turbocharged Farr 40 with a fathead main and water ballast. The water ballast equates to the maximum allowed crew weight on a Farr 40 while displacement, draft, hull and rig dimensions are similar. The principal Class40 design numbers are: Max length overall: 12.19m Max beam: 4.5m Min displacement: 4,500kg Max water ballast: 750 litres Max upwind sail area: 115m2 Max mast height, bowsprit length and boom length measurements 90° righting moment test with a maximum 320kg righting arm load allowed at the masthead (to control actual righting moment) Carbon mast, composite fore/aft stays but metal-only shrouds Construction limited to glass, foam, wood; pre-preg and titanium not allowed Sail limit 8 plus other limits on ‘exotic’ construction
The design evolution
The first-generation boats, our own semi- custom Jaz 40 but particularly the Jumbo and the Pogo 1, were all designed as racer- cruisers, with private owners in mind. The belief was that many of the owners would have to justify the running/racing costs of their boats by using them for family cruis- ing – albeit camping on the water as opposed to the full ‘Swan experience’. There were no rotating bowsprits and of the early boats only our Jaz 40s seemed to have a Code 0 reaching-type sail (upwind 0s were not allowed). Early fins
40 SEAHORSE
were solid SG Iron with a bulb of 1,250kg. Just two years after Patrice entered the 2004 Transat as the sole Class40, the 2006 Route du Rhum was hugely successful for the class. Twenty-six boats took part with only two retiring in a windy race that caused considerable carnage in the Imoca 60 and multihull fleets. The new class took off! For a little over €300,000 at the time, sailors realised that they could put an ocean-ready 40-footer on the water and enter races alongside the legends of short- handed sailing.
In 2007 the second generation of boats included the first Marc Lombard production boat, the Akilaria RC1. These boats were still racer-cruisers but were faster upwind and reaching, featuring fabricated box keel fins and increased bulb weights (1,600kg) within the same overall keel weight. Sail wardrobes became more racing oriented and code zeros soon became universal – requir- ing a class rule revision. It was clear that the mainly amateur owners remained budget conscious but that the majority of the fleet was now heavily race oriented. The 2008/2009 economic downturn resulted in fewer new builds. However, the class remained buoyant while others strug- gled and declined. Transatlantic races and events such as the Fastnet continued to attract 30 or more Class40 entries and the class even organised several of its own races to the Caribbean.
Modifications to the class rule allowing Code 0s, along with a change in finish line for the biannual Transat Jacques Vabres, from Brazil to the Caribbean, led to a new
breed of out-and-out raceboat. New designers entered the arena, notably Guillaume Verdier and Sam Manuard, along with new skippers both professional and semi-professional, from other classes including the Figaro and Imoca 60s. Italian Imoca/Orma 60 skipper Giovanni Soldini took the class by storm in his first year in his lovely Verdier design Telecom Italia. In response, MTC, the builders of the Akilaria, as well as Pogo Structures, invested in new designs and tooling. Meanwhile, at Owen Clarke new semi-custom designs were built in the UK and South Africa. The third generation of boats were born. Throughout the class the boats were becoming faster, more complex and with associated increasing build costs. Canting bowsprits were also now almost univer- sally adopted. Some production boats were being customised with lifting rud- ders, mimicking an innovation that had become common in the Imoca fleet. A unanimous class vote for a revised set of rules delivered stability for the next four years, closing loopholes and heading off an expensive and ungovernable development contest. The boats remained innovative, increased costs were nevertheless sustain- able and new boats continued to sell. A continuous supply of secondhand boats existed by now and fed more newcomers into the class at a fraction of the cost of building new. Recognising this, in 2008 Owen Clarke established a brokerage arm specialising in performance boats, in par- ticular the Class40, putting sellers and buyers together and, more importantly,
BENOIT STICHELBAUT/DPPI
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