News

For 21 years the International Superyacht Society has celebrated the world’s best in naval architecture, design, interiors, engineering and builds. These are the Oscars of the Superyacht Industry as these awards are voted on by members who are all Yachting Professionals, Suppliers to the yachting industry, Brokers, Designers and Shipbuilders.

The categories are split into Sail: 24m-40m and 40m + and in the Power: 24m-40m, 40m-65m and 65m+. Finalists are judged for their external appearance, internal design, innovation and practicality by a distinguished and independent international panel.

At the Annual 2011 International Superyacht Society Awards for Design and Leadership Gala Dinner at the Marriott Harbour Beach Resort in Ft Lauderdale, S/Y Aegir and her RYD design team were awarded the prestigious ISS Best Sailing Yacht Design Award: 24m-40m. In addition to the Naval Architecture, RYD was also recognised for the Interior Design and Styling which was all completed in-house.

We thank Brian Benjamin, the owner of Aegir for providing us with our first Superyacht commission, our fantastic team at RYD, Carbon Ocean Yachts the builders and of course the long list of suppliers who made this possible. You have all made us very proud indeed and have helped to make RYD’s 21st anniversary year extraordinary. Thank you!

Image: © ROLEX- Carlo Borlenghi

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We are delighted to be able to announce that our Carbon 82’ cruiser racer design- Aegir has recently been nominated as one of the finalist for the prestigious International Superyacht Society Design Awards in the catergory - Sail 24-40m.

Aegir is RYD’s first Superyacht design and we have clearly made an impression particularly with her true dual purpose and innovative design features and her ability to morph from a Superyacht cruiser to a full on racer by shedding some 8 tons. Her recent success at the Rolex Maxi Cup in Porto Cervo, Sardinia earlier this month is testament to her racing ability whilst the feedback from the owner and his family following a 6 week cruise in the French Rivera, confirms her luxury cruising ability. The winners will be announced at the ISS Gala Dinner on the 27th October at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show and whilst being a finalist is a real accolade, a win would be nothing short of awesome!

Image: © Billy Black

Aegir, our first maxi design in her first Rolex Maxi Cup performed magnificently with a score line of 3,1,1,2 to take second place overall in the Maxi Cruiser/Racer division. The two Swan 90’s presented the best competition and following a conservative first race, which we feel we could have won had we had more time on the water, the following races demonstrated exactly what Aegir, was capable of. After some spectacular champagne condition racing, on the best race track in the world for Maxi’s in our opinion, it all came down to a nail biting match race on the last day. There were several opportunities that typically we could have capitalised on but sadly Aegir, missed the title by only 5 seconds on corrected time. This result now shows Aegir to be the true meaning of cruiser racer and that stands her apart from her competition!

Image: The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2011: © ROLEX/ Carlo Borlenghi

We would like to give warm congratulations to the skippers and crews who have achieved outstanding results in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race.

The Class 40s was indeed hotly contested. With a fleet of 28 yachts flying the flags of 11 countries and after a fascinating race to track, once again it was Tanguy De Lamotte and his crew aboard Initiatives - Alex Olivier who claimed 1st overall. It must be said that the last 20nm was addictive viewing on the tracker as they matched race Italy’s Peraspera to the finish line.

Tanguy’s quote from his website: This victory has a special taste. We danced on the boat and shouted at the top of our voices. The last mile was very intense with the Italians. We managed a good trick by taking the lay line toward the break water and thanks to a series of manoeuvres as fast and precise as Peraspera we finally got back into first place about half a mile from the finish. It was incredible. This victory is even more beautiful than the one 2 years ago when we'd already won much earlier.5 boats arrived in 7 minutes, so we're very satisfied to have been able to win.

Only minutes behind was Mathias von Blumencron aboard his newly acquired Rogers Class 40 Red. This is a boat, like Tanguy’s, with an outstanding race pedigree having been owned previously by the well known French Olympian, Bruno Jourdren. Mathias achieved a fantastic result of 3rd overall in Class, beating his last year’s result by five places.

In IRC Z with an international fleet of 17 boats, our two German Rogers 46s were the smallest in class. Despite this race having been considered a ‘big boat’ race from the outset, the two 46s achieved great results whilst enjoying their usual head to head battles. It was Jens Kellinghusen’s Varuna who clinched 5th overall in class, closely followed by Christoph Avenarius’s Shakti taking 9th.

Very well done to you all from the crew at RYD!

This is to alert our readers, especially those Lymingtonites that we have a wood donation day happening this Sunday 10th July at The Royal Lymington Yacht Club between 1pm – 7pm. Get your thinking caps on and try and find a piece of wood with a personal story attached. Ultimately this boat will represent a living archive of people’s lives and offers a tangible way of getting involved with what will undoubtedly become part of the legacy of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

For more information, please look at the attached releases for this donation day, past news posted on this site or log on to: www.theboatproject.com

Image: © Lone Twin

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Following the race start last Wednesday 29th June, the Rogers 46s- Varuna and Shakti have now passed the half way mark of this classic 2,975 nm offshore marathon. There is very little doubt that our owners and their crews are having the ride of their life as they move into a low pressure system, downwind sleigh ride; exactly what they all signed up for! Here is an excerpt from Varuna’s latest blog......and their top speed of 29.1 knots did catch our eye, although they do have a record speed for a Rogers 46 of 35.1 knots to beat!!

As I am sitting on the laptop the boat lifts out of a wave.... check the speedo.. 22...24...25.8...29.1. That is what we came for. Varuna is a live and the boys are loving it. Since last night 1130 UTC we are in heavy weather downwind sailing directly on the rhumbline. Everybody on deck, just the helmsmen sleep every hour to be able to drive our grey lady with the concentration she needs. The boys are working hard to keep up the speed. A great team effort.

Varuna cuts through the waves, the bow lifts out of the water... trim on... and the downhill ride begins. Varuna gets lifted out of the water until the mast, catches the next wave and repeats it. Extremely nice sailing conditions which make us approach The Lizard fast. As you can see, boat and crew in a perfect mood.

On board the family Eco- Contessa 32 Calypso, three generations of the Rogers Family successfully completed this year’s exciting Round the Island Race, to finish a very credible 23rd overall. Our daughter Hattie Rogers, who is more often racing her Oppie on the National circuit completed her first big keel boat race with her cousin Jonah. It was baptism by fire with 3 of the 7 crew suffering from sea sickness, as did many!

Jeremy Rogers has lost count of how many times he has competed in this race, but his first was as far back as the late 1950s. Amongst the plethora of international yacht races he has competed in, he said he finds this race one of the most challenging and enjoyable events in the yacht racing calendar. Usually racing with his sons, Jeremy has nearly always been up in the top 20 or so finishers, finished second overall three times as well as winning the Gold Roman Bowl 3 times(2002/03 and 06) on board the then family Contessa 26 Rosina of Beaulieu.

How nice it was to celebrate this year another Rogers victory when Nick Rogers and Jo Hutchinson in their Contessa 26 Sundowner won the coveted Gold Roman Bowl for themselves. Bravo!

The Calypso crew were also delighted to have raised over £1,500 in sponsorship for Lymington Oakhaven Hospice.

It was the recent 475 nm Annapolis to Newport yacht race, in its 64th year, which provided the race track for the most recent victories for Rogers designed boats. Still reeling from the triple victory of our Class 40s, we were delighted to see the news unfold for a double victory in IRC II in this race. Jens Kellinghusen’s - Varuna clinched 1st overall, followed by Christoph Avenarius’s- Shakti who took 2nd; two fantastic results for the German registered Rogers 46s.

No doubt this race provided a perfect warm up and shake-down for the next challenge just around the corner- The Rolex Transatlantic Race 2011 which both 46 teams have entered. The race starts in Newport RI and after 2,975nm the competitors will cross the finish line off Lizard Point in South Cornwall (UK). Three race starts are scheduled (26th/29th June and 3rd July) with the hope of all boats being able to finish closer together.

The Rogers 46s will be one of the smallest boats entered, whilst the largest of the 32 boat fleet will be Maltese Falcon at 289 feet. The 46s will race in IRC Class 2 Racer with a start date of 29th June. They are expected to take around 15 days to complete the primarily downwind course. Let’s hope it’s a fantastic sleigh ride for them with some exhilarating and memorable racing. Good luck from all at RYD! We will be following.

To track this race: www.transatlanticrace.com

RYD would like to extend our congratulations to Tanguy de Lamotte and Sébastien Audigane - Initiatives Saveurs, Bruno Jourdren and Fabien Delahaye - Port de Caen Ouistreham and Damien Seguin and Yohann Richomme - Des Pieds et Des Mains, for their full complement of podium finishes in the 2nd Edition of this 1000nm classic.

In a matter of 4 days, they raced from Caen, tracked around the Isle of Wight, around Lands End to Tuskar Rock (off the coast of the south coast of Ireland), around Guernsey and finally to the finish line back in Caen. This resounding victory speaks volumes for our design and we are understandably delighted!

Click on the icon below to read the full press release.

All images: © Manuel Couette

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Surrounded by the full build team led by Mark Covell, Simon- the designer, volunteers and Greg (one the of Lone Twins, whose vision created this project), it was with great celebration that we watched this significant little boat being rolled over. It did not go unnoticed that she had characteristics akin to the faster performance boats that RYD is synonymous with- somebody mentioned Volvo 70s!

One couldn’t help noticing how the yard was now alive with personal wooden effects that had been donated to date by so many people. Each piece with its only personal story and the hopes of their owners to see their piece embedded in some way into what will be a truly unique piece of art.......and ultimately a piece of art that will become part of the 2012 legacy. To find out more about donating your special piece of wood or to learn more about volunteering in the build process, log on to:www.theboatproject.com

Sam from our RYD offices gave a little piece of herself away at last weekend’s Boat Project Donation Day in Southampton. She was one of the hundreds of donation that have so far been received for The Boat Project.

““As all individuals have done, I gave something that holds some fond memories - my first wooden school ruler (which I used throughout my childhood in Zambia and England), along with a piece of the RYD office- a now unwanted piece of doorframe! I am hoping that a part of me will be included in this extraordinary project and ultimately I can personally feel part of the British Cultural Olympiad legacy. It is a truly unique opportunity.”

If you would like to make a donation, please log on to the following website where you can see where and when these donations days are being held:www.theboatproject.com

Andrew Blatter a journalist from Boat International recently stepped aboard the new Aegir and tasted the delights of this Rogers designed Carbon 82. The result is a wonderful 7 page article in the April issue of Boat International which quite apart from talking about his experience he also mentions her ability to morph from a luxury cruiser into race mode with ease. If you can’t wait to grab a copy, then click on the Press Release icon below and read on!

All images: © Billy Black

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At 3.40GMT today, less then 3 hrs time, the gun will fire to start the 34 yachts entered for the RORC Caribbean 600 race and Aegir, the Carbon 82, will be one of them.

Brian and his crew have now completed all the pre-race checks and testing, as well as settling in the crew into their positions; they report back as all being very happy! Given that night sailing makes up over half the time during this race, on Friday night Aegir paid a visit to the top part of the race track which also gave the crew an opportunity to bed into their watch system.

Matt Sheahan from Yachting World will be reporting aboard Aegir and sending live on line coverage straight from the heart of the action. In addition, you can track Aegir on the event website: www.caribbean600.rorc.org

We recently travelled to Thornham Marina, Chichester to meet up with Mark Covell and to see the build progress on this new and significant little 30 footer. In a matter of 24 hrs all the laser cut hull frames were in place and the true shape had emerged.

It will only be a matter of time before 'The Boat Project' becomes well known to the general public, with many people wishing to become involved. To read the latest release, click the link below:

www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/The-Boat-Project-opens-to-the-public/

With a list of high profile journalist booked in to trial sail and report on the long awaited new Carbon 82 - Aegir, it was Andrew Blatter, the ‘World Correspondent’ for Boat International who secured the first slot. Andrew has now returned and has just posted his article on the Boat International site which reads very well indeed.

Her long awaited race debut will start in 19 days time when the third edition of the Caribbean 600 sets off from Antigua. It will be a truly international event with currently 15 nations represented with a range of diverse and highly competitive yachts.

Andy Beadsworth, Guy Barron, Juan Messanger, Shreda Duke are to name a few of the crew who will be joining Brian on board, but also Matt Sheahan, reporting for Yachting World has also secured a place on board. Simon will be on board for this first event and on his return from the race we will be posting a post race technical account of his thoughts and experiences, which many will be interested to read.

If you are seriously interested in viewing and trial sailing the new Aegir, please contact us directly and we would be delighted to make the necessary arrangements with the owner.

To view the Boat International article and to follow the event, please use the links below. All images: © Billy Black

www.boatinternational.com

www.caribbean600.rorc.org