The commission for Design 124 came from Ted Simpkins who had enjoyed several seasons of racing a boat built to Design 54, but with a larger rig that had provided extra downwind performance. Simpkins wanted an all out grand prix IOR racing yacht of just above One Ton size, that would excel as an all-round performer in typically strong winds experienced in the SORC, and to be fast and easily handled in hard reaching conditions. Simpkins also required a yacht that was as fast as possible in light airs.
Freefall in light airs, prior to the 1983 SORC (photo Farr Yacht Design) |
The underbody was a clean and fair shape for an IOR yacht, with only minor distortion through the aft end to minimise any unnecessary restrictions to downwind performance. This represented a significant development of Farr's earlier 'lighter than normal' approach, but with careful proportions of beam and displacement and a conservative approach to fullness for'ard and width aft. This produced not only a faster boat under the IOR in all conditions, but one which was more easily handled.
Equal attention was paid to the engineering of the hull structure to minimise weight in the ends, and utilised Kevlar/S Glass skins er a PVC foam core.
Design 124 deck layout (Sail magazine) |
Migizi in tight reaching conditions during the 1983 SORC (photo Farr Yacht Design) |
Migizi (photo Farr Yacht Design) |
Migizi during the 1983 SORC (photo Larry Moran) |
Freefall punches her way upwind during the 1983 SORC (photo Farr Yacht Design) |
Freefall in her new guise as Hot Tub for the SORC regattas in 1984-87 (photo John A Glynn | Facebook) |
The proven concept for Design 124 went on to form the basis of Farr's breakthrough 40 foot design, which first made their mark in New Zealand in the shape of Exador, Geronimo and Pacific Sundance - the trio that walked off with the Southern Cross Cup in late 1983.
Updated February 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment