Owen Clarke Design have been involved with the development of Class 40's since the rule’s inception back in 2005 and have now produced thirteen custom/semi–custom and five production boats, since 2006. Our designs have been Class Champion, won or placed on the podium in events such as: Class 40 Mondial/ISAF Worlds, Route du Rhum, Round Britain and Ireland Race, Normandy Channel Race, Atlantic Cup, Bermuda Race, Bermuda 1-2, Marblehead-Halifax and the Transat Jacques Vabres. In the 2019 season our previous generation design and the first to be raced by a professional duo, #157, Imagine, finished third in the 2019 Normandy Channel Race, second in the La 40 Malouine in St Malo and a close run sixth in a very demanding and record breaking Transat Jacques Vabres. Most recently, our lead Class 40 designer, Merf Owen raced and completed his second Transat Jacques Vabres on the Marc Lombard designed 40, PolkaDot.
You Tube video with designer Merf Owen pre TJV 2021:
Transat Jacques Vabres Class 40 dock walk
Credit: RORC/Arthur Daniel
Longbow # 143, designed with Clay Oliver was built at Carbon Ocean Yachts, USA and launched in September 2015. This superbly detailed development fast 40 footer was built in female production moulds and launched in Newport, Rhode Island where there is an active 40 class. Optimised for the light to moderate conditions that are typically found on and off the New England coast, this radical design broke away in many areas from the typical Class 40 designs found in Europe. Amongst its innovative features new to the class were a masthead rig and six ballast tanks (three per side). She also sported an independent under-deck headsail sheeting system, for faster trimming in inshore regattas. An album of design, sailing and build photographs for #143 Longbow can be found in the following
FACEBOOK ALBUM
Credit: Billy Black
Click image for video
Class 40 is intended to be a ‘broad church’, although with the exception of Owen Clarke boats, all of the recent designs have, not surprisingly, been Franco centric, developed for the pro/semi-pro French sailor and optimised solely for trans-oceanic races, the Route du Rhum in particular. While our boats have appeared on the podium of both the Rhum and the TJV and most of our clients wish to race predominantly offshore, others never complete a long-distance event. Hence, the development of a series of polyvalent designs for amateur/club sailors have become somewhat of a niche for us in recent years. Class 40 is a box rule that has produced boats that are capable of racing fully crewed (typically 3-5 persons) in classic events such as the Fastnet, Bermuda Race, as well as short-handed in races such as the AZAB, TJV and Atlantic Cup.
Credit: Atlantic Cup
Building on our fifteen years’ experience of designing and racing in the class, using the latest design tools available we are currently working on a sixth-generation Class 40. She will be a scow bow design optimised and focused on providing a platform to win the Route du Rhum and
THE RACE AROUND
. At the same time, OC continue to update and conduct tender processes with yards, sail-makers and suppliers worldwide and have a considerable amount of information and costings that allow our boats to be built anywhere in the world. For those sailors and owners who have not commissioned their own boat before we have produced a useful guide describing the design and build process with some frequently asked questions. It shows how an owner goes about commissioning a stock boat or having a custom boat designed.
|
