I first stumbled across the Raja Laut whilst stationed in Borneo. She’s constructed purely of wood in a style that evokes memories of a more romantic period in time. She’s such a lovely yacht, supremely comfortable and cruises all the most interesting spots in Southeast Asia.

The name “Raja Laut” means “King of the Seas” in Malay, and was chosen in homage to the Malay Archipelago. “Raja”, itself a derivation of the hindustani for king, is an honorific title used in ancient times from Srivijaya to Malacca, Makassar to Ambon. The type of vessel, the whole region really captured our imagination and that is why we built her.

Much thanks certainly goes to the writing of Joseph Conrad – and one can easily envision the schooner carrying adventurers and traders in his depictions of the exotic East. There is also the portrait, in the Sarawak museum, of James Brooke’s schooner “The Royalist”, which has a very similar design to Raja Laut and which young Brooke had purchased in England and then sailed across the world to explore what was then known as the Malay Archipelago. Within Asia, strategically located between East and West, with it’s geography of thousands of islands, and a rich bounty in spices, the Malay Archipelago was a major seafaring region with flourishing cities and kingdoms, attracting traders from all over the world.

In the late 19th Century Conrad sailed extensively through the Archipelago as a mate aboard the British Merchant Navy steamer “Vidar” and it was the intensity and richness of these experiences that provided the writer with much material for his novels. It was also during this time that a young Conrad came across a real life “Raja Laut” in the form of Captain William Lingard. Lingard was then a well-known figure in Singapore and throughout the Archipelago, where he had sailed his own ships and cargoes and amassed a considerable fortune. Legend has it that on one of Lingards numerous voyages to Borneo he fought a large fleet of Bugis pirates (the most feared and skilled seafarers of the region), rescuing a surrounded Dutch man-of-war. His bravery on this occasion earned him the thanks of the King of Holland and he was made a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands. Locally, he acquired the unofficial title “Raja Laut” bestowed by the Sultan of Gunung Tabor, and was known by this sobriquet among the Malays.

Over 100 years later another “Raja Laut” is launched on the shores of Borneo, designed and built by a multinational team of European and Asian boat builders. East meets West, once again, in the Malay Archipelago… except that today the region abounds with holiday makers hungering for eco-treasures rather than spices, for new adventures with a new “Raja Laut”…

Once the idea of building a boat is in your mind, probably one of the first thoughts that one obsesses over is, “what material do we want for the hull?”. After all, the hull is more than just the “foundations” of a boat – it’s the foundation, and the floor, and the walls. Boats can be built out of almost anything, but not all boat building materials are equal.

Thankfully, mother nature created a supreme and renewable material for boat building: wood.  Wood is THE material to use for a classic schooner. Wood is great to live with and on – it feels heavy, solid and safe. Most sailors will tell you, no other material can beat the feel and ambiance of a wooden boat, especially a carvel-built one. These are purely romantic reason, but the number of genuinely good, practical  reasons for choosing wood are endless. Wood is high in tensile strength, durable, workable and combines stiffness with light weight in a way that is more structurally efficient than just about any other material. Mechanically and physically its simply right for boats and that is why we have been building ships out of wood since the beginning and continue to do so today.

Steel or aluminium hulls are strong, have many advantages, and are the better materials for certain vessels, but they carry little charm and lots of vibrations. In the long term steel will corrode and aluminium will oxidize and plenty of maintenance and care is still required.

Fibreglass is less maintenance and when first invented people thought it might be the “miracle” material. Unfortunately they were wrong. A fibreglass hull weakens over time, water penetrates the layers by osmosis, spider cracks form over the glass, on impact with a harder material it will shatter, and to top it off it is difficult to repair and unpleasant to work with.

With the right type of wood and proper maintenance a well built wooden boat actually lasts longer than their fiberglass counterparts. In part this is because wood is able to absorb and release water so a wooden sailboat will actually get less condensation and dampness on it than a fiberglass one. Furthermore, thanks today’s technology wooden boats are a lot less maintenance than before, while regardless of technology, a fiberglass boat will deteriorate persistently with age and there is little that can be done to prevent it.

Its worth a pause to re-read that last paragraph because many potential boat buyers erroneously choose fiberglass over wood thinking it is less maintenance and lasts longer. But a survey around the world’s marinas will find hundreds of wooden boats built in the 1920’s and 30’s that are around today still in great condition.

A longer life span is just one of the reasons that also makes a well-built wooden boat the more environmentally-friendly choice. Unlike steel or aluminium wood is a renewable resource, and unlike fiberglass, wood is biodegradable so that a sunken or disposed of wooden boat is not as damaging to the environment

The spirit of Raja Laut is in Borneo and, as fate would have it, so are some of the worlds best hardwoods AND South East Asia’s most historically renowned sailors and finest traditional shipwrights – the Bugis.

Although originally from the Sulawesi, Bugis boat builders have over the centuries migrated throughout the Malay Archipelago. The shipwrights logically migrate to where the sources of wood are, and so most have followed the wood to Borneo, 3^rd largest island in the world, home to a history of headhunters and marauding pirates, territory of Joseph Conrad’s “Rajah Laut”.  It was a fitting choice for the boat building project.

The availability of the exceptional “Borneo Ironwood” (species name: Eusideroxylon Zwageri), known locally as Belian or Kayu Ulin, made the choice of wood automatic.  Belian is one of the worlds hardest and heaviest woods: harder, heavier and more durable than Teak, Ebony, Mahogany or Iroko, and one of the most exceptionally naturally durable hardwood species in existence.

In the AS 5604 – 2005 Australian Standards report on Timber Preservation and Durability Belian achieved the highest durability ratings out of all the woods studied (including Burmese Teak).  In the same report Belian was given a probable “marine-borer-resistance” life expectancy of 60+ years in southern waters (shorter in tropical waters).  This resistance estimate is for untreated/unprotected timber, and we understood that with proper maintenance a well-built Belian hull would last for 100 years or more which is quite exceptional and certainly very desirable.

Other woods used in the construction include Burmese Teak for the deck, Selangan Batu for the deckhouse & interior with floors of Merbau.

In terms of the method of construction itself, wooden boatbuilding tradition strongly favours carvel planking in which a smooth hull is formed by wooden planks attached to a frame.

This true both in the West and in the East, but in the Malay Archipelago there is one twist – the Bugis boat builders have been building their carvel boats for centuries by putting the planking in first, prior to the frames (much as with a clinker built boat except with the planks placed edge to edge). Using these methods, Belian wood, and plans of traditional wooden schooners from America and France, we built the strongest hull we could possibly build: designed to last a hundred years.

Each of the Belian pieces used to create the Raja Laut’s hull structure – the planking, frames and stringers – was carefully selected. We accepted only the longest pieces: defect-free and quarter sawn. Then there is the thickness of the planking, the size and spacing of the frames, the stringers, the quality of the workmanship, the symmetry of construction, and strength of the stainless steel fastenings, all contributing to create an exceptional hull.

The keel is 30cm x 35cm x 22meters in one seamless piece. The keelson is 20cm x 20 cm solid. The planking thickness is 7cm at the bottom hull and 6cm at the turn of the bilge and 5cm for the topsides

The internal stringers extend from keelson to deck, are 20cm x 7cm and spaced at 17 cm interval

Each frame is construed of 2 pieces, each 15cm thick by 10 cm wide, bolted together with a minimum of 50 cm overlap where joined. The stem is formed by a 30cm x 30 cm solid piece of Belian, supported by a timber knee off the stem that has a rake of 62 degrees. The sprit is boxed with a stainless steel band at the stem.

A Practical Work Of Art
The concept was to build both a classic schooner, to follow in the footsteps of Brooke and Conrad, but also a modern sailboat for luxury expeditions. Therefore well thought out engineering, practicality, safety and comfort would dictate decisions and designs each step of the way to completing the boat.

The most important factor in the design of a vessel is that a hull should be stable. Calculations made by the naval architect and stability experiments carried out afloat indicate a positive stability of 92 degrees which means that the ship will right itself even if it is heeled right over on its side. This is well in excess of most commercial vessels out there.

Another factor to consider is speed and, while Raja Laut is a centuries old design, built as solidly as possible with the hardest and heaviest hardwoods, in reality she sails comfortably at a top speed of 11 knots and with her 300Hp Yanmar marine engine will reach speeds of 10 knots at 1850rpm, or 8 knots when run under a more economical power (1600rpm with fuel consumption of approx. 24 litres/hour). This is coupled with 7000 litre fuel capacity that gives Raja Laut a range of approx. 2500 nautical miles on motor alone – more than sufficient for long range cruising.

The sail plan – gaff topsail schooner rig – was chosen for its simplicity and practicality in handling. The gaff topsail was also a rig typical of the “South Sea” trading schooners of the late 19^th Century – probably the most famous example of which is the schooner Pato, built by Joshua Slocum in the Philippines. As with Raja Laut, these schooners had no gaff sail on the foremast which made them easier to sail, and had shortened bow sprits for ease of coming alongside wharfs.

In short, behind the traditional style, Raja Laut is a 21^st century product built to exacting standards of strength, longevity, safety, and ease of use. What’s more, the classic feel of a rich timber interior accompanies 6 beautiful cabins, each with ensuite bathrooms, air-conditioning, and all the comforts you can expect of a modern luxury yacht: hot showers, electric toilets, fresh water by reverse osmosis, satellite navigation, internet and sat phone, scuba diving facilities, tenders and toys.

Everything you need for an idyllic cruising holiday in Asia…

For more information visit, www.rajalaut.com

As part of Singapore Governments “Future Ready” plans, a great deal of attention has been focussed on a sustainable future and a large portion of that includes the Marina Barrage. By damming up the Kallang Basin the Public Utilities Board has created the best water sports amphitheater in the region.

The debate is on as to whether the Marina Bay Sands building is iconic or not but either way, it is a nice backdrop to sail against! The event was the Singapore International Water Festival as is part of a bigger program to introduce a Sustainable Future for the Island Republic.

Over the years the skyline has dramatically changed and the Marina Barrage has helped with that. When it is all completed in about 2 years time, there will be a new golf course and a spectacular Gardens by the Bay complex that will form the most beautiful green belt around the city centre. The other prominent building is the Singapore Flyer with its massive observation cars going around and around. Right on the foundations of the Flyer is Turn 1 of the Singapore F1 Street Circuit so this is an area of the city that is fast becoming a high level recreation area.

The Public Utilities Board operate the Marina Barrage which acts as a tidal buffer to control flooding in Singapore. Basically it is like a big holding tank that also acts as a reservoir. The PUB graciously allowed kayaking, dragon boating and rafting onto the ‘pond’ for the Water Festival. To add a dash of colour, some of the catamarans from the Changi Cat Fleet were asked along by Singapore Sailing and so it was that the ‘record’ books could be re-written! Three of the six cats managed to sail under the Double Helix bridge and into Marina Bay itself, sailing in front of Singapore’s registered trademark – the Merlion!

Winds in the Barrage were not as strong as they could be but it was still fun for all concerned. This weekend the cats will be supporting another media event on The Bay so looks like more fun and games.

In 2011 the whole show will move up to a higher level and by then we’re expecting a lot more sport catamarans to take part in Sailing on the Bay. The 2010 event was used as a test for future events. It will allow organisers and competitors a chance to test sail the Bay and then determine what sort of race courses best suit the area. So far it looks like it will by a ‘Y’ course with turning marks in the three reaches of the former Kallang and Singapore Rivers. This is going to be in full view of the Central Business District and will be a very exciting time for all.

The Marina Barrage is an interesting structure. From above it looks something like a bow. From below, one could never guess that the whole upper level is in fact a huge lawn area. As could be expected, there is a large water theme running through the middle of the ground floor. Go up one level and the Barrage Gallery will keep visitors entertained with its great working model of the Barrage proper – it really is a unique piece of engineering. The Barrage has also created a water way that can be filled with large yachts for events such as the Singapore F1 GP. Of course this means lifting them over the ‘wall’ so, at the eastern end of the Barrage there is a travel lift arrangement that can accomdate yachts up to 60′ in length. Yachts like Something Special are available for charter during the Singapore F1 so maybe we could squeeze the cats in at the same time!

The Singapore Cat Fleet has been based at Changi Sailing Club since the 80′s but this is only the second time that a sailing event has been conducted on The Bay.  The area was formerly an industrial zone with polluted waterways and to have seen the transformation over the last 20 years is nothing short of miraculous! It also highlights the fact that when the Singapore Government says something it really follows through. The City has undergone a massive urban transformation and now reinventing itself as a vibrant hub. So for anyone into sailing in Singapore, the Marina Barrage is a great addition. Can you imagine, nipping down to the marina, going for a sail and then heading back to work – ahh the future’s so bright I gotta wear shades!

Watch out for more news on the 2011 Water Festival that is sure to be bigger a better than ever. The Marina Barrage boldly goes “where no man has gone before”!

Cheers to the young team at the PUB for going Sailing by the Bay, great effort!

WHAT A VENUE! This place was carved out of the rainforest with power boat racing in mind! The Malaysian Government has gone to great lengths to build a brand new federal capital. Putrajaya is where all the major government departments are located, the whole city is brand new. The roads are wide, some of the buildings are beautiful and others over styled, but generally it is really impressive. So to is the new Parliament House which stands prominent on a hill overlooking the lake.

Water sports facilities here are, hard to beat. There’s a rowong club at one end of the lake and the other has the Maritime Club. Here you’ll find the 5 Star Pullman Hotel that is just a 3 minute walk to the Maritime Club. Also in the immediate vicinity is an Amphitheatre, water soprts stadium, water polo pool, a wake board and water ski set up with 2 Mastercraft boats and a little bit around the corner, the Maritime Club. At the moment not all buildings are fully utilised so it is nice and quiet.

The Maritim Club houses a very nice restaurant as well as the garage for the Formula Future program where young Malaysians are being trained to race power boats. It looks like the Formula 3000 power boats will soon be housed in here as well and that will be a major break through for Fernandez Team Racing.

“This is like a dream come true” said Robert Fernandez, the guru of speed in Malaysia and the man who has kept the F3000 dream alive. “Datuk Yahya has been instrumental in getting the F3000′s onto the Lake even for just the Putrajaya Test Day. What we want to achieve is a permanent base so that we can start to nurture Malaysian talent to groom them for bigger pursuits like the F1 power boat. Malaysia has been represented at the F1 level but it would be nice to see more youngsters coming through the pipeline.”

Putrajaya looks purpose built for Tunnel Hull racing, full facilities mean that training to any level can be conducted on any day of the week throughout the year. The waters are flat and the only real natural hazard is the occasional passing afternoon thunderstorm. Surrounding the lake are nice housing developments and it looks like new upper market apartments are being built around the Lake. It’s quiet now but in the years to come it will pick up.

Putrajaya is about 25 minutes from the Kuala Lumpur City and the same from KLIA. Once the boats are based in the garages of the Maritime Club, overseas enthusiasts will be able to fly into KL, do a weekends racing or training and then fly out again. The Pullman Hotel is a fine place to stay with very comfortable rooms at very favourable rates. Whilst I can’t see people flying to Putrajaya for a holiday, I can see them flying in to take part in some Formula action. For the ladies, the Pullman’s room feature a jacuzzi and shopping is good in KL itself. Guys, just go to the Maritime Club and go racing!

A short course was set up for the test day where the longest straight was 680m but there’s a lot more room on the Lake for much longer straights as well as more interesting boomerang shaped courses that would lead the boats into the bay immediately in front of the stadium – AWESOME!

The Putrajaya F3000 Test Day went very well. Guest of Honour, Datuk Yahya showed that he is handy with the Formula 3000 and won the exhibition race in the afternoon following familiarisation sessions in the morning! A background in motor racing certainly helps. A feast of a lunch was held in the Maritime Club’s restaurant with great food in a very nice atmosphere over looking the Lake… ahh does it get any better!

Yes it does! The wailing sound of 2-stroke engines is something to behold and I’m sure all the Parliamentarians enjoyed watching the show from the hill top as well. It certainly looks like Putrajaya is finally getting some life into her core. The Lake is beautifully laid out  and the bridges are a stunning collection.

Overall, this is probably the best water sports venue that I have seen and its crowning jewelry will be a permanent home for F3000 racing enthusiasts.

Have a look at the video clip,

Having been all over place looking with great interest at waterfront properties, this is a good one, a real good one! In a lot of cases, water front housing in Southeast Asia doesn’t have proper water access but as you can see from the picture, here you can tie your boat up in your backyard. The water way leads to the Gulf of Thailand and that’s always nice for sailing on!

This development is probably one of the few that works as it should with privacy, private docks and nice greenery everywhere. It is definitely the only one in Thailand that is complete and up and running. Phase two is now complete and includes some rather nifty houses plus an ‘island’ with tennis courts on it. Its housed just 10km’s south of Pattaya so that gives it good access to Thailand’s Gulf islands of Koh Chang. These islands are located near the Cambodian border and that’s about a days sail from your garden. If you sailed west  from the river moth entrance, you’d end up in Koh Samui about a day later as well! Seems ideally placed… shopping in Pattay, access to Bangkok and plenty of sailing!

as far as real estate goes, its fairly priced to as long as you can find a place on the market as the new Phase Two offerings are way more expensive than the Phase One offerings. But its not altogether unreasonable considering the charm of sailing out of your back yard!

The Villas are structurally complete but there’s still a lot of finishing work required. It’s still the same charming beachfront, the same sunset, the small rural road is still a treat but now they’ve built this big block type building right onshore at the base of the ‘Palm’. That was a bit of a shock really as I’ve never seen it on any of the architectural drawings!

“There we go”, I thought to myself, there’s always something which spoils what i though was a perfectly good development. I hope I’m wrong but the block building looks like a cheap addition to something that is supposed to be more charming and it looks totally out of place with the rest of the development.

Maybe when it’s finished it will look a lot better and I really hope so! I guess the shock comes from the way the road leads into the development. You wind in through the kampung, turn left onto the beach road and then you are going to see the rear side of the cheap looking building! Wouldn’t be so bad if they had put the building on the other side of the jetty – then you’d be looking at the front of the building instead of the back with all the air-condition units – not very pretty! My heart sank a bit when I saw it as progress till now has been rather impressive. What exactly the building is, I have no idea but it does look like someone changed the plans a bit!

Compare this with…

My previous post on  The Malaysian Palm

But it still compares favourably with the Other Gold Coast!

And maybe, this is still the Best Water side Development in Malaysia.

But this is still The Most Picturesque.

Now I’ve found a really nice Thai water side development that really compares favourably with all the above… come back soon and see it.

This was without doubt the most significant sailing event to have made Singapore’s shores, ever. Sure the Volvo Ocean Race was great but it suffers the same problem that sailing events have always suffered – the real action takes part where Joe Public will never see it!

Forget for a moment that these 40 foot 1 tonne wonders and fly hull in 8 knots of breeze and go on to peak at 40 knots. Then look at what the Singapore Government has just created with the Marina Barrage, it’s a spectacular venue with the Singapor Flyer dwarfing everyhing in sight, the western bank is developing into a world class garden and then the “will it really stand” Sands Resort with its massive observation deck. Over night, the Marina Barrage made perfect sense as soon as the Extreme 40 teams started warming up clocking average speeds in the 16 knot region and someone topping out at 30 knots in the confined space. Singapore should feel proud of what its been able to achieve for up until now the Marina Barrage was just a reservoir and now some of the worlds best sailors know the Garden Nation is a serious sailing venue.

Some of the world’s best sailors is no joke. Each of the crews comes with a long list of sailing achievements including Round-the-world record holders, Olympians, double Olympic medal winners, World Champions in almost every class, Americas Cup sailors… the list goes on! Its a hot class for sure.

Only six teams made the Extreme 40 Asia Series which starts racing in Hong Kong, then Singapore before venturing over to Oman. The ’09 version was more of a showcase for the asian Venues on what exactly the Class is all about. The Extreme 40’ are all about bringing high performance sail right into the public eye. In 2010 the Asia Series will feature more teams and the possibility of the Maldives as another venue.

One of the more interesting teams was the Omanis with two boats and an extremely professional campaign. What’s most interesting about the Team Oman is that back home, sailing is used as a tool to create modern day heroes for the youth of the nation, and its working! Currently the campaign includes Formula 18 beach catamarans, the Extreme 40’s and they also have two maxi triamarans for getting around the world rather quickly. That’s all good then you hear that they are training 30,000 kids to sail suddenly its proportions grow to miraculous levels! Good fortune comes from hard work as the Team Oman took out 1st and 3rd places in Singapore, no easy feat when you watch them race 8 times in an afternoon. Onboard its stressful, highly physical work especially for the bowman who has to hoist, set, furl and unfurl the gennaker about the size of a tennis court! With such confined spaces, margins for error become a virtual zero. Tactically things happen so fast that a boat can go from hero to zero in one short leg. Fortunes change very quickly as the boats accelerate with a ferocious force.

Last year at CSC the Cat Fleet was lucky enough to have Macca visit and show us some of the finer points of cat sailing. Macca was on red Bull Extreme Team which wedged themselves into 2nd spot between the Team Oman boats. Team China was as close to ‘home grown’ as we could get. A familiar name for some at CSC is Tan Wearn Haw who commenced sailing an optimist at the Club and has since gone on to represent Singapore at the Olympics as well as sailing for Thierry in the Team China Americas Cup program, so well done Wearn Haw. The Team was helmed by Olympian Hugh Styles, managed by Thierry off the Club Med cat program that was to smashed the Jules Verne Trophy with Wearn Haw trimming and calling tactics and Adam acting as a human pump!

Exciting it certainly was but also great to see how Singapore has come of age… I remember the Kallang Basin area as a polluted industrial waterway – just look at it now. That’s vision!

At about 8 knots of air there is a big crossover point where sailing with the self-tacking blade headsail gives really good upwind angles and in about 8 knots of air we managed high-sixes and sevens. In the same breeze and trying to hold high angles the Code Zero powered the boat up to lively levels but the pointing angle was about 20 degrees lower (also predictable).

The other interesting fact was sailing with a few F16′s that happened to be out on the water at the same time. In the light and puffy air the M23 was pointing slightly higher and maintaining similar speeds with the F16 cat. Although as soon as the F16′s got enough puff to hop on the trapeze they zoomed ahead. Reaching angles, another interesting point as well – speeds were similar with the M23 having the Code Zero advantage!

What this all means? It will be an interesting weekend if we manage to get the 56sqm asymmetric spinnaker in place as the Code Zero is only 22sqm … and things will get very interesting when the Northeast Monsoon season comes around!

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What a kool spot – especially during the Southwest Monsoon that Singapore is experiencing now. No one really expects this in Singapore but… blue skies, nice breeze, white sand and a great little Club right on the waters edge! So if you’re looking for a real chill out spot by the beach in Singapore, find Mana Mana on the East Coast right next to the famous hawker centre.

The weekend at Mana Mana turned out to be a great race training session for two of Singapore’s Nacra 20 One Designs – the red one and the white one! Their impressive rigs tower over everything else on the beach and the way they can power up is pretty amazing! Even in the lightish breeze, both trapezes were well used upwind. Races were of the ‘short course’ variety. The 3 laps per race ensured that there was plenty going on for the crews.

The modern racing cat has placed a lot more emphasis on crew work with all major control lines falling under the crew ‘department’. Get it right and its a very rewarding experience. Get it wrong and well, its a very wet experience! And, either way its great fun.

The Singapore Cat Fleet has been scattered over various corners of the island. Some went to Raffles Marina for the Western Circuit others were at Mana Mana for the ‘Classic’ and still more at Changi Sailing Club. But as we move towards the Northeast Monsoon, all the cats will start to congregate at Changi Sailing Club. But for now, Mana Mana is doing a great job of keeping some race/training happening and its so nice to just race right in front of the Club.

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All things red are fast. Ferrari, Ducati and err Nacra 20′s! Right out-of-the-box the 20 has proved itself to be a good number. Big sail area, great controls and perfectly balanced on the helm. “Red Rocket” made it into Singapore waters as the first red Nacra 20 that we’ve ever seen and it does look good – why anyone would want a white boat is beyond me.

But colour aside… she was bolted together and then sailed around “the corner” to the Mana Mana Club on Singapore’s southern shoreline for the Mana Mana Cat Classic – a first for the fledgling club. On the water, a few Vipers and Taipans that had just competed in the Western Series at Raffles Marina and so it would be a good measure of the new boat.

Our starts weren’t fantastic but it soon became apparent at how quickly the N20 can catch up! At one point on a beat in under 5 knots of breeze, a big ferry boat sent up a big wake. With the leading Viper and Taipans heading straight into it this would be an interesting measure of waterline versus ‘hi-tech’. Well the difference was pretty eye popping. In one big wave the N20 made a good 4 boat lengths to go from 4th and into the lead!

Although the breeze was light it also showed up another surprising fact about the N20. Once you get it rolling it will generate a good amount of apparent wind. In a lot of cases we ended up double trapezing where the F16′s were only single trapping. It’s counter intuitive as everyone thinks that the light weight of the F16′s will allow then to trapeze early.

But if you look at the rig size of the N20 and the depth of the foils, you’ll begin to understand just how much bioght it will have in the water! Good bite from the foils and keep generating apparent and you have a good combination to get you through the light stuff. One thing is for sure, Vipers can really accelerate. Once they pop their kites they’ll take off in a great spurt.

Overall, the N20 came away with a win for the weekend which is good as she was fresh from the box. I really like the way it steers… it’s as light as the F16′s on the helm. The other notable difference is the running angle with the kite. The N20 can run much deeper than the F16′s. I’d hazard a guess and say that it has everything to do with the shoulder cut of the spinnakers. On the 20 the shoulders tend to stand up more to windward than the Goodall F16 Gen 4′s and so in most cases the 20 just runs through the fleet lower and faster – nice!

It took us about 6 months to get used to the F16 Viper and get her up to the standard of tune so given more time with the N20 I can say performance figures are just going to grow but atleast we’re starting off at a good level.

Soaring Girl

This has nothing to do with fast boats or bikes…

But I just like the image and since I like exercising my camera once in a while… so why not!

It was taken at the Nagoya Glass Art Gallery – outside was stunning inside was breath-taking with David Chihuly pieces literally hanging around. I don’t think I’ve ever seen glass art quite like it but that will have to be another post!

Japan is like a refreshing breath of design air and hard to explain unless you visit and see for yourself but every aspect is near on perfect in every sense. There are a lot of galleries featuring world class works and it was a treat to see David Chihuly’s creations up close and personal.

So my little camera got quite a good work out – maybe one day I should really read the Owners Manual! Nope – that’d be cheating! Also amazing, Nagoya street art goes to a whole new level… you’ll see that in another post as well – you won’t believe it!