraulics on these boats (most of the controls on these boats are hydraulic)–all the hydraulics have pressure sensors so you can measure the pressure and therefore understand the force.

What’s the procedure if something looks suspicious while you’re out on the boat?
GB: We call them on the boat and discuss what we’re seeing if the loads are unusual. The boat gets synced to a thing called the blueprint: a number of standard settings. They don’t improvise, they sail by the numbers, and they can see the loads on board through all the load cells I’ve described. They do most of their adjustments against those load cells. They are very load conscious on the boat.

What’s been the advantage of the fiber optic system?
GB: We have more detailed information about what is happening. It’s actually a lot more to worry about! The more information you have, the more concerns you have.

How’s your speed out there?
GB: I think we’re building up to the regatta. Right now we’re focusing on venue development, understanding the venue–it’s very tricky to sail here–and of course skill practicing. There’s never enough time to practice enough and perfect all the maneuvers, meantime the boat has to hold together. We’re going faster all the time and trying new tricks all the time. Each time is a new experience.

Your thoughts on multihulls/AC72s in the America’s Cup?
GB: They’re a significant challenge engineering and design-wise. We’re not doing this because we like working on it, it’s what we’re told to do if we want to challenge for the America’s Cup. I don’t mind them–they’re interesting, but they’re certainly not practical. Technologically challenging, and generally speaking, totally impractical!

Click here to read more America’s Cup interviews from Michelle Slade.

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Hans Klaar

I can’t quite process the sadness of Andrew Simpson’s death during training for the America’s Cup, and what its implications will be (though I do know that the America’s Cup is a far too silly and cosmically meaningless event to be worth the loss of a life). Even before the Artemis AC72 trapped Simpson underwater and cast a pall over the 34th America’s Cup, it was hard to avoid the feeling that the whole thing had somehow–in its quest for television ratings and broader public appeal–become about something other than sailing. So I guess I was already starting to turn away from the America’s Cup, finding more inspiration and more connection to the essence of sailing in the ideas and adventures of other sailors.

I have written about the peripatetic and solitude-loving Webb Chiles, preparing to set sail around the globe alone (for the sixth time!) in a Moore 24. I have written about James Burwick and his young family, voyaging the Southern Ocean in an Open 40, and preparing to set sail again from New Zealand with a newborn added to the manifest. And now I want to write about a sailor and adventurer named Hans Klaar.

Klaar is a longtime voyager and builder of Polynesian-style blue water catamarans. He has weathered all types of storms in life, including a charge of rape and a stay in a South African prison (upon appeal he was released early). What I love about Klaar is that no matter the adversity he faces, he always finds solace and redemption in the simplicity of the sea, and the deep rewards of building and sailing your own vessel. That is the sort of story I need after a week of black news from San Francisco.

Klaar always gravitates toward the open ocean. So naturally, following his release from prison in 2011, he disappeared into the wilds of the west coast of Africa to build himself a new 72-foot voyaging catamaran.

He launched it in 2012, and set out north, first stopping the Azores, and then heading for Portugal. He sent me this progress report late last year:

“Boat sails well, becoming a bit of a monster in winds under 5 knots, and wave action really is not something she likes due to being so light. Otherwise had a fast trip up from Cape Verde–17 days to the Azores (sailed in the slipstream of a failed hurricane, Nadine), and got a perfect lift almost halfway by Day 5. Then the lack of engine made itself felt [in the Azorean High], but once out had three days of strong northerlys before the long prayed for westerly clicked in.

Same went for the Azores to Cape Saint Vincent stretch. Four and a half days for 700 miles, only to get stuck 80 miles out with no wind, waiting for the inevitable bad weather–in winter not uncommon–to roll you. Which it did four days later and cracked the already compromised mast, so that I really have to nurse it (until I find a new tree). I am now in Lagos, in the Algarve, on mainland Portugal, hoping to lay the boat up for a month while I go and spend Christmas with my family in Switzerland.

Boat performs well over all. I have been singlehanding this 70-footer since the Cape Verde islands. That’s how easy she is to handle. I also don’t steer any more–my $3 bungee cord and tweaking of the sail does it all. So that frees one up to doing absolutely nothing. It was fun to work and paint in the Azorean high. But once up in the colder parts all that one could do was lay up in the bunk and read, drink hot tea, and wait for another day and just keep warm.”

I never know when Klaar will next check in, but each update he sends me reminds me that life is not a rehearsal, and that there is a wonderful freedom that is the essence of voyaging, and wandering the globe according to the vicissitudes of fate and the wind. So I was happy to hear from him last week, and find that he wintered in the Algarve, plans to river-hop up the Portuguese coast, and bought a surfboard to wile away the hours ashore. He also has some ideas about Madeira and Morocco.

Even more interesting, it appears he ran into a woman who lives a life at least as unconventional as his own:

“Met this crazy chick who collects and consumes road kill–fox and badger being on top of the list. We did two car-bashed hares, but that’s about as far as I would go, and I consider myself rather inured against all. She also built four Irish coracles from fresh cow skin, which smelled to the high heavens. The coracles’ cow skins still had the cows’ tails affixed, which made a practical painter, albeit a bit on the short side. Paddling them was also something to get used to, but once learned it is a piece of cake and great for laughs.”

Fortified by the flattened hare, no doubt, Klaar has been working on his boat:

“I made a new main, 85 meters square, out of agricultural polyprop canvas. Took me all of three days to do and cost was $180. Should last two years, and it sets well as you can see. This is us, sailing out of Portimao early in the morning, with a perfect land breeze and light.”

The independence and whimsy of Klaar’s way of life has an almost irresistible pull, the sort of pull that, well, lures young boys like Hans Klaar to sea. For pure adventure, self-sufficiency, and seamanship, it exceeds anything the America’s Cup can offer a young sailor. And it’s hard not to contrast the two experiences when you take a close look at what really matters in life.

And here is the kicker: Klaar is looking for crew to join him for “a spot of river and coastal excursions in this region of Old Europe, if they are fit, from now till September. Just spare me the wannabes and sleepyheads.”**

So if you or someone you know is ready for a true adventure this summer, then a voyage with Hans Klaar could be just the right answer (not sure whether roadkill stew will be involved). Just send me your contact info and brief bio (timzimmdc@gmail.com), and I’ll pass serious inquiries on to Hans. **

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2009 Sailing Industry Study

At the Miami International Boat Show in February, The Sailing Company, publishers of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines, presented its findings of The Sailing Market State of the Industry Study, a one-of-a-kind look a production boatbuilding and charter activity. The study found that imports declined by 15 percent in 2008, and that the smallest cruiser segment, 20 to 35 feet, was hit hardest by the global recession, taking a 45-percent import decline. Accordingly, the 36-foot-and-over category suffered only a 10-percent reduction in imports compared to 2007. The biggest boats (46 feet and over) increased 10 percent. With regard to North American sailboat production, the study found a 19-percent decrease, dropping production to a level not seen since 1991. Forecasts predict further declines, with the smaller-boat segment faring better.

Download a PDF of the report.

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Sailing Industry Study 2013

Sailing World sponsors an annual study of the North American sailing industry along with its sister publication Cruising World. Working with independent market researcher Rick Walter, we survey over 200 sailboat builders, importers, and bareboat charter companies each year to compile annual statistics on the sailing market. The results of the 2013 study were released in February during the Miami International Boat Show. Domestic sailboat production was up 10% in 2012 vs. 2011, the first uptick in 12 years. Bareboat charters booked out of the North American market were also up, about 4% over the year before. The only downward trend occurred among sailboat importers, who reported only 195 sailboats over 20′ in 2012, a 17% decrease compared to 2011’s 236 units.

**Click here to read the complete PDF of the State of the Sailing Industry Report. **

Click here to access previous State of the Sailing Industry Reports.

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Kirby Torch

On March 4, Bruce Kirby filed a complaint in U.S. District Court against LaserPerformance, its owner, Farzad Rastegar, the International Laser Class Association, and the International Sailing Federation, alleging multiple breaches of contract, counterfeiting, trademark infringement, and misappropriation of Kirby’s publicity rights, among others. The legal action furthers a long-running dispute between Kirby and LaserPerformance (operating under different names in North American and Europe). According to the complaint, LaserPerformance has failed to pay Kirby royalties since January 2011, a sum of more than $200,000, plus compounded interest.

The 127-page legal filling says Kirby (and Kirby Inc.) terminated LaserPerformance’s right to build the “Kirby Sailboat” in Europe and North America last year because of its failure to pay royalties and thus multiple contract breaches. The complaint then extends to the ILCA and ISAF, claiming that both entities continued to issue official class plaques bearing the trademark “Bruce Kirby,” despite knowledge of LaserPerformance’s termination notice.

Kirby, of Rowayton, Conn., says the protracted legal battle is not how he envisioned spending his golden years, but an original agreement between he and his first licensee in 1983 explicitly states his rights to royalties and his ability to terminate any builder in default. Because of the litigation he could not comment, but referred to the complaint, which provides, in detail, the original agreement and amendments that have transpired over the years between he and LaserPerformance (doing business in North America as Quarter Moon Inc., and in Europe as LaserPerformance Limited).

At the heart of the original agreement is a clause that grants Kirby the sole right to issue and assign hull and sail numbers, as well as the right to refuse said numbers to any builder that defaults on the agreement. Unofficial plaques issued by the ILCA and ISAF bear his name, and therefore, the complaint alleges, are trademark infringements. Further, boats bearing these plaques are considered counterfeit and illegal for sanctioned one-design class competition.

LaserPerformance does own the Laser starburst logo and the Laser brand name, but by default, Kirby says he now owns the build rights, the Construction Manual, and all tooling, moulds, and plugs, and can grant them to another entity. His October 2012 letter to the International Laser Class Association references a “new North American builder of the Kirby Sailboat,” which will be “fully recognized by your association.”

A PDF of the complaint is below.

—Dave Reed

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