maxZ86 latest

Significant design changes afoot in the new maxi class reports Keith Taylor

The founding owners of the maxZ86 Class have voted to embrace the use of canting keels for their new 86ft turbo-sled maxiboats. Californian sled designer Bill Lee, who is writing the level rule for the new class, announced the move today.

Bob McNeil, who six months ago launched the water-ballasted Zephyrus V (above) as the first of the new maxi class, is joining sled owners Roy Disney and Hasso Plattner in building canting-keel maxi-raters designed to the modified maxZ86 level class rule. Other potential owners are expected to follow suit.

Disney & Plattner’s boats under already construction. The new Pyewacket is building at Cooksons Boatyard in Auckland and will be launched in September next year. Work has also started on the new Morning Glory at McConaghy Boats in Sydney for delivery in the Australian spring. McNeil will use his present boat as a test-bed and will start construction on a new canting keel boat in the latter half of 2004.

The maxZ86 owners will race their speedsters as the new line honours class for the 43rd Biennial Transpac Race in 2005. The Transpacific Yacht Club approved canting keels in 1997, and has approved the new class, subject to three boats starting in the 2005 race. The class has planned an extensive three-year racing schedule, starting in
2004.

In early November, McNeil skippered Zephyrus V to a line honours victory in the inaugural Isla Navidad Race spanning 1,178 miles from Long Beach, California, to Manzanillo, Mexico. Nicknamed the “El Ultimo Mexico Race”, the event was organized by Newport Harbor Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club. Zephyrus V completed the
course in four days, 10 hours, 55 minutes, 11 seconds and corrected to first in Class A and second overall in the 11-boat fleet.

In July this year, McNeil's new boat made its race debut in the West Marine Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco to Kaneohe, HI. Sailing with a heavier-than-usual keel and without water ballast she set a new record over the distance for boats without water ballast. Zephyrus V raced to Mexico with her light keel and water ballast.

"Never has a boat proven faster or more exciting,” said McNeil today. “With Zephyrus V, we set out to bring a fast new, streamlined look to the top end of the owners' game in sailing and with did that with distinction. However the debut performance of Bob Oatley's canting keel Riechel Pugh 60 Wild Oats at Australia's Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week 2002 this August foreshadowed the future. The decision to adopting canting keels was a logical path for our class to follow while still in its formative stages."

Roy Disney, who joined with McNeil in founding the maxZ86 Class, said: "Bob's pioneering efforts with his present boat and his selfless decision to support and encourage the use of canting keels has bestowed added focus and brings added impetus to the new game at the top of the sport of sailing. Everyone involved with maxZ86 is looking for fast, exhilarating competition in similar boats and we are a major step closer to this goal."

The owner-led class has directed Lee, famed for his success over two decades with ULDB sleds, to incorporate canting keels into the level class rule. Lee, who intends to publish the first draft of the revised rule in the near future, is seeking input from interested designers and potential owners.

“We intend to open this class to as many designers and owners as possible,” Lee said. “To that end, the rule will recognize boats using a variety of canting keel approaches, including single and twin daggerboards common to the Open 50s and 60s and the patented DynaYacht Canting Ballast, Twin Foil™ (CBTF) technology used on the Schock 40s and Wild Oats.”

Elaborating on the rule philosophy, Lee added: “The mechanism by which the maxZ86 rule intends to create close racing is to allow generous, but not unlimited, amounts of each speed-producing factor. The rule will be subject to a freeze for a period of time, followed by systematic reviews as newer and faster technologies become practical, such that the fleet can be updated at reasonable intervals.”

There will be an Owner-Driver Rule for inshore racing and for starting and finishing offshore racing. For more information about the class, including a draft copy of the maxZ86 Rule, contact Bill Lee at wizard@fastisfun.com.

All three founding members of the maxZ86 Class are long-time ocean racing sailors who have broken many major offshore sailing records.

Bob McNeil, a businessman who makes his home in San Francisco, is a long-time competitive sailor. His history includes 505s, Solings and Stars. He is a past 505 Class North American champion. All told he has raced in some 19 different countries. In 2000, his turbo sled Zephyrus IV broke the Cape Town to Rio Race record by almost two days.

Roy Disney, vice chairman of the Walt Disney Company, has had an ongoing love affair with the Transpac since his first race in 1975, missing only one since (in '97, due to a broken leg). He's raced four Transpacs on his Sparkman & Stephens 52-foot yawl Shamrock, one each on the SC 50 Samurai and the ULDB 60 Dare, two on his N/M 68 Pyewacket, three on his SC 70+ Pyewacket, and two on the 75-foot Pyewacket. He is the current Transpac record holder.

Hasso Plattner, CEO and co-founder of SAP AG, divides his time between San Francisco and Walldorf, Germany. He started sailing on the family 30 square-meter at the age of four. Sailing in 470s and windsurfers followed. His current 80-foot IMS maxi Morning Glory has broken records in the Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro and Sydney-Hobart Races.

See page two for details of the championship circuit...