On board the Soto 40

Video surfing in 20 knots on Tony Buckingham's Ngoni plus tactician Kevin Sproul insight

Read our introduction to the Soto 40 and interview with Audi MedCup Technical Director Nacho Postigo here

Kevin Sproul comes to the Audi MedCup not just wearing his Ultimate Sails hat, but also as tactician on board Tony Buckingham’s Soto 40 Ngoni, having sailed on Buckingham’s previous 40 footers, most notably the Farr 40 Bit of A Coup.

Training time for Ngoni prior to the Audi MedCup kicking off in Cascais was limited to just five days out of Valencia and having sailed with the mostly British crew yesterday, roles are still being established on the relatively labour-intensive Soto 40. But then we imagine this is also the case on many of the other boats racing in the MedCup’s new one design class.

“It is a great boat – perfect for the MedCup as a new one design,” says Sproul. “I think a strong part of the boat is that it is an entry level for owners who don’t want to spend the money on a development class like the 52. That will help the Audi MedCup build the regatta series and get some new blood into the boats. They are very exciting to sail, fast and quite easy to sail.”

While the Soto 40 class is finding its feet on the Audi MedCup, Ngoni at present is the only clear-cut owner-driver boat. Given Tony Buckingham’s previous experience, having campaigned a series of 40 footers previously, from the Farr 40 to an ILC 40 and most recently the previous Ngoni, a Mills 40 (originally Tiamat), he has opted for wheel steering on his Soto 40. “It is nice with the wheel downwind because you can see the waves, and the tiller is probably a little bit better upwind, so I think they will even themselves out,” says Sproul.

With a crew of eight, plus an extra mandatory passenger on board for the Audi MedCup, they are “physical” boat for the crew, each of whom have at least two jobs. In addition to doing tactics, Sproul for example says he also has to remember to do the runners. “A lot of the guys who we sail with and a lot of the guys on the other boats have sailed all sorts of one designs, Farr 40s and Melges 32 and they are loving it, because there are always new challenges with a new boat.”

One of the challenges has been how to drop the kite quickly without a pedestal. To this end the team (and they are not alone) have developed their own drop line system to suck the kite down through the circular foredeck hatch much faster than a manual drop. “You are allowed to use a drop line, but you aren’t allowed to add anything to the boat that you don’t have already, so you can’t fit a custom system,” explains Sproul. “We’ve managed to work out an system using the existing blocks and ropes so that we can get it down the hatch and we can get 80% of the spinnaker into the boat which we need to do because we only have one person at the front.”

So the drop line ultimately emerges into the cockpit where it is manned by anyone spare around the pit area. This has been given the thumbs up by the class measurer. “It makes a hung difference. What it means that you can get the spinnaker down when you are loaded coming into the mark. So if you are fully pressed you can still get the kite in the boat with eight people. So from that point of view it is very exciting,” says Sproul.

Like most lightweight boats capable of planing, handling the kite successfully downwind is less a case of brute strength but of the crew working well in unison. As the video below shows, when we were touching 18 knots in just over 20 knots of breeze downwind on board Ngoni yesterday, the boat also responds well to aggressive steering to make the most of waves and the crew is also allowed to pump the sails in certain wind strengths.

There are a few other quirks of the Soto 40. Due to the narrow waterline beam of the boat Sproul says sailing it at the correct heel angle is critical to the extent that they have this as a readout on the instrument rather than target boat speed upwind. “We’ve found that the difference in the boat between sailing at the right angle and the wrong angle is a huge difference in speed. That is partly the chine and the design of the boat and the way the keel is laid out. It is quite a stiff boat – very light at only 4 tonnes and with a massive mainsail.”

With sails on the Soto 40 limited to seven at the start of the season, but increasing to a maximum of 10 over the course of the season, so they built a test wardrobe to trial in Valencia, but have now committed to a new racing suit. Sproul says that the mainsail on the Soto 40 has been a challenge because the square top is actually 40cm larger than that of a TP52 main. “There are compression loads in the top two battens that are way more than expected. We’ve ended up in the head of the mainsail with twice the fibre that you’d probably have in a 40ft mainsail.”

The sails are also more robust than usual he points out because effectively they must last the season. There is also one less jib than you’d have on a Farr 40, so they must have a wider range. “We are allowed to replace up to 20% of the sail without it being designated a new sail, so we are going to look at the head of the race mainsail and maybe after a couple of regatta we may replace that.”

The rig is also a little odd in that the carbon mast is very stiff fore and aft, but less so laterally. “Although it is a carbon rig, it is quite big but quite bendy and with the PBO rigging it does some unusual things, so we have had to go to the settings the South Americans have been using and then do what we think would be right. Some of it has worked and some hasn’t.” The leeward shrouds are noticeably slack upwind.

With the rig as it is, they have found that adjusting the runner according to wind strength is critical, so typically Mal Parker, the spinnaker trimmer downwind, goes aft to trim the runner upwind. Downwind in breeze due to the generous size of the kite, moving crew weight aft is also essential to reduce bow burying (as you will notice in the video).

The last run of the practice race was definitely a ‘yeehaa moment’ and the sailing was exhilarating – you could feel the Soto 40 pick up and start planning as we hope the video demonstrates. It doesn’t take much imagination to see that in a little more breeze, say 25 knots, she would be comfortably surfing down waves at 20 knots, as the South American crews have been claiming.

The class have also made sensible moves to cap costs. For example the Ngoni team comprises just eight people, including owner Tony Buckingham. Sproul compares this to the Mills 40 or the Farr 40 where they usually were 11-12 strong. “The cost and logistics are massively reduced which is good for everybody, so I think from that point of view it is going to be a success,” says Sproul.

The boat is fun to sail, not overly expensive and, being a one design with no rating legacy, it is good looking with a flush deck and relatively low freeboard and not even a nod to ‘accommodation’ down below. While the twin wheels may add a little complication to the cockpit layout on Ngoni, (for example Gerry Mitchell sits in front of the helmsman, whereas on the tiller steered boats the mainsheet trimmer sits aft) the cockpit is big and the layout typically uncluttered.

We hope that now the class has had its debut in Europe, it will catch on, not least because the infrastructure provided by the Audi MedCup circus is second only to the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race.

To see the video in its full screen glory click on the bottom RH button in the viewer