Owen Clarke 5G Class 40 på väg till Norge
Nytt från Owen Clarke på väg till våra breddgrader. Ser betydligt mer reachingbetonad ut än #143 Longbow, eller är det bara jag?
The newly established yard, Cape Racing Yachts, has made good progress with the build of two 5th Generation, Owen Clarke designed Class 40’s. Manufacturing started in May this year and both boats are expected to launch early in 2017, in time for the new racing season.
The first boat has been purchased by Henrik Bergesen of Norway; whose family are well-known as the owners of the ketch rigged 105’ Wally, Nariida. Henrik plans to campaign his Class 40 in Europe next season, before building up to some transatlantic races. The second boat will be campaigned by world renowned sailor, Jörg Riechers for two seasons on both sides of the Atlantic. Jörg dominated the Class 40 circuit in 2012 and 2013 with his successful Mare’ campaigns.
Jörg says: “It is a pleasure for me to be involved in the project and campaigning the boat, as I am a big fan of Owen Clarke Designs. To be involved from this early stage and add some of my Class 40 experience will be a bonus once we are on the water”
Jörg will team up with German Olympic sailor Robert Stanjek for the Project. Robert has represented Germany in the 2012 Olympics in the highly competitive Star fleet and was Star World Champion 2014.
The Cape 40 5G has been designed to suit a range of conditions ranging from high wind reaching, to good performance on all points of sail in light and moderate wind conditions. The cockpit can be optimised for crewed or single handed racing, with a 4 or 5 cockpit winch layout. In addition, for a Class 40 purely focused on Trans-Atlantic races, the winches can be moved inboard and the coach-roof extended to give the skipper maximum protection similar to that seen on IMOCA 60 designs,
Merfyn Owen has this to say about the Cape 40 project: “At Owen Clarke we’re really very excited that on the first two boats from Cape Racing Yachts, we’ve found ourselves working with two such interesting and well backed teams; a great owner-sailor driven project and the other a professional duo with outstanding credentials. It’s a pleasure also to be working with Jörg again, plenty of experience of Class 40 feeding back, reinforcing the process and guiding the choices during the optimisation of this polyvalent design.”