Opposite: a breathtaking inshore machine but you would take the Fast40 Rán far from land at your extreme peril; Antoine Cardin argues it is the lack of a second life, which strong classes rely upon to underpin resales, that helped bring about the loss of interest in this class (plus Rán raised the entry bar to an unfeasible level). Left: ironically it is the equally extreme – but now offshore focused – Class40 that has won the mid-sized battle with 172 boats built and 20 more on order; all scows, which prompted a fresh round of interest in building very exciting boats capable of competing in more of the big events than their glamorous inshore rival
diverged from what we have seen recently from the likes of Raison, Manuard and Lombard. I will only talk about her shape here because currently in Class40 that is pretty much all you do talk about… at least until there is a consensus solution to the scow question. But the direction is quite clear, and completely the opposite to what you will see in a Fast40 or TP52 shape. The TP52 is the king of VMG, which
we describe as ‘high heel angle upwind – low heel angle downwind’. So upwind at a high heel angle with the TP52 I know exactly what our boatspeed is because we will never go faster than hull speed. So high heel/low speed upwind, plus for
downwind low heel/fast speed. Basically the TP52 designer will simplify this down to ‘low heel flat boat’, ‘high heel more rocker’. That is TP52 and Fast40 design in a nutshell, after that it is just refinement.
Class 40 is pretty much the complete opposite If you look at the new VPLP Class40, but also the latest boats from David Raison or Sam Manuard, you can see we are going in a completely different direction from our VMG-driven day racers. Class40 also goes fast with relatively low heel, but the Class40 must deal with large waves too, so you need more rocker to get on top and out of them. So low heel angle/high rocker. High heel angle/straight rocker. And this is exactly what I see when I
study the new Class40 from VPLP. I see a high rocker line at low heel angle. And a very flat rocker line at high heel angle. This is particularly fascinating in the
context of modern design tools, because it is unlikely you would ever see a hull shape optimised like this driven by CFD. What you see in VPLP’s Class40 (and
other scows) is driven by dynamic effects – effects that are still incredibly challenging to model with any accuracy. Unlike in inshore contemporaries, Class40 design is constrained by the size of the boat, the waves and the wave dynamics. And these we still cannot accurately model. Two of the best Class40 designers, David
Raison and Sam Manuard, are themselves exceptional ocean racers and these facts are
related. Being designed within a simple box, Class40s remain a rather pure exercise in yacht design and the intuition that comes with racing (and winning) over thousands of miles of ocean is a massive advantage to these two Class40 and Mini 6.50 champions. You have to have a real feel for how
your boat is going to behave on the sea. So when we do discuss a Class40 we have long talks with the skipper about how far to go with adding rocker to lift over waves. And without having too much speed penalty. And because it is so early in the scow era
the answers to such pragmatic questions have an unusually big impact on perfor- mance. Things will narrow down in time but today it is quite open. One reason why Class40 is such an exciting place right now.
And inshore? Offshore racing is booming but there are inshore success stories too. We have lost the Fast40s as a class but the TP52 contin- ues to be strong with interesting changes possible for 2023 or 2024. And at the smaller end the Mark Mills-designed Cape 31s are booming in the UK. The Fast40 rule was much more open
than the TP52, especially in terms of deck layout, sheer height and other features. The Fast40 was never suitable for offshore racing, nor was it ever intended to be. But perhaps such absolutism was a mistake. The TP52 rules are written in strong part
to preserve the value of the boats for an afterlife in IRC/offshore racing; even with rule-minimum sheers, cockpit and hatch areas the TP52 can be made into a good offshore yacht (if not a comfortable one). If I look at the last three Fast40s that
were launched I don’t think anyone wants to go ocean racing with that boat! Unfortunately – with hindsight – the 40s
were designed for one purpose only, the Fast40 circuit. I guess you could take a Fast40 offshore, but you need to do a lot of sealing, you have to change a lot of the deck layout and you must strengthen the boat in many areas. Plus find storage for all the extra safety equipment. And you still have a boat with freeboards closer to a Melges 32. I don’t think this lack of offshore ability is why the class collapsed. But you usually
need to support the value of your boat and ensuring there are opportunities for longterm usage is key to that. Today, if a client comes to me asking if a secondhand Fast40 is an opportunity to race offshore, I will advise against it. And that’s a pity. The fact is that it’s extremely hard to
keep any group of competitive people together for a long time. The problem of the Fast40 is not unique. As a development class becomes successful more people come in and everybody gets excited. In the beginning it’s in everyone’s interest to preserve the low-budget concept; but all of a sudden a top pro-team arrives and they bring with them a next-generation design that makes existing boats uncompetitive. Now there is a rush to sell off boats before too many people notice what is going on… What the Fast40 reminds us, however,
is what a good job has been done to keep the much more expensive TP52s moving forward steadily for 20 years, still deliver- ing the best grand prix racing of all. One reason, aside from a strong and smart class manager, is that the TP52s have limited themselves to small annual rule changes to not destroy the existing fleet. But more important is that the TP52
rule is framed to give very expensive boats a good secondhand value by making them adaptable for other races. Good scantlings and sensible freeboards mean that a super- efficient inshore racer can later move on to race offshore. Where they do very well. There are always TP52s in the Sydney
Hobart, which they have won overall on several occasions. But to go to the Hobart on a Fast40… a 100 per cent no go! But the decline of the Fast40 seems to
have had a silver lining in the UK with the growth of the Cape 31 one-design; I guess several people stepped down to the Cape 31 from the Fast40 to keep sailing without the headache of expensive boat develop- ment and replacement. The 31s are a fair price for what you get and as long as people are motivated it’s going to be a lot of fun and a good place to get close racing. Plus as long as the Cape 31 fleet stays
healthy you can sell your boat!! For any big-boat class to be strong, in
the final analysis it comes down to protect- ing resale values. Another reason why the Class40 is right now the flavour du jour. These super boats are today changing
hands very rapidly… sometimes even at a price premium over a new build!
SEAHORSE 49 q
CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116
