Having played a role in the design of the all-conquering lake-racing cat Le Black, for Ernesto Bertarelli and Alinghi, and his success with the Full Pelt giant 49er (opposite) Jo Richards found himself in demand among the Centimiglia/Bol d’Or lake-racing fleet in Europe. With a slender hull and a keel that canted to 90 degrees in either direction, Stravaganza (left) was intended to be an elegant answer to the maxi-winged, multiple-trapeze monohulls on the lakes and the more conventional keelboats fitted with enormous light-air rigs. However, technical problems that were experienced while the crew were learning how to operate their complex new craft, combined with a rather overweight build, have meant that a dramatic concept has yet to fulfil its theoretical potential
in the right place was to go to a negative leading edge like the Australia II keel, so the nose was the furthest bit forward. I also wanted to shorten the root and get it as far back as possible because most bilge keelers are little fat-bowed boats so the water still flows outwards around the keel root. As a result it is a bit like snow ploughing on skis; whereas if the keel was moved back the root would now be where the waterflow is more parallel with the centreline. ‘Plus there was another reason I wanted
to shorten the root – because I could still remember the Vivacity trapping a big lump of air underneath the windward bilge keel and “galoshing” it around loudly! I wanted to get rid of that…’ According to Richards, the result was fantastic, to the extent that you wouldn’t know the little yacht had bilge keels at all. It was in this configura- tion that Eeyore claimed last year’s Gold Roman Bowl, the coveted overall first prize for the Round the Island Race. In a similarly nostalgic vein Richards
among other highly specialised topics. ‘He is currently doing research into the Grand Mosque in Paris which is funny for a Jewish chap, but it is classic Stephen,’ muses Richards. ‘He gets visited by history profes- sors from all around the world these days…’ Among the crafts Richards has built for
himself was a small wooden boat called Moo, which won her class at Cowes Week in 2011. But then ‘IRC decided to reinter- pret the bow and it went up 28 points in rating which killed it stone dead. So I cut the deck off, put it in the roof, kept a few bits and threw the rest away. It became obvious that if you are racing a little IRC boat you need age allowance on your side.’ This was followed in 2013 by an
H-Boat. ‘We pulled the sail up and the sail number was K9, so it obviously became known as Woof [after Doctor Who’s faith- ful robot dog]!’ The venerable 1970s Scan- dinavian 27-footer of course received the ‘Richards treatment’, including fitting a carbon mast, a new rudder and resectioned keel, and was set up to fly the full gamut of Code 0, asymmetric and symmetric kites. ‘We could cover most options, which
most boats couldn’t at that point,’ muses Richards. She became a serial class winner at Cowes Week and was third in the 2015 Round the Island Race. Further upgrading
the H-Boat is this year’s project. ‘The cock- pit wasn’t big enough and it was always very uncomfortable sitting on the coaming. I’m self-isolating in the workshop dealing with the problem…’ In a similar ‘getting Adrian Newey to
pimp your Ford Anglia’ vein, Richards also acquired a Vivacity. In case you are worry- ing that there is a big hole in your sailing knowledge not knowing what this is – it is an entirely unremarkable 20ft bilge keeler from the 1970s. However, for Richards it holds sentimental value: ‘It was a bit of a private challenge because we had one when I was a kid and my recollection was that it sailed a bit better than most bilge keelers…’ He acquired one for very little money, in
not great shape and set to work: ‘The deck was rotten and folding in, so I just cut it off.’ At this point he got curious and putting
a tape measure to it discovered that in fact it wasn’t a Vivacity at all but its smaller sister, an Alacrity. ‘The bonus was that the deck I had hanging in the roof then fitted it! So I re-purposed the deck and keel along with “various” other things.’ This fine new vessel was named Eeyore
and initially had her bilge keels replaced with a fin. ‘But then I thought it would be interesting to revisit bilge keels,’ Jo admits. ‘Firstly, the only way to get the bilge keel
also briefly returned to his beloved National 12 class. ‘I went to the class’s 70th anniversary dinner and various people said, “You ought to get your old boat back…” Eventually I’d drunk enough and agreed to do something about it. I went and found that rotten old boat near Birmingham and rebuilt it. But inevitably you also start thinking about how you’d improve it…’ So, after a 30-year hiatus from the class,
Richards designed and built himself a new National 12, Dead Cat Bounce. At the time the class was already tinkering with foils to provide vertical lift but Richards’ new creation was the first 12 hull designed specifically for use with a T-foil rudder, with more rocker, narrower at the waterline at the stern and with the centre of buoyancy pushed aft. Compared with the opposition, the T-foil was ‘full-sized’ while the novel centreboard was fitted with a trim tab, operated – cunningly – in conjunction with the jib sheet. He of course designed his own sails, gaining an additional 4-5ft2 of unmea- sured area as he did so. Unsurprisingly, having taken this gun to
a knife fight, he and crew Sophie Mackley came second in the first race at 2009 Burton Week, but then won all the remain- ing races across a full range of conditions. Further iterations of the Dead Cat Bounce
SEAHORSE 53
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
