Doyle Stratis has once again proved itself to be the performance sail of choice, with outstanding results for the Doyle-powered yachts in the 2013 Transpac race. 63’ Invisible Hand yacht took first place in Division 1, sailing yacht Ragamuffin 100 took line honours and third place in Division 1, while second place in Division 1 went to Wizard, which had a new jib from Doyle on board for the race. Other Doyle success included a win for Foil in Division 5.
A Win In Division 1 for Invisible Hand
Frank Slootman’s Mini Maxi Invisible Hand, skippered by Greg Nelsen, sailed to a convincing win in Division 1, despite being the smallest boat competing in the division. She won with an elapsed time of 188:49:51 (corrected time of 149:50:36), handily correcting out over Elliott 100 Ragamuffin yacht, the R/P 74 Wizard and canting keeled record setter Maserati (Volvo 70).
Invisible Hand had a new set of Doyle Stratis sails on board for the race, supplied by Bill Colombo of Doyle Pacific. Based on a performance optimisation program from Reichel-Pugh, Doyle supplied Invisible Hand with a new Stratis carbon mainsail that had a larger square-top as well as a slightly reduced foot. Doyle also built both new A2 and A2.5 gennakers, designed by Richard Bouzaid, Head of Design at Doyle Sails New Zealand. “The A2 was increased about 8 per cent and that paid huge dividends in this predominately light Transpac,” said Nelsen in a post-race interview with Pressure Drop. The boat also carried Doyle Stratis carbon headsails.
“Doyle sails were instrumental in the overall retooling of our boat for optimal west coast racing,” said Frank Slootman, owner of Invisible Hand. “The sails are lighter, stronger and much more powerful than what we had previously. Off the wind, our boat really came alive with the new gennakers. Doyle is a core partner of our program and played a key role in our Transpac win.”
Ragamuffin 100 Fastest Monohull Across Line
Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin 100 also went into the raced armed with a full new Doyle Stratis inventory that included a new Stratis main, jib, genoa staysail and an A2 gennaker. Design work was by Richard Bouzaid, with the sails finished by Mark Fullerton of Doyle China. Her overall elapsed time of 152:17:26, with an average speed over the course of 14.6 knots, won her the Merlin Trophy as the fastest monohull to finish.
David Witt, Ragamuffin sailing master, praised the new sails, saying: “Using Stratis on our 100 had a major performance increase that was unexpected. The large weight reduction in working gear, combined with larger and better shaped sails had the boat sailing well above its polars, numbers which we had not previously seen on the 100. We will certainly now be using Stratis on all our Ragamuffin yachts.”
“It’s great to be involved with the boat again, having designed sails for her back when she was Maximus,” said Bouzaid. “The expertise gained from the work we have done with the Volvo 70 Sanya and with Leopard 3 made it possible to get the result and the performance gains we achieved with Ragamuffin straight off the bat.”
Ragamuffin 100 is now in transit on her way back to Australia where she’ll compete in the Sydney-Hobart race.
Congratulations to all competitors in the 2013 Transpac, particularly overall winners Dorade
