Russell Bowler - part 2

We talk to Bruce Farr's other half about the Transpac 52, IRC in the States and the Volvo Ocean Race

This article follows on from part one of our interview with Bruce Farr's partner Russell Bowler.

While Farr Yacht Design's boat of the moment may be Jean-Pierre Dick's Open 60 Virbec-Paprec, currently lying seventh in the Vendee Globe, the Annapolis-based design house obviously have many other projects on the boil at the moment.

Of particular interest at the moment is the rapidly expanding TP52 class. This year Farr launched three new Goetz-built TP52 sisterships - Esmerelda, Bright Star and Sjambok. Now Farr have three more TP52s in build at Cooksons in New Zealand including one for the King of Spain that will be ready for next year's season in the Mediterranean, plus a fourth for Greek owner George Andreadis that is to be built in Europe.

"The TP52 is going through an interesting phase," says Bowler, who this season has been putting his money where his mouth competing on board Michael Brennan's Sjambok. "We have four [orders] at the moment and we are talking to a number of others. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm. We have got a number of others that will be designed in the middle of next year for launch in the early spring in 2006."

Farr at present seem to be getting into series runs of TP52s, but Bowler says that when taken as part of the overall price of a TP52 build, series construction doesn't represent much of a cost saving - maybe US$15,000 on a total build price of US$1.3-1.4 million, he estimates.

We remember a time when this was the price of a Volvo 60... "Time moves on…" muses Bowler. "I think it is mainly inflation. The TP52s are not really complex: They are carbon sandwich hulls. They need to be fairly well built. They have got a fairly sophisticated keel with a milled fin and bulb. The rig is not wildly extravagant but nevertheless it is a carbon rig with carbon spreaders and the sailplan is pretty nice and concise and then you have got to buy the sails."

While Bowler says the TP52 has taken off in the States with their three new boats and Jim Donovan's Trader and looks set to take off in Europe in 2005, oddly there are not many more current orders on the books emanating from the US.

So as someone who has worked on every kind of rule from the America's Cup to Whitbread/Volvo, to maxis, box rules and one designs, what does Bowler think is special about the TP52? "It is a very fast boat in light air and heavy air, upwind and downwind. It is a nicely tailored rule that just fits top end custom building, so you get all the advantages in your boat of that, plus a VCG that means you struggle to get a few kilos in the build in internal ballast - the rest is in the bulb.

"The rig is fairly tidy with good use of asymmetrics and it is owner-driver. The three boats we did last year - the owners have got smiles ear to ear. They are a very easy to handle boat, they perform, they drive past everything in the fleet. So the three owners are very happy and they are happy because they are fast boats, the crews all like them and they are having a good time on them. At the Big Boat Series - to see them screaming across San Francisco Bay at 22 knots was a wonderful sight."

Aside from this Bowler acknowledges that for both owners and crews there is a certain credo in having what is generally considered the slickest piece of equipment on the water at the moment. Short of having a canting keel the TP52s are from top to toe the present state of the art when it comes to keelboats.

"In San Francisco Kenny Read was there with his America’s Cup guys [on board Esmerelda] and the guy on Sjambok has an amateur crew but he was able to get in front of Kenny a couple of times and that made his day. Now he can't wait to get to the next regatta and have another shot."

While the TP52 appears to be hitting the spot with owners and crews at present Bowler feels it is hard to guage whether the class being a box rule rather than a one design will give it more or less longevity.

"There is a plus and minus with a box rule. The minus is that it becomes a development class so the boats you see around now will inevitably be superceded by the ones that come in next. You can modify them, but there may be hull shape developments or some issues that you can’t get to - you saw that a bit at the [Rolex] Big Boat series, where Yassou and some of the first generation boats were just off the pace. And it is our responsibility as designers to make sure that a development class develops. And the players there should understand that and want that - it is really down to them and how interested they are in that game as to how long it will last.

"A good one design takes that development issue out but it embeds an aging in that class which is inevitable as well. The Farr 40 class is interesting because that is still considered a contemporary race boat and it was introduced in 1997 and the Mumm 30 is older. So there are two classes that are okay and have survived."

Meanwhile following the first tentative step at the Rolex Big Boat Series this year, yacht clubs and regatta organisers across the US seem to be finally and fully embracing IRC as the handicap rule of choice. A group of yacht clubs along the Eastern seaboard have signed up not only to use IRC in their events but to promote the rule as well. Bowler attributes this to frustration with the IMS, while PHRF has been too simplistic. "Currently there is a lot of enthusiasm for IRC," he agrees. "It is still a single number rating system with all its problems, but nevertheless it is a system and it is being promoted and it will probably produce some good racing."

Farr have considerable experience in coming up with IRC-friendly designs and have not been slow to react to this new trend in the US. In October they announced three new IRC boats ranging in size from 33-42ft - all of them planned for production. Exact details of these boats Bowler says is confidential at the moment with the exception of the 42 that is being produced by a company in south Australia called Astral Yachts. DK Yachts in Malaysia is believed to be behind another.

Finally we briefly touch upon the Volvo Ocean Race for which Farr Yacht Designs is conjuring up Volvo Open 70s for Torben Grael's Brazilian team, Atlant's newly announced Swedish team and Pedro Campos' Spanish Telefonica team who's boat is currently under construction at Boat Speed to the north of Sydney. There may be a couple more to come says Bowler at this late stage and he should know - traditionally due to their wealth experience and success in this race they are the designer of choice for teams announcing late.

"It is panning out quite well," says Bowler. "We had some anxiety some months ago when the race itself was looking to be in jeopardy. I think they now have a critical mass going - it looks like we might have a race or six, seven or even eight very fast boats. They will be exciting offshore boats to watch. We are happy that is all came to eventuate. We invested a lot of time and money into it. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was the right thing within the Volvo 70 rule and quite a lot of effort helping Volvo putting the rule together to start with."

No doubt more will be forthcoming on Farr's new VO70s when they touch the water. Telefonica is due for launch in mid-February.