One to watch..Rogers 46; she's a bit like Kate Moss.
November 26, 2006 1 comment
If you like the idea of TP52 but don't have the budget, take a look at the Rogers 46. It is a light displacement carbon boat built to IRC and she goes like a rocket.
http://www.lloyd-images.com
Below is Simon Rogers take on his new design….
The Rogers IRC 46 makes no excuses for being a turbo charged race boat. She has been designed to be light, agile and very quick through the water, giving an exhilarating ride and ensuring lots of bang for the buck! She is probably best described as a small TP52 and there are a lot of owners and sailors alike who would love to get there hands on one…..only one small problem, they are expensive to buy and a King’s ransom to campaign!
The carbon Rogers IRC 46, which at significantly less than half the price of a TP52, is a much more affordable option for most and will give an equally exhilarating experience….. couple this with a good IRC rating and one has a great boat to campaign in the IRC arena.
There is little doubt that the TP 52’s really have shown the way forward in IRC as light race boats and Rogers Yacht Design is delighted to have responded with this new more affordable design.
The Rogers IRC 46’s are being built by Composite Marine International (CMI) in Thailand. CMI is a joint venture between Cobra (the Worlds largest manufacturer of windsurfers and boards) and Pom Green and Green Marine from the UK. The quality of the work underway is superb and these carbon/foam/epoxy structures are second to none. The hull is moulded from a female mould ensuring a beautiful hull finish every time and the deck is male moulded giving an excellent internal finish, also ensuring minimum weight is achieved. There is no question these boats are more like a one off build but offered with a ‘production boat’ price tag.
The price tag for this Rogers IRC 46 is extremely competitive with a very high specification which includes: a full carbon structure, an excellent B&G Hercules system with 4×20/20s, a mast wand, performance boxes, Harken deck gear throughout and a deck layout that is ready to race; suffice to say, the Extras List is short….as most items are already included.
http://www.lloyd-images.com/
Coiler went out for a test sail and although there was little wind it was a very pleasant afternoon on the water….here are some observations…
She is a bit like the super model Kate Moss;
The Rogers 46 has no overhangs whatsoever but don’t get me wrong she has a beautifully formed aft section and very well rounded revealing an open cockpit for ease of use. She has a smaller rig and compared to the rest of her kind she is waif-like, weighing in at a pretty skinny 6200kg. When you are fully fitted out and that lightweight you don’t need a lot of sail area to get you going.
She has a spartan deck layout not dissimilar to her big sister the TP52, there are no heavy turning blocks, these are replaced by deck mounted harken solid blocks which are a fraction of the weight and are a lot easier to sit on in the heat of the action. Also the base of the primary winches is specifically designed for asymmetric jybing which is pretty cool.
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This boat is also easily aroused and being totally asymmetric is quite capable of sailing faster than the wind, Yeoman has a pole configuration but the deck layout is also designed for a bowsprit, personally I prefer Kate er… sorry the Rogers 46 without a pole.
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Downstairs she’s pretty tight on room but she has all the right equipment in the right places and some clever ideas as well. Rogers has cleverly mounted the mast (built by King in Argentina) into the heads so that when water inevitably trickles down it doesn’t end up in the bilge but drains away.
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On deck there is no traveller winches but the control line is easy to pull, this is down to a very clever system developed by Lou Varney of Diverse Yachts and marketed by Harken as the Pro-trim traveller. The system uses a wheel mechanism to increase the purchase power, ok that’s not new but the gearing on it is which makes the wheel far smaller and there is a cunning method of making sure the line doesn’t jump off the wheel which has been a problem in the past.
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At £450,000+VAT all in including a set of Norths and B&G Electronics, she doesn’t sound expensive. She is pacey upwind and lights up in any sort of breeze and takes off in anything over 15 knots downwind. The owner can get the thrill of surfing at over twenty knots downwind which is something that other IRC boats in that price bracket can’t deliver. I understand that she rates very competitively under IRC and IRM
The Rogers 46 is a bit of a weapon and she has been beautifully built, one thing that I did think a little odd was the two backstay winches after all the weight saving on deck, it would be cool if these were to disappear and be replaced by the pro-trim traveller system.
I believe that the Rogers 46 will be competing in some East Coast regattas including Key West, if you fancy jumping on Kate Moss, give Rogers Yacht Design a call. They didn’t pay me to write this but tell them where you came from. (Coiler)
http://www.lloyd-images.com/
http://www.rogersyachtdesign.com
