We can’t speak for all of our wide-ranging and extremely well informed readership, but we have certainly not seen one quite like this before. What appears (opposite) to be a rather lovely, wheel-steered little ‘yacht’ transpires to also have a particularly cool and ultra-modern interior (above)… but then turns (left) into a screaming dervish when unleashed off the wind in a big breeze. That Andrej Justin is a clever fellow – as we knew from the RC44
in full ‘minivan’ set-up. However, when racing the runners allow better sail trim and additional rig security in extreme conditions (the L-30 was clocked by GPS at 24.7kt boatspeed in 35kt TWS – and with surprisingly dry decks). But the rig and sail area are definitely not oversized for the length of boat, Luka’s requirement being that there should be no need to reef until at least 14kt TWS shorthanded and 18kt fully crewed.
However, despite the good VPP numbers, we were still a bit concerned about light-air performance and we were initially considering a taller mast option as a back-up plan. But on the second trial day, with 4-6kt of TWS, we were quickly reassured that there was no need for more power on the easily driven hull. Plans: the father of this project Rodion Luka has a great vision
for promoting sailing in his country that I will leave him to talk about below. The creation of the L-30 was driven by the need for a ded- icated tool that will allow him to deliver on his ambitions. However, out of that seed of inspiration we believe that we have come up with an unusual little yacht, the L-30, a proper yacht with perfor- mance, interior features, ease of use and low operating costs that are worthy of serious consideration by those looking for a fast coastal racer that you can still comfortably spend a night or two on. Oh yes, one more thing, our little planing offshore cruiser-racer is yours for €69,250 ex-sails and tax. Andrej Justin, Croatia
Happy owner – happy designer
Not many people in Ukraine can afford racing boats so we had to find an alternative sporting model if we were ever to develop the sport here. Our sailing season is only six months long from May till November, but to have a boat with a sensible return on your investment you need at least 40 days on the water. However, with our very changeable weather most people here don’t actually manage more than 20 days’ sailing in a season and so the economics of owning a yacht are immediately compromised.
So what ‘our’ programme provides is a fleet of company-owned identical racing boats with the offer of a season of well-organised, good-quality racing and at a reasonable price. The entry fee for the programme includes a well-maintained racing boat and a professional tactician, ideal for an amateur team of four or five people who still want to compete successfully whenever they can get afloat. To ensure that every team has a chance of winning, after each of our races the tactician who finished first goes with the team who finished last, for the next race, second to second last and so on. The changes are done quickly using our umpires’ RIBs. Just as in match racing we use a team of umpires on the water who rule promptly on every incident; we have found our novices learn much faster this way. A nice motivation for tacticians is that they earn bonuses which are then paid by the winning teams. We try to do five races a day and the ‘club’ then runs a ranking ladder for tacticians which means that they also compete for private coaching work between the regattas. The teams in turn are more motivated to spend more time on the water as success depends not on buying a boat, selecting sails or a more expensive tactician, but mainly on their skill as yachtsmen and women.
The Platu 25 was a good boat for us to start with for round-the- cans racing, but not everyone wishes to race actively all the time, which was why in considering a boat to replace the Platu we commissioned something a little larger with a racing hull and rig but with a small cabin and head. And so the new L-30 is perfect for racing, cruising and having a good time with family, friends and business associates.
Our business model is simple: racing and training take up no more than 25 per cent of our available sailing time, another 30 per cent is allocated for cruising and the remaining 45 per cent we use for corporate events.
Our Ukraine club now has a pool of some 1,600 executives from more than 30 companies, and we have 50-70 new students come through our sailing school each year with more than half of them getting the racing bug. They then bring their children to our newly created Youth Squad, which we started last year with the purchase of 12 new club Optimists plus two additional coaching RIBs. We are now actively promoting the sport here to new sailors in a way that has never been done before, so the idea of the L-30 was not only for a new yacht for private owners but also for a new type of ‘yacht club’ created to expand the sport into new markets. Beyond Ukraine we have already received serious expressions of interest to establish our model with potential new ‘clubs’ in the Middle East, Japan and the USA. Rodion Luka, Ukraine
q SEAHORSE 47
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