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Class 40 “Icarus Racing” 40' / 12.19m

The first Class 40 to be designed and built in the United States. Currently being campaigned by Jeffrey MacFarlane. http://jefferymacfarlane.com/

Yacht Specifications

“icarus racing” – the first u.s. built class-40.

Build of the boat is by Ted Brown and Stewart Wiley of Al Fresco Composites, Portsmouth, RI.

To begin the design process we decided to test a series of hulls in a weather matrix for the race as well as a long-race performance predicition tool developed in-house by RMD. Class 40 is a ‘box rule,’ so we investigated one shape overtly maximized to the box. The other extreme was considerably narrower than the maximum, with a single rudder, lighter hull and a higher ballast-ratio, both to the minimum displacement. A third boat tested was between these extremes. For these three exploratory types, we used a ‘parent/child’ annex to our Velocity Prediction Program (VPP). This allows the boat to choose the location and amount of ballast (including ballast to leeward or empty) to give the boat its best performance in every wind strength and direction. Of course it doesn’t take into account sea conditions, exhaustion, broken gear and the indefinable issue of seakindliness. If it did, we could leave it all to the machines!

An intuition that a subtle step further was needed, led to the final hull choice. It was faster in the weather matrix and RMD’s own RTW test by a greater margin than all the others. We were on our way and sent the surface files to Goetz Custom for computer cutting. Design partner, Ross Weene has worked wonders (and long hours) to complete this program efficiently and accurately.

Spars are by Halls Spars of Bristol, RI.  Sails are North 3Di. Steve Koopman, Dirk Kramers’ partner in SDK Structures has worked with Ross to engineer advanced light, durable hull and appendage structures with materials from Rich O’Meara’s ROM Composites of Newport.

This is not only an all-out US entry into Class 40 and ocean racing arena, but an all-Rhode Island entry too.

ICARUS RACING SAILPLAN (pdf)

ICARUS RACING COMPOSITE PLAN (pdf)

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Class 40 Mighty Mites

• By James Boyd
• May 23, 2023

For sailing fans visiting from ­outside France, the Route du Rhum is a cultural shock, barely to be believed even once seen. It is France’s oldest singlehanded race, first held in 1978, and run every four years from St. Malo in northern France 3,500 miles across the North Atlantic to Guadeloupe. The fleet of 138 boats that assembled for the start in November 2022 was incredible, with an estimated value of 260 million euros—from the implausible 100-foot Ultime trimarans to a record fleet of 38 IMOCA 60s and a similarly impressive fleet of 55 Class40s. Dock sides are crammed with spectators, many hoping to catch a glimpse of the top skippers—some are genuine sports stars. Had the 2022 start not been delayed, French President Emmanuel Macron was to have attended. It’s that much of a big deal.

In the days and hours before the Route du Rhum started, more than 1 million people passed through its race village in St. Malo. In this environment, even non-French amateurs, such as the two US Class40 skippers, Alex Mehran and Greg Leonard, gained celebrity status with relentless autograph signing, selfies with fans and press interviews. Usually outshone by the bigger, higher-profile boats, the Class40 is the most successful 40-footer of all time. While the Farr 40 never topped more than 40 boats at a world championship, this is the second Route du Rhum in which more than 50 participated. To date, 192 Class40 hull numbers have been allocated.

While “Open 40s” once competed in the OSTAR and Around Alone, the Class40 came about independently. Born in France in the early 2000s, two designs defined the class: the Pogo 40 and the Jumbo 40. But the success and longevity of the Class40 is due to its highly constrictive box rule, drafted by a group that includes wise French sailor and journalist Patrice Carpentier, which remains robust 18 years on.

The box rule’s basic parameters are a maximum length overall of 39 feet, 11 inches; max beam of 14 feet, 9 inches; draft of 9 feet, 10 inches; average freeboard of 3 feet, 6 inches; max mast height of 62 feet, 4 inches; max working sail area of 1,238 square feet; minimum displacement at 10,097 pounds; and max water ballast of 1,653 pounds per side. Most brutal are the materials limitations: Carbon fiber, aramid, honeycomb cores and pre-preg resin are forbidden from the construction of the hull, deck, interior structure and fittings; go down below on one and, joyously, thanks to the GRP construction, it is not coffin black.

Carbon fiber is permitted for the mast, boom and ­bowsprit, while standing rigging must be steel rod. Sails are limited to eight, and all but two and the heavy-weather jib must be polyester and nylon. A single fixed keel and as many as two rudders are permitted, but daggerboards and foils are banned, as are canting, rotating masts, mast jacks, and adjustable or removable forestays. However, complex kick-up rudders are permitted. (Although their effectiveness to kick up in a collision is allegedly dubious.) Over the years, displacement and average freeboard have slightly reduced, but the biggest rule amendment has limited “how scow” Class40 hull shapes can be. While the latest foiling Protos in the Classe Mini (the “flying bathtubs”) are fully flat-bowed, Class40 has two max beam limits just short of the bow to prevent this. Naturally, costs have risen, but the rule has successfully limited them; today, a top Class40 costs 700,000 to 800,000 euros.

Those sailing the Class40s in the early days were a mix of pros and amateurs. Today professionals on sponsored boats are the majority. As for aspirant French pro sailors, the Class40 has become a significant stepping stone between from the Classe Mini and Figaro circuits to the IMOCA.

As skipper of Groupe SNEF , leading Mini and Figaro skipper Xavier Macaire says: “The transatlantic races like this [Route du Rhum] are very interesting to us, and the boat is not very expensive. The Class40 is easy to maintain and prepare, and is not a complicated boat like an IMOCA where you need 12 guys. With this, you need two or three, not full time. It is an easy, fast boat.”

With more top pros like Macaire joining, 30 new Class40s have been launched in the last four-year cycle. The most recent Route du Rhum podium, for example, comprised two-time Solitaire du Figaro winner Yoann Richomme ( Paprec Arkea ) and Mini Transat winners Corentin Douguet ( Queguiner-Innoveo ) and Ambrogio Beccaria ( Allagrande Pirelli ) of Italy.

Of the French classes, the Class40 and the Mini remain the most cosmopolitan, with entries from other European countries, notably Italy at present, while the United States, Australia and South Africa were also represented in the Route du Rhum. Far from being put off by the pro element, Americans Alex Mehran and Greg Leonard were thrilled to be on the same starting line. “It is such a privilege to race against some of the top offshore sailors in the world,” says Leonard, who hails from Florida. “It is like playing football against a first team in the NFL—it is that level of quality. There are not that many sports you can do that in.”

Both American skippers came to the Route du Rhum from similar paths. With his Mach 40.3 Kite , Leonard is a professional economist originally from Texas. He campaigned a J/120 for many years with his remarkable son Hannes, who raced his first doublehanded overnighter with his father at age 13. Now 18 and with thousands of race miles under his belt, both in the US and Europe, he is a Class40 expert. For his father, the Route du Rhum was his first singlehanded race.

Over the years, several top shorthanded sailors, notably British Vendée Globe skippers Mike Golding and Miranda Merron, have raced with him, also coaching him. He is very enthusiastic about the Class40: “They are beautiful boats, such fun to sail. When we delivered her to St. Malo, we had 28 to 40 knots just aft of the beam, and we just hung in the low 20s boatspeed, and it was finger-light steering.”

Mehran skippers Polka Dot , which has the perfect pedigree, being Yoann Richomme’s 2018 Route du Rhum winner—a Lift V1 design. Growing up as part of the St. Francis YC Laser squad and subsequently a Brown collegiate sailor, he met Welsh Class40 designer Merfyn Owen in 2009 and raced one of his designs. Remarkably, he won his first major singlehanded race, the 2009 Bermuda 1-2. He subsequently graduated to an Owen Clarke-designed Open 50, in which he set a record in 2012’s singlehanded Transpac. He then went off, had four kids, and developed his commercial real estate business before getting the itch once more last year. He competed ­doublehanded with Owen in the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre on an old Class40, but as Mehran puts it, “We needed to get ­something scow.”

He too has been receiving coaching from Merron and Golding, among others. According to Mehran, one of the most difficult things to explain to those back home is less the offshore-racing fever that afflicts French fans, but that their skippers are not multimillionaires. Instead, they come from a wide age group and all have commercial backing to either buy a secondhand boat or—if they are higher-­profile, more accomplished or just plain lucky—build a new one. So, returning to the Route du Rhum podium, Paprec’s business is waste disposal (admittedly, its owner races his own Wally 107), Arkea is banking and insurance, Queguiner is building materials, Innoveo is an app-­development platform, and Pirelli makes tires (its CEO has a Wally 145).

Over the last two decades, the Class40s themselves have evolved, despite Draconian design limitations. What started as cruiser-racers with fitted-out interiors became racer-cruisers and are now refined pure racers. They may not be black inside, but the build quality of the latest-generation designs is of the highest ­standard, and it seems no longer possible to buy a cruiser-racer.

A delight of the Class40 is that no one designer is dominant; eight different designs make up the 30 boats built over the last four years. Pogo Structures, last of the original builders, is on its fourth version of its Pogo 40, the S4, designed by Emirates Team New Zealand’s naval architect, Guillaume Verdier (who also designed Structures’ scow-bowed flying Proto Mini).

The man who developed the first blunt-fronted scow Mini, David Raison, produced the Max40, built by JPS in La Trinité-sur-Mer. Also built by JPS are Sam Manuard designs—the Mach 40.4, such as the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre winner Redman , skippered by Antoine Carpentier (nephew of the original rule’s writer), and now its evolution, the Mach 40.5, of which two competed in the Route du Rhum.

In 2020, VPLP made its first foray into the class with the Clak 40, built by Multiplast, of which four raced in the Route du Rhum, the top finisher being Martin le Pape’s Fondation Stargardt. Etienne Bertrand, another successful Mini designer, had two Cape Racing Scow 40s in the race, while Allagrande Pirelli , believed to be the most expensive of the latest crop and campaigned by last year’s Mini Transat winner, Ambrogio Beccaria, is an all-Italian affair designed by Gianluca Guelfi and built by Sangiorgio Marine Shipyard in Genoa.

However, after the recent Route du Rhum, ­nosing in front in the design race is Marc Lombard with his Lift V2s, of which seven were racing, including Yoann Richomme’s winner, Paprec Arkea . Lombard is one of the longest continuous players in the Class40, and has worked with Tunisian manufacturer Akilaria on its RC1, RC2 and RC3 models since 2006, of which 38 were built. His latest designs have been the Lift, introduced in 2016; Veedol-AIC , one example, took Richomme to his first Route du Rhum victory. The Lifts were custom-built with a hull and deck made by Gepeto in Lorient, but finished off by the V1D2 yard in Caen, and were more precisely engineered and built than the Akilarias. They were superseded this cycle by the Lift V2, the most popular of the new Class40s, with seven competing.

For Richomme, the Route du Rhum was a small distraction from having a new IMOCA built. He entered the Route du Rhum to defend his title and stay race-fit. If the first Lift was an early scow, the present one is at the limit, to the extent that it has a bump in the hull 2 meters aft from the bow at the limit of where the Class40 rule restricts the max beam to prevent such extreme scowness.

The scow bow provides more righting moment, but it also does interesting things to the boat’s hydrodynamics. “With a pointy bow, the keel is more angled and creates more drag,” explains Richomme, who is also a trained naval architect. “When a scow heels, the hull is almost parallel to the keel, so sometimes when we go over the waves, we can feel the keel shudder when it is producing lift. The chine is low and therefore very powerful, and when we heel, it makes for a very long waterline length. Also, we have very little rocker, whereas other [new] boats have a lot, which creates a lot of drag so they don’t accelerate so well when they heel.”

The Lift V2 “is a weapon reaching,” Richomme says. “We can hold the gennaker higher than we used to. Last time, I didn’t even take one. But with the power going up, so have the loads, and we are having problems with the hardware. I have broken two winches already.”

A downside of the big bow and straight chine is downwind, where the technique seems to be preventing the bow from immersing. Paprec Arkea is typically trimmed far aft, including the stack and the positioning of the 1,653 pounds of water ballast (most new boats have three tanks each side), while its engine is 19 inches farther aft, and the mast and keel 11 inches farther aft than they were on his previous boat. They are 77 pounds below the minimum weight, which Richomme admits may be too extreme—during training they broke a bulkhead.

Otherwise, their increased cockpit protection is most noticeable on all the new designs (although not to IMOCA degrees), while most have a central pit area with halyards fed aft from the mast down a tunnel running through the cabin. On Paprec Arkea , a pit winch is mounted just off the cockpit sole. With the main sheet and traveler lead there as well, Richomme can trim from inside the cabin.

Most extraordinary about the scows is how fast they are. Anglo-Frenchman Luke Berry, skipper of Lamotte-Module Création , graduated from a Manuard Mach 40.3 to a 40.5 this year and says: “It is a massive improvement both in speed and comfort. Reaching and downwind, we are 2 knots faster, which is extraordinary.”

The top speeds he has seen are 27 to 28 knots. “Most incredible are the average speeds—higher than 20.”

This effectively turns yacht-design theory on its head, with ­waterline length and hull speed having less effect upon defining the speed of a boat that spends so much time planing. On the Mach 40.5, the waterline is just 32 feet, with a length overall of 39 feet. Compared to the Lift V2, it has more rocker, supposedly making it better able to deal with waves.

Nowhere is the speed of the latest Class40s more apparent than where they finished in the Route du Rhum in comparison to the IMOCA fleet. Paprec Arkea arrived in Guadeloupe ahead of 13 IMOCAs, or one-third of the way up the IMOCA fleet. Richomme says he used to sail on a Lombard-designed IMOCA 20 years ago, when they would make 10.5 knots upwind. “On a reach, I reckon we are faster than them now. We can do 20 to 22 knots average speed.”

Ugly seems to be quick, but when it comes to the Class40, beauty is in the eye of the beholder of the trophy.

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The sails of a Class 40 explained by the engineer who designed them

• November 17, 2022
• No Comments

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Marc Lombard on the brand new LIFT 40 Racing Yacht

• July 6th, 2017

Marc Lombard is one of the most renowned naval architects and yacht designers in the world and bears the status of a legend especially in France. He is the one who is responsible for those chatoyant names just as the Beneteau Figaro 1 and 2 (read about it here ), Ofcet, RM Yachts (read about it here ) and even large production companies like Jeanneau, Nautitech or Privilege hired the designer. Lombard even did the re-design of the Alubat Cigale 16, the larger sister of my all-time favourite, the Cigale 14 . He is known for his combination of unconventional approaches to a design in combination with powerful and fast hulls.

When I checked on his facebook-account lately I got aware of his latest boat touching waters: A Class 40 racing yacht. The LIFT 40 prototype launched this week made me pick up the phone again and contact Marc to have him interviewed on this beauty – you know that I am in love with Class 40 racing yachts (read my article on Class 40 yacht designs with Lombard, Merfyn Owen and Britton Ward here ) and I love to sail these whenever I can .

Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING.com: “Marc, good to have you again and thanks for taking some of your precious time to answer my questions. As you are the designer of the legendary Akilaria Class 40 yachts there are already Class 40 designs available. Now there´s a brand new one. Please tell me about the origin of the LIFT 40. Is it a one-off? For whom did you design this yacht?”

Marc Lombard: “Oh yes, the new design definitely a one-off design! The period when we were able to produce a “production-Class 40” is about over. This is due to the fact that the Class 40-fleet now counts a large number of boats, and that, beside general naval architecture progress, top construction with no “production compromises” is necessary to achieve all parameters at the top. This is: Minimum weight, maximum allowable righting moment, maximum centring of all weights. Even if on paper the rule leads to similar parameters “power to weight ratios “, difference is made on hull shape new tendencies and many details that leads to a better boat.”

NFS.com: “So you´ve got a client who wants to be at the top of the Class in terms of racing?”

Marc Lombard: “Yes, definitely. We designed the boat specifically for Louis Duc who sailed previously on our designs, both on Mini class and Class 40. His boat was exTALES, originally designed for Gonzalo Botin and twice winner of the world championship in Class 40-racing. Louis also choose two very competent yards for the actual construction of the boat: Vi/D2 in Caen in the Normandy was in charge of overall managing and deck and appendage construction. Gepeto in Lorient did the composite of hull and structure. This has definitely been a good choice! Louis had good contact with my partner Eric Levet and H.P. Shipman, naval architect at MLDG and placed 3 rd in Mini-Transat 2009. Both have principally been in charge of the Class 40-design this last winter at the office.”

NFS.com: “Can you give a general description of this yacht with an emphasis on the briefing that was given to you by the Louis Duc – which premises does this yacht adhere to?”

Marc Lombard: “Well, there hasn´t been a real specific demand from Louis, except to design with emphasis on power at sailing angle which is different than power measured by the rule. This of course to maximise performance on reach and upwind courses, maybe even more than on our previous designs that where orientated on full round performance, but within a production way of building. For the rest, Louis asked an all-round optimisation, keeping the best of our previous designs but improving even more on certain details. We discussed some specific demands, like the use of a fixed bowsprit plus a separate orientable spinnaker pool – by the way, as opposed to our super successful previous orientated bowsprit used by many concurrent. This to optimise windward tack point on spinnaker, theoretically better with this later configuration. At the end we designed his solution, but pointing the risk of damage if for example used the wrong way of the pool in manoeuvring the boa. For at the end a limited gain versus risk of misuse I would say.”

NFS.com: “You are – next to many other projects – well known for your Akilaria Class 40 racing yachts. Are there differences between the LIFT 40 and the Akilaria yachts?”

Marc Lombard: “The main difference, as said before, is the fact that the boat is built as a one-off design, with little or no compromise on price side: The boat‘s infusion is made with better technology, shaping foam, using as little resin as possible. Main difference with previous Akilaria’s construction is the fact that the hull and deck has no gelcoat, but a paint finish which by itself allows a gain in weight of over 80 kg. This gained margin can be used to have a more rigid boat, a stronger boat and a better centre of gravity. Of course, that is impossible on a production boat, as the price is much higher at the end. This was also made possible because we limit the investment on tooling by using and adapting an existing deck mould built by Halvard Mabire for his last boat. Also on appendages, as a prototype, we went directly to a lifting rudder solution, which again is impossible on standard production Class 40, because of far more expensive configuration.”

NFS.com: “Let´s go further into detail with LIFT 40. What are special abilities or features of this boat in terms of hull shape design and appendages?”

Marc Lombard: “On the design side, the optimisation is made mainly on hull shape which has far more volume forward, allowing a greater power at commonly used heel angles. Large investigation on CFD program was made on this boat to increase usable power without penalty on drag side, to preserve at most performances on full downwind conditions. To achieve this we worked a lot on the shape of hull both under and over flotation line, including deck lateral shape, the goal to achieve minimum measured power but maximum sailing power. Forward stem and keel line slope is also a major key in the design, it is developed to move forward the centre of immersed pressure as soon as the bow comes down. It is a critical compromise which without CFD we would have been unable to adjust the necessary amount of slope: Too much would lead to increased drag all round, too little would lead to bow down and through-wave-behaviour large problems. This is also one reason we tried not to go to full scow stem like on certain mini designs: We believe that there is a possible compromise with a less ugly shape than scow stem that I don’t like is heavy weather as a possible structural weakness. Beside this, large optimisation was made on appendages. With an even thinner keel for example, larger lifting rudders. This is to allow a larger amount of rake of the mast and perfect steering balance. This was necessary with extreme volume of the hull forward, and keeping bow up all the time.”

NFS.com: “What about rigging and sail plan?”

Marc Lombard: “As I said, the aim was to keep extreme volume stem up and above the water. For this purpose, the sail plan has a clear aft position relative to the hull to help the necessary aft trim.

On mast side, with one spreader configuration we allow relatively low windage and low centre of gravity. This configuration only works with carbon mast that allows different wall thicknesses in different parts of the mast. On paper, the result shows progress on all points of sailing. And the fact that the rudders acts as a major item in the lateral resistance also gives a very live steering. For sure this help in finding the good sail trimming. With this sort of configuration, the boat shows clearly an unproperly sail trimming: As this would pose a large problem for a cruising boat, but in fact it´s a major key for a full racer.”

NFS.com: “What will be the speciality of this yacht?”

Marc Lombard: “Definitely the boat should be super-fast on reaching and upwind points of sailing, but keeping the same performance than our best previous design downwind. Especially the performance we achieved with the Akilaria RC3 design.”

NFS.com: “Will LIFT 40 set a new standard in Class 40 racing yacht design and what´s the general difference to Owen Clarke, Pogo etc.?”

Marc Lombard: “Previously, we constantly improved our production design Akilaria, but within the construction compromises, it was difficult to move on a large step forward. Compared to other designs, I think we’ve moved to a very new standard of Class 40 boats, by interpreting the latest tendency developed by our design office in terms of racing boats. In this case it´s especially the Mini Class latest evolutions. Except for foil design that is prohibited on Class 40, but that will be present on future design of this size like on our Black Pepper Code 1 in few month time.”

NFS.com: “When will LIFT 40 hit her first race and will be there other boats of this class?”

Marc Lombard: “CARAC, that’s Louis Duc boat’s name, will be racing this summer at the Fastnet race, followed by the Transat Jacque Vabre, this coming fall. Considering the time and overall budget of design of this new boat, we definitely would like to build a few other boats on this design, We already have some contacts, but, as usual for racing boats, decisions will probably have to weight race results.”

Marc, thanks again for opening up some interesting insights in your latest design. It´s always interesting to learn about the stories behind the racing yacht designs as it is mainly their approach to solving problems which can in terms of a scaled down-process have big influence on production cruising yacht designs. I will definitely check for LIFT 40 CARAC´s progress and performance in the racing world.

Other interesting articles on this topic:

Alex Lang´s Mini Class 650 Dudley Dix design made of plywood

The mystery of La Solitaire – the FIGARO 2 racing yacht

Marc Lombard on designing a yacht

Current Name: Ker 40

No newer names.

Production IRC Raceboat - Showed the way with light weight success

Designer's Comments

Boat summary.

• Draft: 2.60
• Displacement: 4850
• Project Name: Ker 40
• Project Type: Racing, Monohull
• Build Type: One design
• Stage: Built
• Base rating: 1.196

Manufacturing Details

• ISO Structural: A
• Construction Material: e-glass/epoxy/foam
• Manufacturer: McConaghy

Rig and Equipment

• Upwind Area: 91
• Downwind Area: 227
• Deck hardware: Harken
• Spars: Hall
• 1st IRC 1: Palermo Montecarlo
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• 1st Overall IRC & ORC: Lion Island - Botany Bay Race
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Composite multi-chine 38-40 feet sailboat plans

Discussion in ' Boat Design ' started by Stefano Dilena , Feb 2, 2022 .

Stefano Dilena Junior Member

Hello Forum'ers! I have been studying recent design developments of fast cruising and racing monohulls In specific I am talking about features such as: - Wide stern section - Delta shape - Inverted bows All these characteristics can be seen in the class 40 boats such as the Mark Lombard Lift ( V1 & V2). https://marclombard.com/classe-40-new-design/?lang=en and are perfectly applied to fast cruising A-Class yachts such as the RM 1180 https://www.rm-yachts.com/en/rm-1180-en/ These characteristics make not only for a fast boat, but also for an easier construction due to the hard chines, a more comfortable sailing due to the wide space on deck, and more space under the deck due to the more volume. RM yachts take it a step further and build Ocean-A class certified yachts made exclusively of Plywood/epoxy and multi-chines hull! Now the questions: - Does such a boat exists for DIY building? Are there any plans available for self construction of a fast / class 40 style boat that can be customised for cruising? - If no plans exist as yet, would anyone be interested in developing a kit that is exclusively flat panels and hard chines for an easy construction ( plywood or pre laminated panels). I would think of something like thicker than usual hulls and minimal stringers/reinforcements, for a fast construction and a safer boat at the same time. In this second case - my part of the deal would be building the first boat!! If you want to discuss more the second option you can contact me in private!  

gonzo Senior Member

An inverted bow has no real effect on the boat's speed. They are an element of style Wide boats don't necessarily make for more comfortable sailing. That depends on many factors. Delta shape hulls are another element of the design that can make a boat faster, but only of the rest of the design accommodates it. I looked at the website for RM yachts. They show a photo of the boat sailing in in a breeze with seas of maybe 2 feet. The bow wave is already at deck height. In any weather, that boat will be shipping green water over the deck.  

Rumars Senior Member

Yes they are available. Examples: https://www.fr-lucas.com/-1642 (cruiser/racer, wrc strip plank or foam core) https://www.fr-lucas.com/-1656 (racer, wrc strip plank or foam core) http://balta.fr/Classe 40.html (racer, wrc strip plank or foam core) Balta Patrick Architecte naval, architecture navale, Motor yacht, yacht design, catamaran http://balta.fr/enfant%20perdu%20bermudien.html (cruiser, spruce strip plank or plywood multichine) Balta Patrick Architecte naval, architecture navale, Motor yacht, yacht design, catamaran http://balta.fr/D40.html (cruiser, plywood multichine) Sailboat-LNM https://www.lnm-boats.com/sailboat-lnm (several racers and cruisers, plywood multichine) https://rolland-archi.com/spip.php?article324 (Cruiser, plywood multichine) https://sailscow.com/ (plywood/balsa multichine, kit for the 37, 42 version announced)  

Rumars said: ↑ Yes they are available. Examples: https://sailscow.com/ (plywood/balsa multichine, kit for the 37, 42 version announced) Click to expand...

One more thing, as long as you are prepared to pay for a custom design you can ask any NA you like. If you like Lombard designs just ask the man how much it costs. All that can happen is that he does not have time, or he is to expensive. Any round bilge boat can be reworked for flat panel construction, inverted bow, different cabin, etc. This might (not necessarily) be cheaper then a fully new design, again you have to ask. The sailscow is a Plessis design, here is his other work https://www.gplessis-yachtdesign.com/sail  

tane Senior Member

Jean Pierre Villenave : titre http://asso.abv.free.fr/ (does you good to brush up your French!) & above a certain size stripplanking might be easier because of handling lighter parts: https://marclombard.com/randonneurs-12-m/  

& I am also pretty sure, that, as boat size increases, the advantage of sheet-plywood construction, be it timber-chine or laminated chine, diminishes (sharply above 40'), as the proportion of labour of hull:fitout moves further & further towards fitout. To illustrate with extremes: a chine- daysailer has hardly any fitout -time advantage of the laminated chine(s) over the beveled chine logs (time 60:40=hullpainting, rigg, "internals". 40' "blue-water"-cruising boat: 15:85=hull:all-the-huge-rest, systems,...). Even on the daysailer the laminated chine will not be so much a saving in time, as a saving in skill level required over the beveling of chine logs. (& if you think of a 38-40' self build - the skill level required for a half-way decent fitout will far surpass the skill level required for the beveling of 4 chine logs & a keel.) The main advantage I see with laminated chines is, if the designer provides files for cnc routing of the developped hull panels & maybe of many parts of the interior too, which I guess would be difficult/useless with a chine-log construction. If the desiner does NOT provide the developped hull panels (computer files or offsets), the laminated chine would make things more difficult than a chine log: taking off the outline of a hull panel sure will be easier with chine logs, than none. just my 2 cents....  

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a yes: @inverted bow: we found a near-vertical (far from "inverted") bow already a major drag when handling the anchor. On an inverted bow you will need an anchorplatform that is projecting quite a bit (or an armour plated bow)  

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American david linger's class40 makes it 51 for global solo challenge.

David Linger from Seattle is the 4th American to sign up for the Global Solo Challenge, the 11th Class40/Open40 in the fleet, which is proving to be a popular choice of boat in the event. David had been in touch with the organisers for some time and recently took the big leap to buy “Koloa Maoli”, an Owen Clarke Design Class40 built by Jazz Marine formerly known as “Bolands Mills”. Inspired by his sailing heroes and by his lifelong dream of a solo circumnavigation the right time and planets alignment has come for David to be able to undertake this great adventure. The number of entries keeps growing and there’s still a few that may enter and as one of the participants recently put it, even if just half of the entries made it to the start the GSC would be a tremendous success. We are very please to have hit the nail with the format and spirit for this event and hope to grow it organically and sustainably over the years.

GSC Interview:

Where does your passion for sailing come from? As A Lifetime sailor all my hero’s growing up were all adventurers and or Sailors. Chichester, Colas, Tabarly. Great adventurers and sailors who innovated and did amazing things!

What lessons have you learned from sailing? Teamwork and resourcefulness are required to get boats across oceans, if something breaks or stops working you have to come up with a workable solution to get the job done.

What brought you to like single-handed sailing? Being able to problem solve and do the job “your own way” and get the boat safely from a to b intact.

What prompted you to sign up for this event? It was the combination of the right course at the right time in my life, to be able to make a trip around our planet!

How do you plan to prepare for this event? Well I will sail “Koloa Maoli” this summer to begin to learn the boat then do the long distance solo qualifying voyage. A re-fit this winter for some comfort mods and system upgrades. I’ve started on the “Safety at Sea” requirements and will be meeting the first aid requirements over the winter.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge? Getting to the start line is of course a really big challenge in its own but leaving Spain at the start will be huge! Off into a great big unknown!

Tell us about your boat or the boat you would like to have. I now own a Class 40! USA #15 Koloa Maoli, Ex “Bolands Mill” and it’s a new boat to me so a bit of a learning curve to get up to speed! My friends and I will sail the boat this summer/fall to get a feel for what needs to be updated for the Global Solo Challenge (a small heat source, and a water-maker come to mind!)

Is there anything else you would like to add? Looking forward to an amazing adventure with a large and diverse group of sailors with a shared goal of a trip around the great Capes!

Sailing experience 20.000+ Miles sailed. Currently racing Six Meter class sailboats locally and Internationally and supporting racers in the Race to Alaska “R2AK” with race preparation and support.

About the Boat

Boat name: Koloa Maoli Project: Jazz Marine Class 40 (Owen Clarke Design) Sail number: USA 15 Year: 2006 LOA: 40ft Displacement: 4500kgs Upwind sail area: 115m2 Downwind sail area: 250m2

Click here for more on the Global Solo Challenge

• Presentation
• Board of Directors
• Races open to Class40
• Championship
• RDR 2022 selection
• Minutes of the Executive Meeting
• Class rules
• Appendix to class rules
• FFV/world sailing documents
• Constitution and internal regulation

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Sailboat Plans 30-40ft

Bruce Roberts sailboat designs

Boat plans 30 - 40 ft  .

This section of Bruce Roberts sailboat designs and boat plans cover the following vessels in the range of 30 to 40 foot. The Roberts, Classic, Henry Morgan, Offshore, Power Cat, PCF 36/40, and Canoe Stern designs. Boat building plans using steel, aluminium, fiberglass wood/epoxy, dependant on the design, are available. Information and prices are on each individual design page.

Study Plan Packages contain all the sheets #1 from the actual plans. Sail Plans and the various accommodation layouts pertaining to the design are shown on these sheets. There may be anywhere from two to eight #1 sheets which are all to scale and which measure between one meter and two and a half meters long each. They are intended as a more in-depth overview of the design in which you are interested.

Material Lists for the basic materials required to build the hull, deck and superstructure are included in the study plan package to help you with your budgeting. Where Fibreglass is mentioned as a material this means Balsa sandwich / Foam sandwich, Single skin or C-Flex. Most steel plans can be adapted to aluminium construction. Both moulded ply and strip plank can be used in conjunction with the wood epoxy saturation method. Sail and rig details are also shown on the study plan sets.

As the Study Plan Packages include the basic measurements in scale for the accommodation layouts, you can customize the layouts to suit your needs if what is presented is not exactly to your liking.

The link to download the Study Plan Packages is emailed to your email address and generally within 24 hours, The link to the Full Plan Sets is also generally emailed within 24. All study plans and full plan sets are downloadable in .pdf format for you to have printed at a nearby print shop. The study and full plan sets are available on CD's on request with postage cost depends on country.

To View drawings , photos, information and prices of the design that interests you just click on that design.

Payments:  We only accept payments through PayPal. This method of payment protects both of us. Please be aware that there is no obligation or need to be a member of PayPal to use them to pay us using the normal various methods of payment.

Pram Dinghy Boat Plan

Roberts Pram Dinghy This Pram dinghy can be built in fiberglass or plywood. The pictures sho..

Classic 31 Boat Plan

Roberts Classic 31 This is an earlier design that some traditionalists may find appealing. It may..

Roberts 310 Boat Plan

Roberts 310 This design may be built with either a regular trunk cabin or a pilot house. It is al..

Henry Morgan 32 Boat Plan

Roberts Henry Morgan 32 This is an earlier design that traditionalists may find appealing. It is ..

Roberts 34 Boat Plan

Roberts 34 This is an earlier design that still enjoys a great amount of popularity. It has been ..

Canoe Stern 341 Boat Plan

Roberts Canoe Stern 341 Designed by Graham Shannon this is for those of you that are looking for ..

Roberts 345 Boat Plan

Roberts 345 Originally this was designed for lightweight frameless multi-chine steel construction..

Roberts 35 Boat Plan

Roberts 35 This is a classic modern design that has been built as a production boat in many parts..

PCF 36-40 (Pacific Coast Fisherman) Boat Plan

Roberts PCF 36-40 (Pacific Coast Fisherman) This design may be built as a motor sailer for family..

Roberts 36 Boat Plan

Roberts 36 This design is a well proven world cruiser as many are currently sailing in different ..

Roberts 370 Boat Plan

Roberts 370 Such has been the response to this design that plans for it's construction are availa..

Offshore 38 Boat Plan

Roberts Offshore 38 Full plans for this design are available for building in round bilge Fibergla..

Power Catamaran 39 Boat Plan

Roberts Power Catamaran 39 These catamarans were designed to be built using the fibreglass panel ..

Roberts 39 Boat Plan

Roberts 39 This design is available only in multi-chine hull form, sloop or, with the addition of..

Roberts 392 Boat Plan

Roberts 392 This design is a companion to the Roberts 39 which until now had only been available ..

Roberts 40 Boat Plan

Roberts 40 This design comes with either a centre cockpit or a pilot house layout. There is adequ..