Offshore Rules takes an exclusive look at the RC 44 Class story so far.

Check out or RC 44 slideshow here.

When it comes to creating a brand new one design keelboat class from scratch there are very few people with the knowledge, skills or credibility to pull it off. Three times America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts however has all three of these attributes and in October 2005 he announced the RC 44 Class to a mostly unsuspecting market. This was no run of the mill product endorsement from the world’s most famous sailor. An engineering graduate of the University of Auckland Coutts was fully involved at every stage of the design process. For his design partner he chose naval architect Andrej Justin. Justin was a relatively unknown name in yachting despite having been responsible for several racing designs including a small match racer and an 80 foot carbon maxi.

The new class was created with a strict one design and ethos and was targeted at racing owners who wished to sail an exciting, high performance, technically advanced boat. Coutts’s concept for the RC44 was to produce a boat that would be challenging and exciting to sail and also be powerful enough to race in the lighter conditions often found in the European lakes and harbours.

Not satisfied with creating a new class Coutts also planned to introduce a new regatta format. Racing at RC 44 regattas would be split between fleet racing – where the owners would helm – and a day of match racing where pro sailors would be allowed to steer. This strategy was smart in a number of ways. The attraction of owner driver classes like the Mumm 30 and Farr 40 are a testament that many of today’s yacht owners are no longer happy to simply pay the bills and make do with a menial job on their own boats. The opportunity to compete on the race track against their peers whilst being coached and supported by professional sailors is an attractive win-win scenario. Add to this the opportunity to be on board during a full on match race against the world number one sailor Russell Coutts and you have a compelling proposition.

When the new boat was unveiled it was unlike anything else on the market. There were echoes of Coutts Americas Cup pedigree – The carbon construction, sugar scoop stern, narrow 9’ beam and a distinctly AC style sail plan – but it was also immediately clear that the RC44 was going to be both exhilarating and challenging to master.

Everything about this boat screamed style and innovation. Built almost entirely from carbon fibre the boat was 43.8’ long but displaced only 7850 lbs – 4430 lbs of which was in the keel. A huge fractional sail plan was set on a carbon (of course) three spreader mast with running backstays. There was a choice of two headsails (517 sq’ and 646 sq’), the main was 753 sq’ and the two asymmetric spinnakers (1722 sq’ and 1399 sq’) were set on a retractable carbon bowsprit. Standing rigging was PBO and the integral forestay and headfoil could be tensioned using a hydraulic ram.

There was a large open cockpit featuring a pedestal grinder and twin steering wheels. A 20 horsepower diesel engine was there to get the boat in and out of the marina and for racing the specially developed prop could be retracted into the hull. The keel included a kelp cutter and a trim tab. Pauger Carbon built the first boats to exacting tolerances and impressively hulls one and two were within a single kilogram of each other on the scales. Given the level of engineering and the extent of the carbon construction it was no real surprise that the boats carried a hefty €395 price tag.

Sailing the boat

When sailing the boat the most immediate difference between the RC 44 and other one designs is the trim tab on the keel. Coutts offers these words of wisdom: ‘The advantage of a trim tab is that the foil effectively becomes asymmetric and therefore the keel area can be reduced. You can adjust the degree of asymmetry for the given situation. Any time the boat speed is really low you should generally use slightly more tab angle to prevent the boat and the foils from sliding sideways. You should also use more angle when the rudder is being unloaded, such as rounding the leeward mark or at the beginning of a light wind tack. Tactically you should be able to briefly use nine degrees or more of tab to squeeze off another boat. As a general rule you must be careful not to use too much – over ten degrees and you can actually see the boat moving sideways!’

With a choice of three headsails and two gennakers getting  the crossover points right is crucial. Coutts recommends that the number one genoa can be carried up to eleven knots and the number two up to fifteen knots before switching to the three. Surprisingly the upper range for the large gennaker is at around only seven to eight knots.

It goes without saying that crew coordination is key to racing these boats successfully. Only four professional sailors are allowed per boat. Hoists and drops appear to require fairly standard asymmetric class techniques. Over and above the normal key roles on the boat – trimmers, helm, bowman, tactician and pitman – the role of the grinder on the RC 44 is massively important. From the central pedestal this person can drive both primary winches and the mainsheet winch and is involved in virtually every manoeuvre. This is no place for brute force and ignorance as the grinder must be tactically aware of what is going on at all times so that they can have the correct winch selected in the most appropriate gear for the job in hand.

As in any one design class crew weight is an important factor and effective hiking translates directly into boatspeed. Interestingly there are no guard rails or indeed class rules governing hiking in the RC 44 class. Only the ISAF hiking rules apply but judging by the photos of the boats going upwind pretty much anything goes. Along with working out how to sail these boats the skippers will also need to focus on keeping all the crew onboard.

Success or failure?

So how has this radical new design been received?  After creating a stir at International Boatshows in Europe during the end of 2005, in 2006 a five boat fleet raced in a three regatta series in the Mediterranean. Whilst the fleet was small it was perhaps more significant that the boats themselves were proving to be exciting to sail in the fleet racing and equally suited to the match racing section.

The core fleet in 2006 was made up of owners from Italy, Croatia, Japan and Ireland and was crewed by a combination of well known professionals and talented amateurs. By the start of 2007 twelve boats had been built and a second licensed builder, V1 Techniologies in Dubai, had been appointed. The 2007 RC 44 Championship Tour, a six regattas series, was announced taking in venues in Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and Dubai. The penultimate regatta in Trieste attracted a quality fleet of ten boats.

The regatta organisation is both slick and professional and as class manager Julien di Biase explains ‘is all about providing a variety of formats and delivering value for the owners and their sponsor partners.’ The regattas feature on the water umpiring for the fleet and match races. Like the TP52 Class fleet races are sailed on a combination of windward/leeward and short coastal courses. The large sugar scoop stern provides the perfect location for guests, sponsors representatives or the media to get a unique view of what RC 44 racing is all about.

Coutts uses his Team Omega boat as an entry point for seriously interested potential owners to come and try the class for themselves. The owner community now includes, Slovenian businessman Igor Lah, America’s Cup campaigner Vincenzo Onorato from Italy, Chris Bake based in Dubai and Italy’s Armando Giulietti amongst others. In addition to the privately owned boats there are a number of country teams like Team Ekipa from Slovenia, Croatian team Cro-a-sail and Team Beecom. These crews are comprised of local talented sailors who are using the RC 44 circuit as a way of gaining experience and profile.  The class has also attracted some of the sailing world’s celebrity sailors like Dean Barker, Cameron Appleton, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, James Spithill, Paul Cayard, and Adrian Stead.

At the time of writing this article boats numbers 16 and 17 had been delivered to their new owner Frank Pong, owner of UK-Halsey Sailmakers in Hong Kong. Pong says that the boats will be used for match racing locally and in China. He also confirmed that he would be making the boats available to the Chinese AC team to practice match racing. Patrick Monterio de Barros ex Olympic sailor and one of Portugal’s richest businessmen has also joined the class and recruited Americas Cup ace Dean Barker as his tactician.

The future?

So what of the future for the RC 44? It appears that the class and the new regatta format has established itself well in Europe. Importantly the owners and their sponsors are getting a good return on their investment. According to Julien di Biase the regatta agreements for the 2008 Championship Tour are all completed. Given Coutt’s re-entry into the AC arena and his recent statement that ‘Match racing is something I need to focus on.’ It seems likely that he will be active on the RC 44 circuit in 2008. His presence alone will surely attract more of the world’s top match racers to pit their skills against him. It would be easy to see the class continuing to prosper and perhaps even doubling the fleet size by this time next year. Time will tell.