Prince Andrew names Bear of Britain

The latest Bear was officially launched in London by HRH The Duke of York.

Thursday April 26th 2001, Author: Sian Cowen, Location: United Kingdom
Bear of BritainMark Campbell - James was approached by Kit to helm BoB after his success at The United Airlines RYA British Match Racing Championships. Campbell-James is proving to be one of Britain's most promising up and coming yachtsmen and has consistently proved his talents since winning the Optimist National Championships in 1992. Campbell-James said that he was very excited to be part of the team and was also impressed with the boat when out testing in the Solent last week. Whilst not used to the generous sail area, he said BoB handled brilliantly. She felt so powerful and was impressed with her boat speed as she reached 17 knots in average breeze and lumpy water. Campbell-James sits his university finals on Monday and will then be concentrating on the sailing. He hopes to be part of the next America's Cup Challenge.

Peter Harrison who is chairman of the Team GBR Americas Cup Challenge was also present at the launch along with his skipper Ian Walker. Peter will also be the proud owner of the next Farr 52 and will take delivery in a few weeks time. Peter is obviously looking to be a major supporter of British yachting through the generations and has made his new boat available for identical match racing practice which will benefit both the crews of Team GBR and Bear of Britain with their future campaigns.

The new high performance boat was built at Ovington Marine in North Shields and is designed to be quick for its size, fun to sail and very competitive on corrected time. She is a powerful boat with extensive sail area with masthead rig option generating downwind speeds faster than an IMS Maxi. She has an all-carbon hull with a cast steel keel and lead bulb (which draws almost four metres which will make sailing in the Solent interesting) and minimal internal ballast. The rig has swept spreaders, a short-footed headsail and no running backstays making it simple and economic to sail. She has a large open racing cockpit with twin wheels. Her accommodation below is minimal, but complies with offshore requirements.

In an average upwind/downwind course the Farr 52 will be anything from 23 to 50 seconds faster than any typical IMS 50 footer; this will give the crew of a Farr 52 the potential to stretch out from the current IMS 50 fleet whilst providing some exciting racing and very competitive corrected times. Sails are the latest tape drive technology from UK Sailmakers using Cuban-Fibre sailcloth combined with Carbon reinforcement.

If you wish to see the Bear on the water then keep a quick eye out for her at these events...


IR2001 National Championships, 1 to 3 Jun 2001, Solent, England
Morgan Cup, 8 Jun 2001
HOYA Round the Island Race, 16th Jun 2001
Cowes-Le Harve Race, 22 Jun 2001
French IRM National Championships, 24 to 26 Jun 2001
Royal Thames Yacht Club Regatta, 30 Jun to 1 Jul 2001
Cowes - Dinard, 6 Jul to 8 Jul 2001
Berthon Source Regatta, 13 Jul to 15 Jul 2001
Farr Regatta, 20 Jul to 22 Jul 2001
Skandia Life Cowes Week, 4 Aug to 11 Aug 2001
America's Cup Jubilee Regatta, 18 to 25 Aug 2001
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