Saphire 27 seglar Bohusracet

Nu är det en vecka sedan Bohusracet. Vi seglade klass 3 för båtar med SRS mellan 1,20 och 1,25. 38 båtar i klassen varav 32 fullföljde seglingen. I klass 3 seglade förutom alla C/R också 2st Seacape 27, 2st Life 7,5 och en Saphire 27, dvs lätta, planande båtar  i förhållande till dom andra i klassen. Saphire 27 är ritad av Claudio Maletto från Italien och byggd i Estland. Projektet drivs av Michael Tobler med bas i Schweiz.

Michael och Sahpire 27 deltar i olika kappseglingar i många länder för att visa upp båten. Insjöseglare som han är - Genevesjön - blir förstås utmaningen att segla i skärgården stor. Michael seglar med Alar Volmer, professionell seglare från Estland med erfarenhet från bl.a. VOR.



Saphire 27 Serafina, bilden från hemsidan (här).

Först Michaels egen beskrivning av båten och dess bakgrund:

"... Just a few words about the boat: Saphire 27 was designed and developed by the former Prada Luna Rossa AC team (design Claudio Maletto, structural design, interior design, deck design, sail design a.s.o.). She is 8m long, 2.5m wide and has a T-bulb keel with a Weldox structure inside. The boat can be slipped and trailed easily and weights 1.398kg (ORCi freeboard weight measurement without sails). For more information, just check the webpage: www.saphireboats.com
... "
Jag fick kontakt med Michael när vi båda blev storkonsumenter av double expresso i Promarinas cafe på kajen i Uddevalla dagen innan starten. Jag tog kontakt med honom efter seglingen och frågade om han kunde skriva en racerapport. Den följer här:

" ...
Dear Anders
...

Alar Volmer

In mot Fjällbacka

Michael Tobler

First time navigating in the Archipelago of Sweden and only third time navigating offshore with a Saphire 27. What a great experience. After winning the Round Helgoland race of Nordseewoche and a small midweek race in the Fjords of Oslo, and some nice 40 knots wind experience form the Faerder Race, the Swiss / Estonian team was ready for a new challenge. Alar Volmer, a professional sailor and the actual ORC World Champion in class 3 was the skipper, and myself, Michael Tobler the initiator of the SAPHIRE project with a nice background in lake racing and catamaran sailing. Not much experience whatsoever with stones and rocks…

Out of the Uddevalla fjord it was sailing like on a lake with little current and shifty winds, what we understood quite well. We did very good tactics from the beginning and lost the lead only for a short time passing on the right side of Korstensh (alldeles efter passage av Uddevallabron och Stången - min anm. Serafina var en få båtar som gick nära Orustsidan efter rundningen av Stången). The boat is very fast in these light conditions and we managed to get first into the new winds, following very simple the tactics to go always for the new wind and sail all the windshifts properly. This turned out in long tracking upwind to Kåröd (vid fyren Strandanäs) most of the time in nice breeze of 10 to 15 knots, sometimes even more. After a short rainfall we continued with the gennaker to Hällesdalen (1 NM innan Svanesund) and then tacked again out to the Hätteberget Lighttower which we rounded at 23.30h, roughly one hour before the second boat of our class.

We followed a very nice straight downwind course direction Valö and could get one hour of sleep each one and sailing between 8 and 12 knots, melting with the waves and the wind. What a beautiful experience. We had some dried food, fruits, meet, cheese and bread on board topped by sweets. Further some Dänish Liquör for Neptun, Rasmus and ourselves to get energy bosts together with coffein powder.  The entry into the Archipelago close to L Hamburgö turned out to be more difficult, with light winds, mostly reaching and it was also there where BLUR passed us. So far so good but here we had some serious speed troubles since we choose not use the code 0 under the SRS (Saphire valde att inte mäta in code zero för att undvika att bli uppflyttad klass 4).
...
We passed Valö at 06.00h in the morning. Close to Lönnh (BLURs genväg) we were shaken by a rock… just passing a smaller boat side by side but we were lucky, sliding over the rock and no serious damage at the boat. This was obviously a warning for the Swiss / Estonian crew and we decided not to put the iPad aside any more for a second…

Danish Liquor

After that miles and miles of long reaching and some tacking to arrive to Furholmen. This was the most difficult part from the speed side and the entry to Furholmen from the tactical side. We did pretty well but there was more wind in the back and more favourable routes in the back. After rounding Furholmen, we saw the first competitors sailing to the waypoint and catching up on us pretty much. Going out to the sea, the wind dropped completely and we just had to wait for our competitors who were just sailing past us and nothing to do. The track out to Trestenene was a close reach or a large beat again with nice and increasing wind. With an 8m boat on that course, it is not possible to keep up with 10 and 11m boats since the length of the water line counts a lot and it is not possible to plane on such courses. As such, the X-99 passed us on the that leg and the same half way back. That is another thing which does not match in the rating systems, to sail with 8 m boats against 10 and  11m boats…

Mot Trestenarna

Later on, we sailed back again with the gennaker but could not hold the angle… the code 0 was again really missing and that is where the two Seascapes passed us. We caught one of them later on when the wind was shifted more to the back and we changed to our monster gennaker but that was not good enough for our rating. 

We passed the finish line at roughly 18.15h, second in our class real time behind one Seascape 27 and in front of the other one and the X-99.

All in all a fantastic race with a huge challenge in the Archipelago. Very difficult sailing if you are not used to it, creating a lot of adrenaline and stress which prevents you from sleeping but also uses up the energy level so that concentration is not sufficient after many hours of sailing. Fantastic feeling also offshore melting with the waves and the wind, alone managing the boat, while the other crew member got some rest.
...As beautiful as it was, as frustrating it is when you travel home, even though finishing 2^nd in real time and 4^th in compensated time in your class. This shows the potential of modern sport boats towards classical boats and they are definitely more fun to sail. A good proof that our Saphire 27 can be well managed offshore and in the Archipelago. ..."

Saphire 27 kom på fjärde plats efter två Seascape 27 på första och andra plats och Wasa360 på tredje. Tidsdifferensen till första båt var 29 min seglad tid (när jag tar hänsyn till att båtarna har olika mättal) och 17 min till Wasa 360. En genomgång av SRS mätbreven för Seascape 27 och Saphire 27 gör mig förundrad. Väldigt många mått ligger nära varandra, jag hittar några väsentliga skillnader: Saphire 27 har syntetiska trådar i riggen, Seascape har wire. Seascape har 27 cm större djupgående och 130 kg tyngre köl, 4 kvm större försegel, 14 kvm större gennaker och dessutom code zero, Saphire har 6 kvm större storsegel, enbart en gennaker och seglar utan code zero. Trots att dom flesta skillnaderna enligt vad jag förstått av SRS regeln talar för att Seascape borde ha högre mättal, så är det tvärtom: Saphire har nästan en pinne högre, 1,247 mot 1,238. Motsvarar 12 minuter seglad tidsskillnad när den seglade tiden är 29 timmar. Motsvarar ungefär 0,05 knop!

Det blev en saftig smäll. Jag är inte alls förvånad över att båten tappade fart med det hålet i bulben.

Kranen i Väjern