UK demo tour success for VX One
by Nathan Batchelor, Ovington Boats 20 Mar 2014 07:45 GMT
20 March 2014
Going for a blast in the VX One © Ovington Boats
What a week we've had sailing the VX One in the UK. Yes, the Americans have been racing their VX's in Miami with a great turnout of 22 boats for a class which is only 2 years old. While goings on in USA are interesting (and why wouldn't we want to be racing in Miami?) it's what's happening on the water in the UK that really matters.
Our tour started with a great weekend with 2 boats in Lymington, lots of sailors out on the water including renowned International Moth Exocet builder Simon Maguire and a successful outing in the Lymington Town club race beating Musto Skiffs and International 14s on the water - see www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/175033/Lymington-Town-Early-Points-Series-day-1.
We then went onto the Hamble, basing ourselves at Hamble Point marina. Jamie Lea (Dragon World Champion, Melges 24 European Champion) from North Sails came out for a day and came off the water grinning ear to ear saying "It's the perfect combination of dinghy agility and keelboat stability". Jamie has since signed up to compete at the 2014 VX One National Championships!
This tour concluded with a weekend in Weymouth where both boats were again fully booked. We managed to get some great 2 boat tuning and racing in and are learning lots about how to get the most out of these boats.
The highpoint of the week (see the main picture!) was sailing on the Saturday in Weymouth with an ex-Melges 24 sailor and his 13 year old son – they jumped in the boat, the wind built to around 22 knots and the boat took off – speeds of 18 knots on the GPS! I'm not sure which of us on board were smiling the most. As everyone who sailed testified, this is an easy boat to sail very quickly.
Racing these is going to be a total blast – the Nationals are scheduled for 26–28 September at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club. Please get in touch if you would like more info or to come for a sail...
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More information about the VX One on the Ovington Boats website
The VX One is a 2 to 3 person keelboat with a light, easily driven hull by an efficient sail plan set on a full carbon rig. The boat can be launched simply off a dinghy style trolley or craned in using a single point lifting strop.
The off the boom mainsheet gives a huge uncluttered cockpit, whilst the self-tacking jib makes gybes easy when sailing 2 up. The jib furls for easy launching and recovery and for short-handed sailing or playing with the family. The spinnaker is launched using a single line hoist/ retrieval line making the process easy for anyone and a large chute mouth reduces friction.