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

7 February 2016

Nelson Race 2016 Line Honours, 1st on IRC (yes really!) and (close) 2nd on PHRF - all upwind ...

We prepared for the start to this race with 40-50 knot gusts in the marina, knowing it was going to be upwind effectively all the way, and that it was going to be even more windy on the south coast and for the first part of Cook Strait.  The Class 950 got blown sideways coming out of her berth and was damaged, never left the marina.

We saw sustained 50+ knots for about 30 mins, peak gust that we noticed of 60, and a boat near us saw a 65 knot gust.  Wedgetail lost their mast having already crossed the worst of it, near the Brothers.  The sea state was pretty friendly, given the wind speed (except at the corners in tide rips), since the gradient wind was curving around the top of the South Island ... so not a huge amount of fetch.  We didn't take video in the really windy bits (ran out of camera battery) but just before we entered Cook Strait we got this:

In 50+ knots upwind, Blink was still pointing well, fast and easy to handle with storm jib and 3 reefs. We did hoist a Fractional Zero briefly to leave the harbour, perhaps 10 minutes of downwind sailing but with 40+ knots too much breeze for the A6.  Probably ;-).  We also used a masthead zero for a couple of hours near the south end of D'Urville Island.  But not a single downwind sail for a 120nm (rhumb line) offshore race...

So the downwind weaponry had to wait until the return trip, the delivery back to Wellington ... this was a great sail, crossing the Strait faster than the ferry when the breeze picked up on the eastern side.

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