Cian McCarthy mini launches mid May |
| Wednesday, 01 May 2002 |
| Construction delays at the yard in Totnes have left very little time for Cian McCarthy and his crew Conrad Humphries to iron out inevitable problems and prepare for the annual two-handed race around the Fastnet Rock in which over sixty 6.5m mini transat yachts are entered. It’s a role reversal for the two young men for Conrad was Cian’s skipper in the 2000/2001 BT Global Challenge, an event in which their yacht 'LG Flatron' finished the overall winner. Cian’s preparation is being helped 'hands on' by Owen Clarke designer Matt Wood who, as lead designer on this project, was responsible, along with Merfyn Owen, for the yacht’s design. Matt is pictured here (right) early on in the build with Cian at Stig McDonald’s West Country yard.
Undoubtedly late though the boat is and with all that this entails for a project, the end product is stunning and clearly a great deal of care has been taken in her construction. The weight saved by building from carbon has resulted in a larger hull, wider waterline beam and more powerful design than her heavier glass predecessors. Built on a one piece tool and with no hull/deck or centreline joints, every opportunity was made to save weight on secondary structure whilst maintaining a strong and stiff body shell. In the absence of tank test data, the choice was made to save further weight by fitting a single gybing daggerboard, allied to a swinging fin and bulb.
Completing not winning the Mini Fastnet will be the major goal in the coming weeks because of the importance of qualifying this year in order to be sure of a place in next year’s Mini Transat event itself. With more than a year to get used to and develop the boat, things are looking promising for this young Irishman’s campaign if he can get over this first hurdle and still be standing.
Last year’s five day event saw Merfyn Owen racing on Ian Munslow’s 'Ishtar' and ended with the last half of the race being finished in gale force headwinds. This year’s race starts from Douanarnez on Brittany’s west coast on June 1st, where we hope to meet potential mini’sts still looking for a fast design. Confirming our commitment to this class and ‘small boat’ short handed racing, Merfyn Owen, Matt Wood and Nadjean Geslain will be at the start to help both Ian Munslow’s 'Ishtar' and Cian get away, as well as to sample that special spirit that thrives at mini events.
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