yacht capable of being driven hard to hit exciting speeds, and one that would be pleasurable to sail in light airs too. ‘It needed the open stern, because so much of our cruising involves getting in and out of a dinghy, and to increase the amount of useful boat, be easy to swim from and land fish… plus be fully self-draining. The boat had to be honest, straightforward and practical, completely free from rules and built within a modest budget.’
Who would not want a boat that could do all these things? Under the marketing skills of Roger Land and Owen Lockerbie, the Young 88 took off and the pretty little speedster with its three-quarter rig and large mainsail remains a fixture on the New Zealand keelboat scene to this day, still providing some of the most spirited and closely fought racing 35 years after it was conceived. One of the earliest fans of the design was Ross Field, then a policeman, who campaigned his Paddy Wagonextensively before going on to international fame as a Whitbread Race winner. Even after his achievements in big boats, he frequently came back to compete in the Young 88 fleet. Indeed, most of the leading lights of New Zealand yachting have owned or raced Young 88s on their march through the ranks.
In 2010 there were 158 Young 88s still around, 77 in Auckland with 30 still racing regularly; 38 were sold overseas and the rest are scattered around New Zealand.
Conceived at the same time, but slower to gain any traction, was a much more extreme concept, the Rocket 31, a flared skimming dish, heavily reliant on crew weight for stability. ‘I believe that it was the outstanding performance of the Rocket 31 that finally inspired the growth of what today is known as the “sportboat”,’ Young contends. ‘Sailing had become fun again.’ Curiously, New Zealand, which likes to think of itself at the leading edge of new ideas, largely ignored the Rocket; although a few were built and campaigned locally it was in England that they created more of a splash. In the 1993 Cowes Week the Rocket 31 Camp Freddie won Class One (which included the maxi yachts). In the same regatta the slightly detuned Viva Zapatawon Class Two. Camp Freddiewent on to win the annual Gold Roman Bowl in the 1995 Round the Isle of Wight race, in a diverse fleet of 1,800 yachts. Several larger versions of the Rocket 31 were also built. Now, even though he has taken down his design shingle and is at an age when most people look back, not forward, Young’s restless imagination is still exploring ways to go faster. He is particularly drawn to the potential of kites.
‘If you were to attach a kite line to a wire across the midship thwart of my 15ft ply open dinghy you could achieve some really high speeds. You position the kite control lines on the wire, using it as a traveller. Set it up and you’ve got something that will go very fast – and you can sit in and steer with your feet, like a kayak. If I were 20 years younger I’d be into this!
‘Kite sailing is the only form of sailing that doesn’t need to rely on any form of weight. In fact, the only thing that weight is useful for is to keep the craft on the water, rather like a high-speed power- boat. But in this, combined with foiling, lies the ultimate in speed sailing and serious fast wind-driven transport.’ Blessed with an inventive imagination, Jim Young is well named. He may be 90 but, in the words of the song, he truly remains forever young.
Ivor Wilkins AUSTRALIA
It’s all about evolution
The 10-year-old Reichel-Pugh 100 Wild Oats XI is one of the most enduringly successful raceboats of the current era. But it takes a lot of work to keep the story rolling… as Sandy Oatley explains Seahorse Magazine: What was the impetus to shift up to Wild Oats XI back in 2005? Your family’s previous Reichel-Pugh 66 was, and still is, a pretty high-performance racing yacht? Sandy Oatley: The family’s vision has always been to lift the bar and do better, and this has always been very important to Dad. We had an opportunity to step up into the big league and so away we went. Dad was keen to take that next step and he enjoys every minute of it. We were there for the finish of the Transpac in Honolulu
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SEAHORSE 17
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