Latest hardware

We have a crawl around Geoff Ross' new Reichel Pugh 55 Yendys

The newest hardware on the Rolex Sydney Hobart race course this coming Boxing Day will be Geoff Ross' brand new Yendys, a 55ft long IRC race boat designed by Reichel-Pugh and one of the first boats to come from McConaghys new build facility in China.

What is specific to the new Yendys is that she is designed, structured and built for offshore racing. "Structurally it is supposed to be bullet proof," says owner Geoff Ross. . A lot of work went into the hull and rig design, so we think we have a pretty good hull shape for a general purpose ocean racing boat – some upwind, downwind and some reaching." While Ross admits that he wanted a fixed keel boat, at this size this appears to be a sound choice. "Our analysis was clear that if you got it right, you would prevail under IRC in most conditions. The Rolex Trophy Series sort of established that that is the case."

A man of means, Ross could have had a larger boat built but thinks this size - 55ft LOA - is perfect for his needs. "It was designed to win races like the Hobart and the Fastnet. Historically if you analyse the Hobart races, boats of 45-50ft prevail. We have crept up a bit bigger - our last boat was 52ft and we’ve only gone a little bit bigger because it has fore and aft watertight compartment and that was inspired by Aera, so in fact the inside is the same pretty much as we’ve always had."

Part of the reason for Ross getting a new Yendys was the Tatterhalls Cup, the handicap trophy for the Rolex Sydney Hobart being sailed under IRC rather than IMS since 2004. Previously Ross had been racing the Judel-Vrolijk design IMS boat formerly Banco Spirito Santos, he had brought over from Spain. "We had done our best to convert an IMS boat to IRC but it was an uphill battle. Even when you sailed significantly better than others you would still wouldn’t make it under the new handicap system."

Aside from being offshore-orientated and a size similar to Chris Little's new Juan Kouyoumdjian designed Bounder(Little and he are good friends, Ross has been a Rear Commodore of RORC during Little's tenure as Commodore, and Little chartered Ross' Farr 49 race winner for the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart), the boat has specifically been set up to be simple to sail. There is no spinnaker pole, although one could be fitted if required, and instead there is a fixed sprit. There is a single backstay and no overlapping jibs on the Southern Spars three spreader TP52 section rig.

Unfortunately this doesn't mean there will be a crew reduction as a result. "The trouble is it is so powerful," continues Ross. "Theoretically we could get away with less, but I am going with 14, one more than I went with on the 52 just because it is a very powerful boat."

The principle competition for Yendys will be Roy Roberts' canting keel Cookson 50 Quantum Racing and Stephen Ainsworth's 18 month old Reichel Pugh 60 Loki. While Yendys is an uncomprised race boat, Loki is a slightly larger cruiser racer and to give a taste of the competition that lies before them just one second separated the two boats at the conclusion of recent Rolex Trophy Rating Series, where Loki got the upper hand.
"They are a little bit bigger and we have only raced this for four days," qualifies Ross of this results. "We were racing either in 7 knots or 30 knots. In heavy weather we are super competitive and that was on day one. On the light airs days on the first race we weren’t too competitive but we worked hard on the rig setting and the next day we were very competitive. From our perspective that really accelerated us. And it wasn’t just Loki we also had Wild Joe [the former Wild Oats Admiral's Cup winner] right beside us and we were being pushed very hard."

Also significant about the boat is that it was, along with China Team's new AC boat, the first craft to originate at McConaghy's new facility in China. For Ross this is significant as he has two relatively new businesses in China. One is a software company providing core banking systems to Chinese banks, while another is a financial services distribution business, including the biggest mortgage broker in Shanghai.

With such a new boat and a 30 knot upwind, wind against current forecast surely Ross has some reservations about this year's race. "We think this is pretty bulletproof. The builder said this has as much structure in it as most maxis do. It is set up for the ocean, for heavy weather. The whole thing is set up very carefully, but you still need a bit of luck...."

Sailing with Ross this year are a number of BMW Oracle Racing heavyweights including Phil Jameson, David Brooke and Noel Drennan, led by David 'Ratty' Blanchfield. Ratty kindly gave us the guided tour earlier, starting from the pointy end (see page 2).