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From Then Until Now
If you look at the crew snaps , there is a photo of Julian Everitt , Wavetrain’s designer , guesting as helmsmen in Dartmouth Regatta 2002, 14 years after the boat was launched. How did Wavetrain come about he was asked?
I was asked to provide an option to the ever increasingly expensive I.O.R. 2 tonners that required 14 people to sit on the rail and sail the boat at a cost of £250,00 ( in 1988 ) . The boat also had to be good looking ! “A pretty boat that can be sailed by 4 people.”
Wavetrain was the result.
A boat that was designed purely for speed and , unlike the kevlar , carbon , fibreglass boats that dominated racing at the time , she was made of good old fashioned bits of rain forest , wood ! Western red cedar and Mahogany held together using the then revolutionary West epoxy system that produces an extremely stiff and light hull. Add teak decks , a reverse bulb keel with a 5ft wing , a retractable bow canard , a slim spade rudder, top the whole with a mast that made most America’s cup yachts look low tech , some Sobstad Sails and you have one race boat.
With a fully equipped interior , unlike most I.O.R. boats , she was entered into C.H.S. that was at that time taking over as the dominant racing handicap formula. Rating 1.029
1st class 3 Cowes week 1989. 80 boats entered.
1st Lymington Winter series. 1988.
1st Lymington Spring series. 1989.
4th Torbay Admirals Cup 1988 60 entered.
6th Scottish Series 1988.
Winner Town Cup --- Burnham Week . 1989.
She then went to the East Coast under the ownership of Kit Hobday to be raced under the name of “Independent Bear”. Julian tells us that it was Wavetrain that brought him back into yacht racing . Independent Bear is now a Farr 52 and Kit is now fronting an America’s Cup Challenge with Peter D’Savery. More anon.
From the East coast to Ireland where she raced under the name of Golden Apple. The last Golden Apple I saw was parked at Berthon . She was a Ron Holland 2 tonner with flush decks and more winches than Lemars show room. A hugely successful R.O.R.C boat.
A short trip back to Milford Haven found her next owner , Trevor Owens, who kept her for five years before deciding to buy a First or similar.
We found her through Yachts and Yachting. I’d first seen her when she was being dry sailed at Cowes 1989 ---- the WoW factor prevailed . Who is the lucky ---- who owns that ? I thought little realising that she would be such a huge part of my life 9 years later.
Kayte and I had been looking at a variety of boats when Wavetrain was spotted. Curiosity got the better of us, the WoW factor was even greater, 4 months of negotiations followed and she arrived in Dartmouth the day Kayte and I got back from our Honeymoon!
WHAT A WEDDING PRESENT!
NOW THE HARD WORK BEGAN.
Where do you start ?
Kayte had never done any sailing in her life before. Her first experience was to be trying to get sails up on a serious race boat in Start Bay in a South Westerly 4-5 with just two of us on board. Tracks stick, sheeting is difficult to handle with dinghy jammers all over the boat , some working , some reluctant to do so. The next two years were spent overhauling major items such as the sail drive hull seals, shattered vang , exploding shackles ect,ect. We sailed for 3 months and then spent 1 month sorting out the damage , until we knew that if we pulled a piece of string it was strong enough to take the strain and that the result was as intended e.g. the mainsail boom outhaul now tensions the foot of the main without having to depower the sail before you can adjust it.
Now is a good time to say THANK YOU to the CREW , the Wavetrain Team who have given up their time to put up with their efforts being destroyed by faulty gear.
The sails were tired and we went back to Sobstad , David and Jeremy Robinson having run the boat in her successful early days in the Solent , using their Platinum Genesis Racing sails , to the specification that was developed some 10 years before. Like all U.L.D.B. she needs hustling up wind, but flies when free.
The Boat went faster, more consistently. We started to be the first boat home, but our handicap would push us down the fleet, out of the chocolates.
It was therefore decided to take a serious look at our rating.
THE RATING GAME or IRC 2002.
This started at 1.035
30 to 35 points above 40 foot optimised cruiser racers which is equal to 108 seconds per hour!
Christian Stimpson of Reflex Yachts Fame managed to reduce the hull factor dramatically with a subsequent reduction of 50 seconds per hour.(1.017)
NEXT THE MAST!
The mast was imported from France and after initial trials it was deemed to be of too flexible with the resulting attachment of jumpers, runners and check stays. She had aft swept spreaders (12.5 degrees) that held the mast in place when tacking and made the runner control when tacking less critical. However this Christmas tree covered in pieces wire incurred major penalties having a similar spec to the current America’s cup boats. It also made sail trimming complicated and less consistent for an amateur crew such as ourselves.
It was decided to take the plunge , to replace the existing mast with a simple twin spreader rig similar to an X332. 25 degree aft swept spreaders, the forestay attachment was raised to 7/8ths and the boom height increased by 8inchs. We spoke to Julian ( Everitt) , the yachts designer.
Having updated his computer systems from the original 1988 programs to the 2001 spec was adamant that a major gain could be made by moving the mast back by approximately 12 inches, with a view to helping both the light airs performance and the lack of weather helm that made the boat difficult to steer.
This meant the removal of a large aluminium “A” frame in front of the main bulkhead and replacing it with a new carbon ply laminate ring frame , that took the chain plates for the shrouds and transferred the stresses down to the mast base.
Charlie (Mr Atlantic Spars) spoke to Julian and the resultant mast duly appeared at the beginning of the season. The Harken sheaves that Charlie had suggested for the most-used halyards helped immensely with the speed and ease of hoist of the headsails. The mast base was adjustable so that rake could be changed at will and the fitting at the deck level has stopped the jams that used to occur. In short the attention to detail was great and has helped immensely.
Windage was another aspect that was in question but there has been no noticeable difference between the two rigs. It should be noted that in car aerodynamics anything below 30 miles per hour required radical streamlining to produce minimal results that could easily be compensated for by smooth driving. The larger section now required was therefore deemed to have little effect with a newer more aerodynamic shape than the previous stick.
WEIGHT
With a larger section mast, a change to simpler rigging, “A” frame removal and bulkhead replacement, there was obviously a change of weight. Add to this the length of time since she was last weighed– the wood always absorbs water and hence becomes heavier– it came as little of a surprise that her weight had increased significantly.
The result of these works was a reduction in rating to 0.994
THE END RESULT
It was decided to use the same area foresail, which became shorter of foot and 1 metre taller. This higher aspect number one was easier to tack and, combined with the genoa track being moved outboard as part of the new rig, allowed the main to work more effectively, not being as easily backwinded as before.
BOAT SPEED was more easily achieved and was more consistent. Pointing depended very much upon wind strength. Once the 20-knot apparent marker had been reached she out pointed most boats 6 ft longer than herself, equalling their boatspeed (up to 7 knots in flat water)
The conclusion expressed by the boats we race against was that upwind she is now fast in very light stuff and from 18 knots apparent upwards and that downwind on a reach or a run with her masthead spinnaker she easily sails to her handicap.
Out of the first 11 races this year we were in the top four in 7 of them, two were lost due to bad navigation and the remaining two due to intermittent midrange winds.
Regatta produced a 7th place on a windier day, which is our best Regatta result to date. We do not specialise in sailing round in ever decreasing circles!
NEXT!
We are looking at improving the midrange upwind boat speed and pointing.
Julian , as a result of his guest appearance at regatta, has come up with some ideas for sail handling and checking out the idea of using a significantly larger genoa, against its rating implications.
Good here isn’t it !