Morty's viewpoint

Farr's Peter Morton gives the thumbs up to the new Grand Prix rule

Peter Morton, head of Farr International (UK) told us yesterday that as soon as the new Grand Prix Rule is published next September he will be going ahead with the construction of a new Farr design built to the new 40ft class rule by Ovington Boats. For RORC, ORC and US Sailing this is a thumbs up from one of the most influential figures in our sport. Here Morton gives his views as to why.

TheDailySail: What do you think about the new rule?

Peter Morton: I’m aboslutely in favour of a new grand prix rule for two reasons: Firstly it is needed, and secondly IRC needs protection. I think the difference this time [compared to the introduction of IR2000] is that there is more than just one organisation behind it and also it appears that they have the commitment of some race organisers to support it at the same time. So I think the lessons learned from IRM hopefully this time will be corrected.

The people I have spoken to say that the rule is going to encourage fast boats for their length and not slow boats and boats like the Mumm 30 and Farr 52 and Ker 11.3 are fast boats for their length. I think anything that is fast for its length is good and anything that encourages big boats to go slow is bad. People don’t mind spending money to go faster, but people don’t like to spend money to go slower. Whether the little boat will be a success… I suspect the 40 footer will be interesting which is why we are committing to do a 40 footer, as soon as the rule is published and Ovington is going to build it.

I think the 40 footer will be the one that initially goes, because it was does. It was always popular in the One Ton Cup. It will be the first one to take off, because there is so much more racing for smaller boats in one designs that it will be tough to see a handicap class beating a one design. But it may end up being like ½, 3.4 and one ton, which is good - it was the best racing.

TDS: What is your view about having different numbers for light and heavy conditions, like IMS?

PM: I think it is one of those things that is not very nice, but is absolutely necessary. In a perfect world you wouldn’t have it but practically speaking the boats change so dramatically in different conditions. One of the comments Bruce Farr made when IRM came in: he said that you can’t have a single figure number that works through the wind range because the dynamics change so much.

TDS: So presumably then you’ll end up with boats built for the heavy weather conditions and other built for the light weather?

PM: You will do and that wasn’t too dissimilar under IOR. I don’t necessarily think is a bad thing. Boats that have good ratings in say the Med in 8 knots of breeze are dramatically different to the boats that you need up here or in Australia. If you don’t allow it then people are not going to use the rule. I think as long as the box is relatively tight, then maybe if you sail in the Med you have a different stability number to what you sail to in Australia. IMS is the perfect example of that. IMS boats in the Med don’t need stability so therefore they don’t have it. It so happens that the rule also encourages that.
I don’t necessarily think it is a bad thing. IOR worked, it was just that the mathematics were wrong and the boats were horrible. And there will be very specific areas of the world where you can guarantee getting very light airs like the Med. What I think will happen is that if people run regattas with no discards and a mixture of inshore and offshore racing the boats will come into a corner eventually, a bit like the IOR50s did. They were all very different to start with, but in the end there was nothing between the Farr boats, the Briand boats, the Reichel-Pugh boats, the Nelson-Marek boats and the Vrolijk boats

TDS: What do you think about swing keels being allowed or disallowed?

PM: I am in two minds about it. I think from an exciting sailing point of view there is some merit in the swing keel and there is a market for it. Would I like to own and sail a swing keel boat? The answer is probably yes. Do I think it is a good thing? I do think it is good thing for crossing the oceans in new boats sailed by professionals. I don’t think it is the right thing for club racing and for inshore racing by amateurs in boats that are not particularly well maintained, because I think firstly the initial cost is unnecessary and two the potential of problems from low maintenance or low build quality, it is probably not worth it.

Also I wonder what happens when the first one of these picks up Gurnard Ledge at 12 knots or Chinese gybing them offshore with the keel out the wrong way and all sorts of problems.

And then it comes back to is it necessary? And the answer is - it is not necessary frankly and it is certainly not necessary at club level. IRC - to allow them is just wrong and clearly the rule makers think it is wrong and the feedback thinks the same, so they are not going to allow it in the new rule. For the relatively few people who have got them or are thinking about getting them - well, go and have a swing keel rule or go and race with the multihulls. It is not right for what we do.

TDS: With IRC and IRM the demarcation between which boat fits which rule has been a very grey area. What should the demarcation be for the new rule?

PM: I think Cowes Week last year was a perfect example. If you look at the number for Class 0 I think there were 26-27 boats in the class and if you took out the four Farr 65s which were corporate charter boats, there were only six genuine IRC production cruiser racers. The rest were either grand prix boats or grand prix boats built to the IRC, built to circumvent the cruiser racer rule. So 20+ of them if you took the Farr 52s, the IC45s, the Flirts, Aeras, were grand prix race boats, not cruiser racers. So why not give them something to race but also protect the genuine cruiser racers? If you look at Cowes Week and the Winter Series - where have all the big Beneteaus gone? Where have all the big Swans gone? They are not coming out because they are getting beaten by Grand Prix boats and they need protecting.

The problem is going to be the smaller boat. Numerically there isn’t the pressure on IRC and club racing much less than about 40ft, so the X-Yachts, Beneteaus and all the production boats tend to do well because no one has set about to try and expose the rule. There are one or two smaller boats in Ireland but generally it doesn’t seem to happen in the smaller boats.

I think the new rule will be small numerically to start with, but it is time the sport differentiated between quality and quantity. There are only 22 Formula One cars on the start line. Clearly that is what is happening in the big boats. Wherever we go you see it - probably it is a function of the fact that the owners of the big boats who want to do well and have the resources to go and spend some money on breaking the rule or have a good crew anyway - they have those sort of boats. I don’t think it is necessarily a function of grand prix IRM boats are that much better than IRC, it is just they are better sailed and campaigned and the owners of those big boats put more effort into it because they are a bit more individualistic than the guy who buys a 30, 32 or 35 footer.

TDS: Does there need to be some onus on race organisers to make this division?

PM: I think that is absolutely pivotal. The lead was clearly shown by Cork where they put people into the high performance class. All the competitors liked it. It proved to be hugely successful in the IRM performance class and in the cruiser racer class. The cruiser races didn’t have to come up against Grand Prix boats and vica versa. I think without it, the new Grand Prix Rule will fail. The people who write the rule need to be very close to the people who run the events so that owners know where they are going.

Cowes Week is a major event but there is also the Admiral’s Cup, Key West Race Week and a whole number of events. If they get together and say ‘this is what they are going to do’ then people can feel confident they can travel around and do these events under the same rule.

TDS: Obviously with the proliferation of one designs in recent years, there haven't been many one-offs built. Do you think owners still have an appetite for custom builds?

PM: I’m sure we’ll see more one-off boats being built when there is some stability in the rule. One of the reasons why there haven’t been a lot of one-off boats has been - what rule do you build it to? Do you built it to IMS, IRC, IRM, PHRK, Americap, IMS Club? There has been this huge indecision. Frankly I have advised people not to build new boats just because it has not been the right thing to do.

Another thing is that IRC has been so dominant and IRC is a production cruiser racer rule and therefore you haven’t need to build one-off boats. All one-off boats should go into the new rule unless Joe Bloggs goes and builds his one-off cruiser racer in his back garden, then there has to be a way of saying 'this isn’t a grand prix boat and it should race in IRC'. Generally speaking the one-off boats should be built to the new rule.

TDS: From an owner’s perspective why would you build a Grand Prix rule Farr 40 rather a one-design Farr 40?

PM: Farr 40 racing is very different because it is owner-driver. I think there are a number of owners out there who don’t like to drive. And there are a number of owners out there who like handicap racing and don’t like one design because they want to put a bit of individualism into their boats. Part of their fun is putting the project together an talking to designers and doing something themselves and in the long run that is healthy I think.
So the 40 footer that we’ll do with Farr and Ovington will not be a one design. If you want a boat with slightly more sail area and less righting moment or whatever the box allows within the constraints of the hull, we’ll be very happy to change the interior or the keel or whatever an owner wants. So it is not going to be another one design. The one designs are out there. The Farr 40 is going strong. There are 37 of them in Italy.

TDS: So we're going to see another arms race? That’s normally what happens...

PM: For some people the fun is in developing a new boat. Yes, it will be an arms race, but frankly as long a the rule doesn’t encourage ultra hi-tech so that every ounce you can save in the mast goes in the keel, so that you are having to use different modulus carbons and hugely expensive hull construction, as long as there is some constraint in there it will be fine. From what I understand the rule writers are going to produce a draft rule and send it to the designers and let them comment. One would hope the designers will come back and tell them where the loopholes are and then they can close the loopholes before they sign it off. That is encouraging. If they do that and designers come back with a list of genuine worries and queries and observations then I think it will be fine.

TDS: So you’ll be getting one of the new Farr designed 40 footers?

PM: Yes, I’m going to have the first 40. Let’s just hope they put some proper racing on for it...

TDS: Are other owners thinking the same way yet?

PM: Not yet. We are obviously talking to a lot of people a lot of the time. At the moment other than one design racing and the odd bit of IRC racing there is not a huge amount to offer them. The one design is fine, but there are people out there who will talk about a new boat for 2005. Now there is plenty of time, it can be be properly planned and properly done. It is good that they have to put it off to 2005 because it would just be a complete bun fight if you tried to do it sooner. Most owners and boatbuilders want to see a longer term view.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Farr empire...

There is never a dull moment at the Farr office in Annapolis. At present they have a new Cam IMS 56 footer in build at an aerospace company in Spain. This could well be the last ever IMS one-off says Morton, with a distint 'hurrah' in his voice.

Meanwhile Goetz are building three TP52s at Goetz including a new Esmerelda and Bright Star. These have the same hulls but slightly different interiors. Compared to the Transpac boat Beau Geste the new generation of TP52s will be more orientated towards inshore racing. "I’m told that the new rule is not a million miles away from what those boats are like and they are awesome boats to sail," says Morton.

Compared to your Bear of British/Chernikeff-style Farr 52, the TP52 is just over a ton light and has less volume in hull, slightly less upwind sail area and much more canvas downwind. Rather than being buil from female moulds it has a much higher tech custom/one-off construction

Next week instead of being at the Farr classes regatta in Miami, Morton will be out at the Kings Cup. "I am going to do the Kings Cup on the first of our new Farr 520s which is a cruiser racer version of the Farr 52." This boat uses the Farr 52 hull mould, the same keel and rudder and rig, but has a new deck with cockpit seats and a bigger interior with three cabins and all mod cons such as generators and watermakers. It also has a bowsprit and flies asymmetrics. The 520s are being built at DK and the first is being launched this Sunday. Morton says they have already sold the new 520 into Spain, Greece and Italy.

In the north of England Dave Ovington is beavering away. He is shortly to launch two new Farr 40s and a handful of Mumm 30s for which there is still a trickle of orders.

Morton has also been involved with sourcing boats for next year's Timberland Euro Prix race in IC45s (now Euro Prix 45s). At present he says 12-15 boats are available. "It is a good way to do a major event for not a lot of money."


What's your view about the new rule or Morton's views on it? Email us here .

To see our interview with Stuart Quarrie about the new rule - click here