Skiff-tastic!

We spoke to the highly influential Richard Woof about him, his company RMW Marine, and his role in the world of International 14s

In the world of skiffs there are few greater movers and shakers than Richard Woof. It is he who is the brains behind RMW Marine, top International 14 builder in the UK at present as well as being the driving force behind Rob Greenhalgh's yellow all-conquering (well, almost) 18 footer campaign. Aside from this, RMW's bread and butter is obviously building the RS range for LDC.

Woof's boatbuilding heritage was drummed into him as a child. His father Don was notable in National 12 circles for breaking the double curvature rule with his Warlock design "which is why National 12s have a smooth skin today, unlike the Merlin which is still clinker," explains Woof.

He studied naval architecture at Southampton in the same era as the likes of Ed Dubois and Bill Dixon and subsequently spent around 10 years working in industrial reinforced plastics before setting up RMW Marine.

The history of his company is very much bound up with LDC and came about following a case of great minds thinking alike. In 1993 he, with his old chums Phil Morrison and Spud Rowsell were developing a boat called the Gemini. "LDC came along to Phil and Spud with a brief, which barring one point was exactly the same as the boat we were currently building," recounts Woof. "It seemed pointless attacking the market with two boats.

"The only difference was that Martin and Nick [of LDC] wanted an asymmetric and we were in two minds as to whether it should have one, so it ended up with an asymmetric. The project got redivided in that Spud and Phil got the design and development royalty, Martin and Nick did the marketing and I did the build…and the rest is history..." The Gemini became the RS400 and was followed two years later by the 200.

RS on a spit. This allows lamination to be carried out on a horizontal surface



Aside from the RS range, Woof has produced many International 14s. Memorably as an experiment they produced one called Rocket which appeared at the 1996 RYA Dinghy and Sailboat show. "It was a bit of a pun – because Stephenson's rocket ran on rails!" says Woof.

"It had some spray chines on it like a power boat - but it didn't work! But you’ve got to try it and it was a very exciting boat..." That season the 14 fleet was royally gazumped by the Ovi 1. "It was our first stab. The rig wasn't right. We relied a lot on other people supplying the right kit. The more you get into 14s you realise there's a lot more in the rig than anything else. We had a rethink while Phil [Morrisson] designed the Mk8, which was a very quick boat. In 1997 it won everything pretty much until the Worlds in San Francisco when the little Bieker racked boat came to the fore."

The Bieker created a minor revolution in the 14 class for having its stubby racks instead of flair in the topsides to get the beam out to 6ft. "The beauty with it was that it let the water fly past the hull with no induced drag from wet topsides," explains Woof. "The spray used to blow between your feet as it came off the boat. The hull was much narrower, not at the waterline but at the gunwhale."

Not to be upstaged, it was back to the drawing board with Phil Morrison to create the Morrison Mk10. "it was very similar - it’s narrow, but the one thing it does have is more pace than the Bieker downwind because basically it’s a more sailable boat. The Bieker tends to go down the mine shaft pretty quickly if you’re not careful. Whereas you can drive the Mk10 much much harder..."

They achieved this by altering the the run aft. "It was a little tweak that Phil learned in Merlin Rockets..." says Woof, who admits to having knowing the GBR Challenge designer for 35 years...

"So we did the Mk10 – and that was and still is really successful," continues Woof. "That’s the current boat, but the design has been around since 1999.

"Rob and Peter Greenhalgh won the 2001 Prince of Wales Cup in tremendous style. They beat Charles Stand by 3.5 minutes. In that sort of breeze it was a big margin."





Woof says that a modern 14 is a much simpler beast than its predecessors in terms of its sail controls. They have made moulds for the Mk10 and have been making 8-12 per year (a modest number compared to the RS range but more than any other builder in the UK). "Structurally it’s an incredibly reliable boat," says Woof. "It’s very light, you end up putting an enormous amount of correctors in."

They knock them out at £10,500 (ex VAT) apiece which gets you the present state of the art in the class, with the options of self-tacking or conventional jib and two mainsheet options.

"Basically we’ve had a go at getting the price down to attract the talented 20 and 30 year olds. But that is a huge improvement on £13-15k which would have just put the boat out of court. It’s close enough to other fast asymmetrics for people to make the jump."

Their foils have a 'cusp' section with a hollow trailing edge and then there are the controversal rudder T-foils, a development which may or may not be banned in due course. The foils are used to dampen pitching, but Woof says you can potentially get 80-90kg of lift from them.

Aside from building 14 hulls, something of a speciality of RMW Marine is creating and setting up skiff rigs. They get masts in from CST in Australia and then dress them in house.

Previously they have used Hyde and North Sails, but late last summer Woof set up his own sailmaking facility - RMW Sails - run by Mark Jenkins in a new 5,000sqft factory 15 minutes from the main boatbuilding facility off the M5 at Dunkeswell.

He is particularly proud of their new computer driven plotter cutter, which he says is one of the biggest in the country, able to cut 18 x 3m panels. Aside from cutting sail cloth, this will also be used for cutting glass cloth accurately for use in their production boats.

That would be an RS400 deck



"Our main point was to do the 14s and the 18s which we've done a lot of already," says Woof of his new facility. "The other thing which we’re really good at is developing bespoke canvas cover work. We’ve also done some nice nappy trapeze harnesses."

Our conversation turns to 'to wear' or 'not to wear' buoyancy aids when skiff sailing. He favours the latter option - provided there is suitable safety support.

"When I'm running the racing in conjunction with Weymouth and Portland, we carry are hot on carrying wire cutters and knifes in the safety boat just in case someone needs to be cut out," he says. "Even if it saves one life it’s got to be worth it. There have been some awful accidents - completely unnecessary...

"You have to have sailed an 18 and got into trouble to realise why you don’t. You’ve got to be able to swim away from the rig. If you’ve got a buoyancy aid trying to pull you the wrong way, you have to be a bloody strong swimmer to swim downwards with a buoyancy aid on.

"The thing is that if you’ve got sufficient safety support then it’s not a problem. If you’ve got racing which is not well supervised – and a lot of that goes on - or recreational sailing then you should be wearing a buoyancy aid. But in the skiffs where the racing is well supervised then it is best not to wear one.

"In the 49ers they have to wear them. That is an ISAF ruling. The 18s are not party to ISAF. I know a lot of the 14 sailors try to get away without a buoyancy aid, because they are so cumbersome. The 49er lads straps them down as tight as they can spray it down tight to make them as least bulky as possible. They probably take a bit of the foam out of them too..."

Woof says that aside from the big fleets at Itchenor, HISC and Beer, there is a growing fleet of International 14s in Scotland. There are also strongholds in Germany, Switzerland, a small one in Denmark, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. "We’ve had some enquiries from lads who want to build their own boats to a good design in South Africa."

Building your own is something of a rarity these days thanks to the pressures of modern living and commitments on individual's leisure time - luckily for Mr Woof.

Next week Richard Woof discusses the 18ft circuit...