The bow and sheer treatment of the Shaun Carkeek-designed Fast 40+ Rán have echoes of the Verdier-VPLP Imoca Hugo Boss and Maxi72 Cannonball, both of which show a similar – if less aggressive – approach to cutting windage and panel weight up front. The deck layout on Rán is every bit as dedicated ‘single purpose’ as a new TP52; elegant, clean and heaven help you on a wet reach back from the Fastnet Rock. A crying shame really… the lack of any variety in Fast 40 events is clearly limiting interest outside the Solent
box – for a class that currently uses length, draft and IRC rating as its parameters? My view is that while this has worked for the 52s, moving entirely over to a box rule, it can also create unhelpful design and optimisation targets. To me the best approach is to sit all of the teams down and talk
about what racing they wish to do. Creating a more diverse calendar will certainly limit the extremes. On the other hand, is Rán VII the first of a new breed of Fast 40+ that is built simply to that higher level that ensures the existing polars are actually achieved? I believe that Carrington Boats have raised the bar for the class
in terms of building to the numbers. How this plays out among rivals will be interesting… Remember that for a current owner looking to step up it is not just about investing in a next-tier design, you also need the crew and programme to match. And Rán has the benefit of a very good crew with a very strong programme. So is the performance of this yacht where the class should be,
or is it an enigma? I believe that it is unlikely that yacht design has stepped up that far and that this will soon become the new norm. High-quality building need not be the expensive option, it should be the intelligent option. Use quality tooling and build it right means that there is circa 300kg less in materials (my guess) that have to be bought. Less fairing and fitting of pieces. Make every man- hour in the build effective in getting to the end result, and not spent trimming off excess material or fairing in a poor fit. Simplicity of engineering in tune with how the boat is to be built
will only improve the end result and reduce mistakes, materials and hours. I suspect that this is where the gains have been made with Rán VII, bringing lessons learnt in TP52 builds to another class. That is trickledown at work. Should the class build in more limits
within the IRC model? Presently teams need to mode differently for open IRC events which is costly and unhelpful. Currently Fast40s make only rare appearances in these events – and almost never race offshore… a particular shame for inherently exciting boats that deserve to be let off the leash once in a while. I believe that diversity in race formats can limit extremes perfectly
adequately. But I don’t see this as a panic. The class needs to learn and I hope that Jason Carrington soon gets an opportunity to reuse the tooling Persico built for this latest Shaun Carkeek design. It is always a great shame when such high-quality tooling is only used once, when it is more than capable of being used a dozen times. As noted above, the TP52 class has defied all expectation. I do
believe that this is down to a perfect ‘positive’ storm where the combination of Rob Weiland’s steely wisdom and a committed group of owners has allowed the class to evolve and find its way through the recession and emerge even stronger. Luck has also not been a problem. The size seems right in both IRC and ORC, and it also allows boats to develop that can do a wide range of races successfully outside the Super Series. Finally, in this range there is the Maxi72. I have heard many
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people over the past five years say that the class is on its last legs and the next new boat will kill it. But each new boat comes out and, while competitive, isn’t the giant slayer that everyone predicted. This to me helps demonstrate that the Rán VII example is stepping up to the level, not creating a new one. This year we will see the next new Maxi72 in Bella Mente. Many
have said again that this boat will kill the class – just as they did 12 months ago with the Botín-designed Cannonball. As in the past, I believe that this class is mature enough that there is insufficient room left for dramatic leaps to be made. I am just glad that we have four classes of boats that are fast
and provide exciting racing. They are pushing the limits of monohull keelboats and not being dragged back by a rating rule that encour- ages ‘go-slow features’. I hope they are all around and evolve for many years to come. But they are not alone. We are also seeing continued expansion
of the remarkably successful Class40 fleet. Many (including me) felt that this class was too specifically oriented to a niche market. But it seems that market is bigger than I thought! Class40s have continued to become more and more refined but,
due to a clever series mix of offshore, inshore and shorthanded events, they remain widely useable boats. Shorthanded offshore racing does have a lot in common with
fast cruising, so this should not surprise me. Indeed, many early Class40s have been cruised extensively. Again strong class manage - ment and a willingness to evolve have extended the life of this class in a way that is really quite extraordinary – when you look at the huge differences between a first-generation Class40 and those being launched today it is amazing that they come from the same class. But the evolution has been progressive and has done little to damage the initial core values of this fleet. The same can obviously also be said of the class’s ‘originator’
and big sister, the Imoca 60. This class has out-survived all and continues to evolve. Every four years in the Vendée Globe cycle we see developments that we all expect to destroy all the boats built before them. But the heart of this class is the skippers… and there is no better
incentive to protect and nurture your class than being the owner of an existing boat. The clear and concise focus of the quadrennial Vendée Globe ensures that the class remains on track. And underpinning it all are the passionate enthusiasts who are
either Imoca ‘first-steppers’ or simply round-the-world adventurers, often racing boats that would be destined for the back of the boatyard in another class, many of whom will continue to make it to the Vendée startline to join that rarefied class of solo circum navigators… even if they have to mortgage their homes to get there. With so much heart in the class it is not that surprising that the Imoca fleet continues to set the standard in offshore racing. James Dadd, project and class management consultant
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