The first KIWI 40FC Class40, Peráspera, was launched at Pier 21 in Auckland in late September. The brainchild of Lapo Ancillotti and Francesco Piva of BT Boats, the latest Class40 design is the result of a collaboration between Farr Yacht Design and Cookson Boats and on Friday 17 December, after three months of sea trials and test sailing, the boat successfully completed the mandatory 180 degree inversion test demanded by the double-handed, Class40, Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR).
The two-man crew for the inversion was Francesco Piva of BT Boats and regular Peráspera crewmember, Luca Zaccoli. Initially, strong breeze across Auckland Harbour threatened the safety of the controlled inversion and the delicate operation was delayed. Lapo Ancillotti explains: “Wind conditions improved earlier than expected and the whole team was on stand-by and ready to go,” he reports. “So, with less than one hour’s notice, we were all on to it.”
From inversion until the boat self-righted took just 24 minutes and splashdown was celebrated by a chorus of fog horns from the yachts moored in Viaduct Basin. “There were no problems, no dramas,” Ancillotti confirms. “The boat came upright and rolled easily with one ballast tank full and one still only half full. There was no need to fill up the forward compartment,” he continues. “Full credit to Farr for the design and Francesco and Luca did a great job inside the boat.”
Peráspera is the second of the GOR entries to complete the 180 test with Class40 Association President, Jacques Fournier, and his co-skipper, Jean-Edouard Criquioche carrying out the same test on their new Pogo 40S² Groupe Picoty in Bénodet, Brittany, in mid-June. A second Kiwi 40FC Class40 is currently in-build at Cookson Boats for Belgian sailor, Michel Kleinjans, and is also entered in the GOR.
View video of the self-righting test here
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