Design
Transquadra spéziale!
But Ben Rogerson’s foxy new 41ft hybrid design offers high performance offshore racing in both fully-crewed and shorthanded formats...
Shorthanded or fully crewed, the smart layout of the BRYD 41 has been designed to cater for both approaches to offshore racing. From the Hamble-based stable of Ben Rogerson Yacht Design (BRYD), the aero sleekness of this twin-ruddered carbon 41-footer oozes speed and purpose. Look more closely at the deck and cockpit layout and you start to see that there will be very few occasions when anyone will need to venture forward of the mast. Rogerson and his team felt there was a gap in the market for a hybrid in the 40ft range, capable of meeting the growing demand for long- distance doublehanded racing but without sacrificing the possibility of competing fully crewed. ‘The concept of the boat is largely aimed at the shorthanded market, and that’s fundamentally the ethos of the boat,’ Rogerson explains. ‘The BRYD 41 has been developed more towards achieving a performing IRC shorthanded design, because I think there's quite a few options in terms of shorthanded, and, of course, there are a number of high-performance designs like the Class40. But if you want to go and do well under IRC and be able to take part in some of the world’s great offshore regattas, I do think there is a boat that’s been
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missing from the market. ‘The ethos has been to develop a shorthanded-oriented 41-footer performance design that is optimised to a crew of two up to a crew of six. For the short-handed shorter races, you can take the boat two-handed and go and do your Cherbourg race, of even a Rolex Middle Sea or other 600-milers. But if you're looking to do maybe Transatlantic or the Round Britain and Ireland, then is it also is quite well-suited to a crew of up to six and running a watch system. So you can continue to push the boat without as much fatigue but still operate in a shorthanded style of offshore mode.’
While there is much to be gleaned from the modern Class40 designs, Rogerson wanted a more open cockpit to suit a larger crew when required. ‘The boat can pretty much be run from the back of the cockpit, but not to the extreme lengths of the Class40 where the cockpit is pushed all the way aft. That makes it very difficult for operating with higher crew numbers whereas this setup will accommodate six comfortably. ‘It’s a very human centred approach and the deck layout is very ergonomic. We have dual pits with all the control systems leading aft to the helming position. So from where
Above: the BRYD 41 is designed to be equally suitable for shorthanded and fully
crewed racing with a cockpit that’s big enough for six sailors with ample elbow room during
fast-paced manoeuvres and a deck plan that should only rarely require anyone to venture onto the foredeck
you're sitting, while you're driving, you can access a large portion of the control systems, which is really useful for manoeuvres and changing gears etc. The extended cockpit means you have space for a full crew, while still being very much oriented to a two-handed setup.’ While the open cockpit is very different to a typical Class40, Rogerson acknowledges the debt to smart Class40 design too. ‘There are quite a lot of interesting systems that we've mirrored and taken across into this design. For example, ensuring that all the deck systems are over- deck led, so we can ensure that the boat is kept very dry, minimising white water through the boat and trying to keep the cockpit as dry as possible. All the control systems are led through tunnels to the furling headsails. All the systems are very easy to access, with your J1 and J2 both on furlers. Even a large proportion of your flying sails are on furlers as well. Conservation of energy is very important for shorthanded sailing which is why everything has been designed to be easy to handle from one position. You can very quickly change gears when you need to, with minimum hassle or risk to the crew.’ Talking of risk, safety is on the
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