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
More details, interior pics, plans at bottom of page.
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
Great night at the Devonport Yacht Club. Blink won line honours - fastest boat around the North Island of NZ (7days 11hours:51mins:02secs) (Elliott Marine Line Honours Cup). Blink is the smallest boat to win that cup. Blink also won 3rd on PHRF overall, second on PHRF for Division 1 and first on line for Division 1.
First up, a clip from seven hours of fast, comfortable sailing with a heavy jib and double-reefed mainsail, in 30-40 knots northwesterly, between Taranaki and Wellington. Boatspeed rarely dropped below 15 knots although top speeds not much over 20.
At the same time as this Bushido with a fractional code zero up were averaging just one knot faster than us, once we realised we did the same and added 2-3 knots of boat speed and started making ground on them.
This is from just after the start, leaving North Head in Auckland. Despite the conservative start we are getting near the front of the fleet here.
Leading the fleet towards Kawau, under masthead code zero
Leading the fleet towards Napier, sunset over the Wairarapa coast
Just after we rounded Colville, wind in the mid-30-knot range. Within an hour it was up into the mid-40s and we had to drop the jib and sail bare-headed under main alone for a while. The waves were surprisingly big (they always look smaller in photos/videos) given the limited fetch of the Hauraki Gulf, and of course larger as the wind built.
On the way up to North Cape, Code 0 flying again in 15-20 knots on the beam
And lastly a clip from a magical half-hour of light breeze, moonlight, sunset, dolphins... but at the limits of what the camera can capture so the video is a bit dark...
