RM yachts have a huge amount of sailpower, especially downwind
efficiency. RMalso offers fin and lifting keel options, but Lombard’s twin keels have narrowed the gap in performance. ‘They are still slower than the single keel
versions but the difference ismarginal, like 0.2kts when sailing upwind,’ Dohy explains. ‘When reaching or sailing VMG downwind you see no difference in boatspeed. The twin keels’ surface area is almost the same as a single fin keel, the ballast weight is the same and the stability curve is similar. There is a little bit less rightingmoment but you will not feel it. Comparing STIX numbers, it’s a difference of one or two out of 35, so almost negligible.’ The great advantage of twin keels, of
course, is that you can dry out upright in tidal harbours and anchorages. It’s one reason why RMs are popular in Brittany wheremany of the smaller and nicer havens are off-limits to fin-keel yachts. ‘It’s part of the specification and part of the brand,’ Dohy says. ‘The centre of gravity is around the keels, which take nearly all of the load. For stability you also have a reinforced rudder that acts as a leg, with a grounding plate at the tip so it can’t dig into themud.’ For blue water cruising the ability to dry out, and to stand on the
The cockpit layout is unusual with primary winches next to the companionway – not on the coamings
Like a good raceboat RM yachts feature strong, stiff internal structures. A steel frame takes keel and rig loads while the plywood frames are epoxy-encapsulated
hard without needing a cradle, can greatly simplify repairs andmaintenance in remote areas. By contrast,many GRP cruisers simply aren’t built strongly enough to stand on their keels without additional support. Whatever keel type is chosen, when
going upwind RM yachts are designed to sail fast and free. ‘Our advice is not to sail at 40°, that’s much too high,’ Dohy says. ‘Obviously there is a difference between the keel options. With the lifting keel you have a 3m draught which is huge so you can sail a bit higher but that is not the point. Like offshore racing boats we’re trying to sail quite low – at 55 to 60° – but fast. It’s a French thing, we call it offshore upwind.’ This makes sense because when sailing close-hauled in short chop or large waves, even a boat that can point high on the wind will generally make better VMG by pointing lower and sailing faster. Another key difference from most other
it’s quite dangerous – it puts you in an insecure position on the leeward side.’ Dohy’s own offshore experience in
‘Epoxy-ply has a very high strength to weight ratio’
events like the Fastnet or the Transat Jacques Vabres and 15 years designing sails for the grand prix sailmaker Incidence Sails have begun to informthe cockpit design of the RMrange. ‘I’ve been racing for years and I can tell you that it’s actually much easier tomanoeuvre an Imoca 60 than a large family cruiser,’ he says. ‘That’s incredible tome. So we’ve tried with RM Yachts to have this facility, to be able to manoeuvre the boat singlehanded with as little load as possible. That’s why we have only four winches around the
cruisers is the cockpit layout and deck plan. ‘It’s all race inspired,’ Dohy says. ‘We don’t have genoa tracks any more. And there are no primary winches mounted on the coamings because I think
companionway, where you can sail the boat efficiently in the shelter of the sprayhood. That’s also race inspired. On an Imoca 60 these days you don’t need to wear your foul weather gearmost of the time because you have somuch shelter in the cockpit; our boats are similar with the sprayhood up. And we fit very powerful autopilots with remote control so you can steer with the pilot at all times.’ One thing in common with a normal cruising layout is that the cockpit seating area is safely free of ropes and winches. The current RM range has five models
from 8.9m to 13.3m (29ft to 44ft) LOA, all of which have huge interior living space for their size. They could easily produce much larger yachts and may do so in future ‘but we are not keen on following the general trend of making bigger and bigger boats,’ Dohy says. ‘We do like our small boats. And even a nine-metre RM is not a small boat. Families cruise around the Atlantic and the Med in our RM 970, which has everything you need to go offshore.’
www.rm-yachts.com
❑ SEAHORSE 71
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