79er

Julian Bethwaite discusses his new 8m sportsboat

Following the success of the 29er and 49er so the latest fruit of Bethwaite creative genius is a canting keel 8m sportsboat named...wait for it...the 79er.

The boat, the largest in the Bethwaite line-up, came about through demand says Julian Bethwaite. Pierre Gale, one of Australia's top sports boat sailors, discussed with the Bethwaites the possibility of a boat that 'would knock the socks off people’.

"We are getting a lot of old skiffies and other people seeing their kids having a lot of fun in 49ers, 29ers, 18s, RS600s and whatever and they are saying ‘where’s mine?’ basically. They want to have a bit of fun too," says Julian Bethwaite.

The prototype they came up with went beyond the mark performance-wise and Gale asked them to tune it down. "It was probably the best thing we could have done. I think the radical boat would have fallen over or fallen apart," admits Bethwaite.



The 79er has been in development for the last two years and is shortly to go into full production, built by Northshore Yachts in Gosford, near Sydney [as opposed to the Northshore Yachts on Chichester Harbour]. However Bethwaite expects the boat will end up being built somewhere in Asia. "We already have a production facility in Indonesia which works well and makes an extremely nice product."

In terms of looks the boat is clearly a '9er' with wings albeit with not quite the same low flying aircraft look of the 49er (in fact the wings are hinged to enable trailing). This 9er is unique in that is comes with basic accommodation. Although there is no head or galley, in the forepeak there is V-berth capable of sleeping two 6ft tall adults. In Australia, Bethwaite says, the crew will probably throw an awning over the boom and sleep in the cockpit. The 79er can be motored at 6-7 knots driven by just a 3hp outboard.

Above decks the mast is a 11.5m tall 86mm section carbon tube flying a choice of masthead or fractional asymmetric kites off a single 2.5m long pole. "It is not quite as extreme as a 49er, but it is the full depowering automatic style rig," says Bethwaite.



But the most novel aspect of the design is the keel. "It has got a fin on the bottom of the keel, so we don’t need a front fin," says Bethwaite. From the CAD images the lead bulb looks like it effectively doubles as a T-foil producing lift both upwards and to weather. One would think this is quite draggy but perhaps less so than having an extra board forward.

"When the thing starts bailing at 15 degrees heel you’ll start coming out of the water," says Bethwaite. "We’ve worked quite hard to get this fin on the bottom to work well. It should be more than adequate to stop the boat going sideways." In terms of its use, Bethwaite reckons it will depend upon the conditions, but expects they will sail with the keel fully canted as often as possible.

"The major reason it has got a canting keel is so that you can go out sailing three up," explains Bethwaite. "A lot of people can find two mates to drink at a bar or go and have a game of golf but they can’t find three or four. The idea with a canting keel is that they can do that."

The keel is operated by an 8:1 or 16:1 block and tackle arrangement inside the boat and can articulate by up to 60 degrees each side (this is the largest angle of cant we have ever come across, including Minis and maxZ86s). Aside from canting, the keel also lifts, as does the rudder in order for the boat to be trailed.

In terms of performance, the boat obviously is blinding. "A couple of weekends ago we were on the Harbour and we were sailing straight past 50 footers two sail reaching," says Bethwaite. "So it is a pretty quick little toy and we have a lot of interest in people saying ‘can I have one’".

Productions 79ers will be built in carbon fibre/foam sandwich probably using a resin influsion system. Sold complete with trailer and sails at present the estimated price will be Aus$85,000 (£34,300 approx) less instruments and outboard engine. The first production boat will be launched in July and a majority of interest in Europe says Bethwaite is coming from Scandinavia and Italy. We look forward to taking one for a spin.

At present there are no plans to turn the boat into a one design. That will be up to the owners says Bethwaite.





Aside from the 79er Bethwaite and his team have been developing the 29erX to create a stepping stone between the 29er and 49er and with the hope that this might turn into a girls doublehanded performance class. The boat has a slightly bigger rig and has a masthead asymmetric spinnaker and an extra trapeze for the helm. The good news is that existing 29ers can be upgraded to the X version.

In fact Bethwaite says the 29erX has the original rig they conceived for the 29er. "People forget that. The sails and mast we are using are seven years old. But what we know now compared to seven years ago is phenomenal. We can refine the rig down so that instead of spending a year and a half testing we can probably get it right in about a month. When I get back home that is high on the agenda. We’ve got a lot of interest in that from America. Europe is not quite so keen. They seem to be keener on the 49er sport rig route."

More images of the 79er on page 2...