The GT60 is on the water

The GT60 is another Cherub inspired design being enterred in the ISAF trial by the www.carbonology.com 'Desperado Projects' team.

The first sail of the GT60 was very light airs all day - in fact Andy Rice ( a sprightly 85kg) and Princey got the best of the breeze. I reckon 8 knots of breeze tops, GPS recorded the highest speed of the day as 12.0kts . All systems worked fine and we're busy with setting up for our sponsors reception as I type. As soon as we get her back to UK, she'll have that nose job and her correctors put in and we'll see you all soon.

We decided that although the performance requirements set by ISAF are easily attainable by a modern UK cherub, the cherub rule would be difficult for ISAF to accept as it is simply not a one design. We think however that our Paul Bieker designed B1c has great one design potential so with Pauls agreement, we are taking a development of the B1c to the trial.

The boat was designed for a crew weight of 125 to 140 kg (ish) so that Andy and I could be sure it would work with our 138 or so lard - the fact that this 'payload' sits right in the criteria for the ISAF boat was one of the factors that made us decide to go for it. I think the weight of the boat will be a bonus as it lowers sheet loads and makes it easy to manhandle on and off of trailers etc - an important part of any design.

Why GT60? Well I'm a bit bored of classes saying they are the Formula 1 of sailing - In my view the only way you could say that is if you have a fleet of 30 Sail Rockets - That would be F1! I also think Touring Cars and GT cars are more fun to watch and have a bit more real life about them - so GT it was… 60 for 60kg, but surely that's ok - 5o5 for 5.05m, 49er for 4.9m, 10sqm Sharpie… Why not name one after it's weight?

Compared to the intended full blown boat which you will see at the UK Cherub Nationals in July, the differences are minor but have a significant impact on cost and ease of construction- The deck layout is much simplified from the intended full race version and the boat will be made from glass where the structure permits - the racks and rig will remain in carbon however. Most noticeably the bow profile is altered as the cherub class rules do not apply, allowing a more natural and effective entry - the mould having been cut back to allow any bow shape to be produced and attached after the main moulding has been produced. At the end of the day the focus of this boat is to be a really good Cherub, with everything on it state of the art. The foils are Dave Hollam's brilliant 2006 sections, the sails are indeed a cat/windsurfer development, a similar shape of which nailed the top 3 at the 14 worlds in 2006 (as did the majority of the hull form) and we are sure will become a lot more prevalent in the next couple of years - after all if the boat were to win selection, it would have to look fresh in 2012, so you have to be a bit forward of the curve!

Some of the stuff that is on the boat, the pics do not show. The jib sheeting system is asymmetric to work perfectly in the high pressure situations on the race course, and yet still function well everywhere else; the kite-chute has a roller in the mouth of it to reduce the drag of a wet kite pull down; the wing on the rudder is asymmetric and is pulling lift equal to 2.5degrees from a symmetrical shape at 0 degrees angle of attack - and it has a range of 12 degrees (+7, -5) and boy does that make it fly… the list goes on, but time does not permit - after all, we're booked on a ferry to France this afternoon.

We'll be putting a blog of the build up on the www.carbonology.com site as soon as we get back.

Cheers for now, Dave Chisholm carbonologydave.