Route Du Rhum Class 40’s race to launch. |
| Wednesday, 10 May 2006 |
| In Cape Town South Africa where winter now sets in, the two Owen Clarke Design Class 40’s are being firmly guided to their launch dates by Uwe Jaspersen proprietor of Jaz Marine.
With Jonathan Crinion's boat presently in the spray booth this will be the first to launch at the beginning of June. With the all important items like the sails being finished in New Zealand from the Quantum Sail Loft, mast and rigging from Pete Shaw at Southern Spars, electronics from Brookes and Gatehouse, putting a campaign together like this is never easy and unlike larger race boat projects this is all down to the owner/driver to get their boats on the water, prepped up and ready to race. For these guys there is no luxury of a dedicated shore support team, just the help of the suppliers and the design and build team.
Ian Munslow’s, Bolands Mill Wharf Class 40 is awaiting having the deck fitted with an anticipated launch date at the end of June. Ian’s accelerated build program is intended to get his boat back to Europe for the beginning of August. Again a Southern Spars mast and rigging will dress the boat. The local Cape Town North Sails loft will be providing the sails for this project and Raymarine will be supporting Ian with the electronics and Auto-pilots.
Both yachts though having different deck layouts and cockpit configurations are being fitted with very best deck hardware from Harken, Spinlock, Lewmar and Karver to enhance performance and reliability.
Both boats are being sailed back to Europe by their skippers, maximising time on the water and enabling the all important qualifying passage to be completed for the Route Du Rhum single-handed race in November 2006.
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