The first 12m offshore race boat designed by Rob Shaw, build by Craig Partridge Yachts.

Design Objective: to maximise the performance potential of a 12m offshore monohull, with the capacity to sleep a full crew and with a usable interior. This is a versatile boat, set up for high performance racing either short-handed or fully crewed, both harbour and offshore. Blink is built with racing in the infamous Cook Strait in mind, with robust construction and systems, foam core, and options chosen with the wisdom that 'to win you must first finish' in mind: twin rudders, twin hydraulic rams, and dual hydraulic keel power sources (electric and engine pumps).

These numbers are from before the extra 90kg added to bulb in 2019
Length: 12m / Sailing Displ: 4.1T (8 crew) / Empty Displ 3.6T / Draft: 3m / Keel Cant Angle: 50° / RM (max): 7,687 kg/m / Mast: 19.8m
Fixed prod: 1m / Retractable prod: 2.5m / SA up: 110m2, down: 268m2

Sail Number: 110011 / VHF Call Sign: ZMU2211
More details, interior pics, plans at bottom of page.

Ghost Ship

Ghost Ship

Race Results

Blink race results highlights
1st on elapsed time, Round North Island 2-handed 2014 (Rob Shaw and TW) and 2017 (VW and TW)
1st on Line, Round North Island 2-handed 2014 and 2017
1st PHRF Division 1, and 2nd IRC Division 1, Round North Island 2-handed 2017
1st in RPNYC 2014-2015 Offshore Series on Club, PHRF, and IRC
Season Champions RPNYC 2015-2016 PHRF and Line
New Zealand Design/Build Trophy (Muir Vonu Trophy) Auckland-Fiji Race 2016
Race record Kapiti-Chetwodes-Ship Cove 2015
Race record Cook Strait Classic 2015
Race record 2016 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Yacht Race
Race record 2018 Catherine Cove Race

First on Line:
Island Bay race Nov 2013*, Brothers Race Nov 2013*, Cook Strait Classic Dec 2013* (*beating Elliot 50 canter Ran Tan in all 3 of these races), Brothers Race 2014, Kapiti-Chetwodes 2015, Port Nich Regatta 2015 overall line honours, Alan Martin Series 2015, Cook Strait Classic 2015, Nelson Race 2016, RPNYC 2016 Season Div 1, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc Yacht Race 2016, Mana-Ship Cove 2016, Brothers Islands Race 2016, Round North Island 2-handed 2014 and 2017,
Brothers Islands Race 2017, Catherine Cove Race 2018, Wellington-Lyttleton 2018

28 September 2014

Spring Series Race 1

RPNYC's championship season got off to a typical start ... mid-20s gusting to mid-30s as we headed out to the racecourse.  We're still waiting for our new #4 from Norths - furling cable being built elsewhere - so decided that with the wind forecast to ease throughout the afternoon the heavy jib and a couple of reefs would be a good start.


Even with 2 reefs, all the crew on the rail, and full cant we still got some big hits that laid us over.  We had several 'free willy' (keel bulb out of the water) episodes that provoked discussion of whether there might be any keel walking later.  VW took this from the companionway, there's a wee bit of heel on ...


But we did manage to spend at least some time in our upwind planing mode


Joerg and Jono were looking forward to a big ride or two later - which didn't happen


We thought we'd had a nice start, hit the line at about 12 knots and got away cleanly.  Only we didn't, we were over the line at the gun by the front end of the prod, about 30cm or so.  We didn't hear the call to go back to restart over the wind noise, despite VW being downstairs with the VHF on and with another handheld VHF at the helm station.  It was blowing hard, so difficult to hear anything much.  We didn't know for the rest of the race that our result wouldn't count.

Revs lost their mainsheet block at the top mark, so withdrew from the race, and we got to the first top mark just behind Wedgetail, managed to overtake them on the way down to leading light despite being taken well of course by a ferry that was doing harbour laps.  




So we were in front at the leading light bottom mark, and just held our lead up to the next top mark after a beat with fluky/gusty conditions with monster shifts and lulls all the way back across the harbour.  We had taken out the reefs at this point.  It was after that mark when things starting not going so well.  We went a little too high after the last top mark, and ended up in a windless lane down towards Evan's Bay.  Lots of little gusts seem to appear and then vanish before getting to us.  Wedgetail was a couple of hundred metres east of us, in much more consistent breeze, and was making up lots of ground.  In hindsight we should have gybed out, taken a small loss to get into better wind.  

After that we just got more unlucky.  Wedgetail had got alongside, and forced us to gybe as we approached them on port.  No problems, all we needed was one good bit of breeze to get us to the correct side of the mark.  Didn't happen.  We might have made it but for a kite collapse about 200m out.  So we had to gybe again, late, really close to the mark.  Then the gust that we hadn't had for the last 2 miles of downwind arrived at just the wrong moment, rounded us up, right in front of Wedgetail.  Who were still on starboard.  We were not on starboard, but couldn't manoeuvre while we were on our side and Wedgetail we now moving fast and about to ram us amidships.  Thankfully Meric was able to avoid us, but in the process of their gybe the partly-down kite and boom conspired to throw one of their crew into the harbour.  

So we rounded the mark, got to the MOB fairly quickly, picked him up, Wedgetail sailed past on their way to the race win, and we went off to do our 720° penalty.  Not that it mattered, with our OCS ... but we didn't know at the time, nor did Wedgetail.

So that wasn't the result we wanted - even a finish would have been OK -  but we did many things well, and our boat handling continues to improve.  Next Saturday's race 2 might have better breeze and we're overdue for some good luck.