News

Design is well underway for this new Rogers Class950, an entirely new ALL BRITISH based race boat project. It is the result of a coming together of four experienced collaborative partners to design, manufacture, market and race a 9.5m long racing yacht, designed for short-handed offshore racing. Additional technical design expertise was provided by the National Composites Centre. This design will benefit from past years work and experience ranging from the original famous Whitbread 30 – Sticky Fingers, right up to the highly successful Rogers Class 40s. For further information, go directly to:www.facebook.com/RogersClass950

Images:© Rogers Yacht Design

This extraordinary Cultural Olympiad project dreamt up by two international artists known as The Lone Twins is now nearing completion. With the boat having being designed by RYD but with a real cast of well over 1000 who have each played their part, this has become a real ‘Peoples Project’ and without doubt, part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad legacy.

The boat is nearing completion and will be launched on Monday 7th May to a sell out crowd at the Thornham Marina, Chichester. The boat’s name will also be revealed following a public vote. She will then depart on a maiden voyage around the south east coast which will culminate in her appearance in Weymouth between 1 -11th August during the Olympic sailing events.

We are proud to have been part of this utterly unique public masterpiece and thrilled to be able to say we were involved in the 2012 Cultural Olympiad when it came to town! More news will follow.

This is the latest video from the shed entitled- A Day in the Boat Shed: http://vimeo.com/40718363 For the full story go to: www.theboatproject.com

Images: © Toby Adamson

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

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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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 90s 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‚Äôs 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 РVaruna 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