Class 40 reaches the US

Micah Davis and Brian Harris take ownership of a Lombard 40

The first Class 40 to sail in US waters has arrived in Portland, ME. The yacht is one of an exploding class of box-rule 40 footers and marks the start of what’s expected to be a burgeoning fleet of US-based shorthanded sailboats. Co-owners Micah Davis and Brian Harris expect to spend the summer tuning the boat before embarking on a more aggressive racing schedule in 2008.
 
"We are glad to be at the forefront of this terrific new concept in short-handed offshore sailing," said Harris, who is also General Manager of Maine Yacht Center where the boat will be fit-out this spring. "The Class 40s proved themselves in the 2006 Route du Rhum against much larger boats, yet they are relatively cost effective to build and campaign. By eliminating carbon in the hull as well as the cost and complication of a canting keel, there is a significant price saving yet the boats are still very fast." 

Davis adds: "We are thrilled to take advantage of the Lombard design team’s track record in the IMOCA Open 60 class, and believe that we will have an extremely competitive boat.  Plus, we’ve been talking about getting offshore for the last 15 years so it’s a little bit of a dream come true." The team is currently in negotiation with potential sponsors, and hopes to have a funded syndicate by the end of the summer.
 
The Lombard Class 40 was built by MC Tec in Tunisia under French supervision with the key components - keel, rudders and mast - built in France.  The finish work and commissioning will be carried out at Maine Yacht Center. To date there are more than forty Class 40s worldwide, most of them in France, yet Harris and Davis believe that their project will ignite interest in the class and expect that within a year there will be a competitive fleet racing in US waters. "We know of three other Class 40s slated for US delivery as well as at least one Class 40 being built here," Harris continued. "That’s a great start upon which we can build an active and competitive fleet."
 
Harris and Davis are Maine natives, both of whom have logged tens of thousands of ocean sailing miles and who together have competed in numerous races over the past two decades. Brian Harris is widely considered to be one of the top project managers in the world for the IMOCA (Open60) class, and has managed numerous singlehanded campaigns over the last decade. Davis is a portfolio manager for RS Investments in San Francisco. Davis and Harris, who will partner for the single and double handed events, have raced at the international level over the past fifteen years in various regattas, including the Sydney-Hobart, Newport to Bermuda, Halifax, Cowes Week, the Fastnet, Round the Island (UK), EDS Challenge, etc. Russ Cutler, who will act as the business manager as well as race, grew up sailing the New England coast, both recreationally and as an instructor, and has extensive blue water experience.
 
Maine Yacht Center has particular expertise in highly technical offshore yachts, especially shorthanded race boats. MYC has completed a large scale refit on a Finot designed Open 40 and is currently completing a major refit on a Bernard Nivelt designed Open 60 for the 2008 Vendee Globe.