Part 3 - Roaring Forty

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all your facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead. (General G.S. Patton) 

When a once in a lifetime opportunity presents itself the time for procrastination ceases. I have made my decision and have now purchased Roaring Forty.

I have just returned from a couple of days with the wonderful team at Raising Anchors Yacht Brokers
and Roompot Yacht Service surveying Roaring Forty so I can prepare a project budget and schedule. The fun now begins as we embark on a refit program of around 18-24 months to bring her seaworthiness back to CAT 1 Offshore standard, ready for the initial shakedown cruise to Portsmouth in the UK, followed by the adventure sail home to Australia via Cape Town. She is a stiff and fast boat that was designed and setup for solo and shorthanded offshore global racing. Rest assured the safety factor of this boat is very high.

I look forward to keeping you posted on our progress and the race plan for Roaring Forty.

Roaring Forty (pictured), a 1997 Lutra Design Open 40. She is currently located in The Netherlands inside Roompot Yacht Services fantastic winter storage facility having seen little use by her current owner. Her previous owner Michel Kleinjans, successfully raced her solo in many high profile races in Europe, UK and the US; including the 2008/09 Portimao Global Ocean Race where she won the Solo division.

2007 Rolex Middle Sea Race

The two pictures above are of Roaring Forty in her original deck and shorter carbon mast configuration. She held several World Sailing Speed Records in her day and many other stunning performances, one that stands out in my mind was the 2007 Rolex Middle Sea race when Roaring Forty came in third line honours behind Rambler (90ft) and Rubino (66ft), and pulled off a stunning second overall on IRC handicap, and of course a Div 2 IRC win. Out of 55 starters, 40 recorded Did Not Finish due to the gale force weather, but Michel and his four man crew on Roaring Forty pulled it all together to record an outstanding result for a 40 footer in extreme conditions.

Roaring Forty pictured above during the 2008/09 Portimao Global Ocean Race with modified deck, new Southern Spars carbon mast and boom skippered by Belgian sailing legend Michel Kleinjans

Roaring Forty at Roompot Marina Kamperland The Netherlands just prior to removal into winter storage Sep 2016

SOLD!

 Roaring Forty at Roompot Yacht Services, Kamperland in 2017

Part 2 - The Contenders

During 2015 and 2016, I trolled the Annapolis boat shows hunting for boat bling for Rogue Wave whilst cruising my favourite nautical Broker web sites looking for racing stablemates with no luck.

To ensure my brain did not default to a copy of Rogue Wave which it did several times as I drifted down rabbit holes, I drafted a list of Essential (E) and Desirable (D) criteria that included:
Not to exceed Budget - USD$50K (E)
Age - post 1983 but irrelevant if refitted (D)
Not Handicap or Class restricted (D)
Hull Material - GRP/Kevlar (E)
Water Ballast (D)
No canting keel (E)
Watertight compartments/Crash bulkheads (D)
Length - around 40-43 ft, (E)
Beam - fine entry for windward work, moderate-wide beam with flat aft sections to promote surfing while reaching and running, (E)
Draft - not to exceed 3 metres (E)
single elliptical spade rudder (E)
dual rudder (D)
emergency rudder system (D)
tiller steer in preference to wheel for simplicity and weight (E)
Integrated electronics package (E)
Solar/wind/hydro generators (D)
Extensive sail wardrobe as this shares the wear across many sails so even if old could be in new condition (E)
Mast - Alloy (E) or carbon mast/boom (D)
Standing Rigging - Rod (E), PBO if less than 2 years old (D), no wire.
Solent or cutter rig (E)
Furlers for Code and Spinnakers - (D)
Headsail furler (D)
Bowsprit (E)
Carbon Spinnaker pole (D)
Demonstrated performance hull design, lightweight but strength through design and material use (E)
Crew protection - Small dodger (D)
Stripped out racing interior (E)
Engine - 20-30hp but not original equipment (E)
Galley - gimbaled Single/dual Alcohol cooker (E)
Performance - must be capable of maintaining 170-200NM days (E)

After many many months of searching and saving some more, I have finally made my decision; she has beautiful lines, is strong and fast..........to be continued in part 3.