Coconut Boat Challenge at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club
by Royal Varuna Yacht Club 24 Mar 2021 01:24 GMT
The Coconut Boat Challenge was born of a tea break chat with Fish (Grahame Southwick) and Gareth Owen, which basically ended with "if you write a notice of race, we'll be on the committee and submit a competitive entry".
Pom Greene, our local carbon fiber expert and nautical engineer agreed to join, and with their valued encouragement and support the idea was announced, and materials were supplied at the Junior clubhouse.
Simon Denye's family connection with Star Yachts, the venerable benchmark for pond yachts of yore as well as his business in healthy coconut drinks suggested Harmless Harvest as a perfect match for sponsorship to support the event.
Soon there were mysterious sightings of 'very fast' prototypes in RVYC waters, and online glimpses of tank and wind tunnel testing at secret facilities.
Varuna's first coconut boat race was on...
On the day, 37 entries were submitted. The range of designs, from sleek sloops to stately square riggers, catamarans, trimarans, battened sails, and balloons testified that there is no shortage of creativity at Varuna.
One boat stood out, Pom Greene's entry which immediately challenged the still-setting rules. A protest was officially logged at the first race: it may be fortunate that Pom's ballon popped at the start of the second race, before the jury was called to decide.
It was clear from the start that the challenge of being race officer in this event was to be no small one. Fortunately, "cometh the hour, cometh the (wo)man", and our very own Gareth Owen and Lisa Sivokon stepped up, and with consummate skill presided over the race.
The wind unfortunately decided not to play along... so it was decided to shorten the race to widths across the pool on this occasion. Every heat brought a new surprise, but it was clear that square rigged multihulls had the upper hand in the day's conditions. Once again, some unconventional designs surprised with their speed, and sometimes unconventional sailing characteristics...
Heated competition in fluky winds did eventually produce winners.
My personal favourite, and a boat that embodied the spirit of the competition, won not only the "concours d'elegance" but also the silver class. A trimaran powered by a well chosen large leaf, proving that carbon fiber is always a good choice, with appropriate know how, courtesy of Castile!
Ton Rattana's boat, a versatile outrigger design that proved its mettle in shifting winds, won the gold class against stiff competition.
The event was a first at Varuna, but many members have already indicated that it should not be the last.
A permanent trophy has been commissioned, and Ton will be the first holder. Congratulations to the winners and all competitors!
I will be working on the directional stability and downwind performance of my "Coco Loco" and look forward to seeing developments in the Varuna Coconut Challenge fleet over the next year, in the hope of making a podium place in next year's competition.
Thanks are due to Baz Osbourne, for providing an infrastructure that supported the event seamlessly, the race committee, Oat (Nattawut Vongrak) for his guidance in producing superb entries from our youngest competitors, and members and staff who rose to the Coconut Boat Challenge.