Posts tagged McConaghy
02
Dec 13
Dec 13
MC²60
Hong Kong, 香港, 22º18’05″N 114º11’59″E
The MC²60 #1 Mach² recently finished 2nd over the line in the 656 miles Hong Kong to Vietnam Race behind Ragamuffin 90 skippered by Syd Fisher with around 20 professional sailors on board. Mach² raced with only 6 crew: Renaud Bañuls the MC²60′s architect, Incidence’s Cesar Dohy who designed the sails, Bruno Laurent who commissioned the boat, Raphaël Blot, the owner and responsible for the development of the MC² catamaran series and two of his regular racing crew from his monohull days.
The MC²60 finished ahead of the three TP52, the other 90ft monohull, Chivas and a fleet of racing 40ft monohulls. The first TP52 was US based Lucky which finished 8th overall in the Transpac 2013. The other two TPs, OneSails Racing and FreeFire are regulars of the Asian racing circuit who, between themselves, have won almost every single regatta in Asia. Mach² sailed the 656 miles in 49h30mns.
Before the race, not many expected a cruising catamaran to finish ahead of the TP52s in a downhill race. In Nha Trang, many crews were thrilled by the speed reached during the downwind sail but complained about how wet of a ride it was, bailing water out of the boats all the way down with automatic life jackets activating inside the boats and being regularly showered on by seawater crasing on the deck. In response, Raphaël Blot commented :
“The only time we were showered on was when we took proper showers….We didn’t put the foul weather gear on, shorts and T-shirts only. We hear that the guys on the monohulls had a rough time; we had red wine at 20-25kts. We reached top speeds above 30kts a couple of times”.
The concept behind the MC²60 announced 2.5 years ago was to achieve an all round sailing performance similar to that of a TP52 in a cruising catamaran capable of accommodating up to 10 guests for a comfortable cruise.
“I guess we have just shown that the concept works” commented Renaud Bañuls. “Not only does the boat perform better than my own expectations, it is very easy to handle, feels safe and reaches high speed effortlessly. More impressive than the top speed above 30kts that we have reached 3-4 times was the fact that we sailed for hours under main sail and genaker at 20-28kts without pushing the boat hard”.
Blot concluded : “I am very pleased with the result. Finishing ahead of the TP52s in a downhill race is quite an achievement as catamarans have an advantage over monohulls mainly when reaching. This results validates the concept and confirms that we made the right decisions over the past 3 years, leading to a cruising catamaran that is faster than stripped out racing monohulls”
Meanwhile, the MC²60 #2 Dragon is moored in Hong Kong, getting ready for a cruise in South East Asia. Dragon and Mach² have the same interior layout but different color schemes. The semi-custom concept of the MC²60 resulted in different boat lengths and cockpit layout. Dragon is 2ft longer on the transom and carries a 3ft longer longeron in order to fly a larger mast head gennaker. While Mach² has cockpit designed for single handed operations, Dragon has a more racing oriented cockpit with winches spread out along the aft beam.
Photo assignment for MC² Catamarans.
03
Dec 09
Dec 09
Onboard Alfa Romeo
Tasman Sea, New South Wales, Australia 33º50’85″S 151º24’46″E
Onboard Alfa Romeo during a test sail in Sydney, Australia in preparation for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart 2009.
‘Alfa Romeo’, the second yacht built by New Zealand skipper and owner, Neville Crichton, to carry the name of the Italian car maker, was penned by leading American yacht designers, Reichel/Pugh and built in Sydney by McConaghy Boats.
26
Nov 09
Nov 09
Moth Mach 2
Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia 33º51’06″S 151º15’59″E
Scott Babbage in a training session on his Moth Mach 2 in Sydney Harbour, Single-handed sailing dinghy with hydro-foils.
McConaghy Boats understand strong, light and fast and in no time at all McConaghy partnered with McDougall and began to build the next generation of foiling moths. Drawing upon the two names McDougall / McConaghy and acknowledging the name of the 2nd moth ever built by founder John McConaghy, they formed Mach 2 Boats Pty Ltd.
14
Dec 08
Dec 08
Loki
Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia 33º51’03″S 151º15’82″E
Onboard the 63 feet Loki for the first test sail in the Sydney Harbour.
McConaghy Boats in Mona Vale, Australia built the new Reichel-Pugh 63 Loki For Stephen Ainsworth. In Norse Mythology, Loki is a God. Loki sometimes assists the gods and sometimes causes problems for them. Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon, mare, seal, fly, and possibly an elderly woman. Loki’s positive relations with the gods end with his role in engineering the death of the god Baldr. Loki is eventually bound by the gods with the entrails of one of his sons.
24
Aug 07
Aug 07
Yendys
Hamilton Island, Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia 20º19’73″S 149º03’38″E
Onboard Yendys a Reichel/Pugh 55 during the Withehaven Beach race, winner of the IRC Racing division at the 2007 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
Geoff Ross launched his new Reichel/Pugh 55 late 2006. It was the first boat out of McConaghy International’s new boatyard in China. Yendys (Sydney spelt backwards) has been an icon of the Australian sailing scene for many year.
Yendys carries a sail number of 1836 – the year Geoff’s ancestors first arrived in Hobart via convict transportation.
