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Santa Cruz Shaw 650
James Collins and Christian Bond of Santa Cruz, CA have not only started construction of a Shaw 650 in cedar and glass - they have also set up an awesome website and blog to record their progress. Go to www.buildingashaw650.com to follow the progress of the build.
Bay Week victory for Shaw boats
Jan 2010: The pair of new Shaw 9s, launched last (southern) winter, had their first real short-course test in January at Bay of Islands Sailing Week — and passed with flying colours. Karma Police, designer Rob Shaw’s own boat, took out the B division on line and PHRF handicap, with Deep Throttle, co-owned by Volvo sailor Justin Ferris, fourth on line and second on PHRF. Karma Police was also second on general handicap after an exciting three days of windward-leeward and longer-course racing. Shaw sailed a highly consistent regatta, finishing outside the top three on line only once, in a division made up mostly of boats ten feet longer than the 30-footer, including a Farr 40 and several Ross and Elliott-designed 40s.
The canting Shaws held their own over the two windward-leeward courses sailed each day but really came into their own in the afternoon bay races, of 16-20 miles around the Bay’s various islands. The Shaws finished 1, 2 on line in both of the first two longer races and Karma Police was second in the final long race, while Deep Throttle finished further back after having a halyard problem.
Conditions were perfect for the regatta, with breezes of 8-10 knots in the mornings building to 15-20 knots in the afternoon for some fast, exciting reaches.
The inshore series victory comes after the Shaws’ sparkling performance in last October’s 120-mile Coastal Classic, where the boats finished ninth and tenth across the line out of a fleet of nearly 200 boats.
Shaw designs also did well in the sportsboat division of the Bay regatta, with new Shaw 650 Monkey Business winning on handicap and Orange Peeler, the renamed and repainted Custard Truck (yes, it’s now orange), taking line honours.
For results and more details, click here
Good karma
June 2009: After a fortnight of wintry weather, Auckland finally turned on a couple of perfect days for the maiden sail of new Shaw 9m Karma Police. Unfortunately conditions became a little too light during the 30 footer’s first race, a Friday afternoon no-extras jaunt down the Waitemata Harbour, resulting in no finishers, but it was a great opportunity to stretch the yacht’s legs and test the rope-purchase canting keel system and twin daggerboards. A little more breeze on the Sunday allowed a more extended trial, in 5-8 knots and flat water, including trying out the eye-catching 120 sq m bright red masthead gennaker.
Karma Police , named after a song by British alt-rock band Radiohead, is one of two new Shaw 9s to be launched in recent months and is the designer’s own boat. Its sister ship. Deep Throttle, is part-owned by Volvo sailor Justin Ferris and is based in the Bay of Islands, where it was been cleaning up the local competition in winter series racing.
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First southern 650 launched
The first Shaw 650 in the South Island has recently been launched by Christchurch sailmaker Phil Auger. Phil has already been enjoying some great rides in Badonkadonk in Lyttelton Harbour and brought the boat up to race against the North Island fleet at Taupo at Easter..
Time for some R&R . . .
Jan 2009: It was time for some time out for the Shaw Yacht Design team in November, with a trip to the King's Cup regatta in Phuket, Thailand. A week of paradise sailing around palm-fringed islands, in a warm, consistent breeze made up for the minor hassle of the occupation of Bangkok airport! The team sailed the Shaw 650 Porn Star in the sportsboat division, against a fleet of Platus and two Phuket 8s and enjoyed some great racing on the water but were severely punished on IRC!
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. . . followed by some Rehab!
Currently turning heads in the Bay of Islands is this custom-designed Shaw 10.6 cruise/race. Launched in late 2008, the Rehab is the first 35 foot performance cruiser designed by Shaw and it features a canting keel and forward canard. For more, click here.
Shaw 9m turned over
Feb 2009: The first Shaw 9m, under construction in Auckland, is nearing completion. The hull and decks are now complete, and the hull turned over for finishing.
A second 9m is under construction in the Bay of Islands, and both boats are on scheduled to be racing this southern summer.
Wha-ka!
April 2008: Another new Shaw 650 was launched in Auckland in April, followed by a traditional Shaw boat carpark party. The striking charcoal and bright green Whaka (pronounced Far-car) Whaka is owned by champion Etchells sailor Dave Ridley, and was launched by his partner Sonya Swinburne.
Whaka is the second new 650 launched in the past six months, following the launch of the bright blue Barely Legal, owned by OK Dinghy sailor Mark Perrow, silver medallist at the 2007 OK World Championships in Poland (rollover to view). Both boats started as hull and decks constructed at Unitec.
Shaw 7 Custard Truck made its debut as a cake at the February wedding of owner Richard Kiff (better known as Scoob) and crew Sandy Dubey. Just as well he doesn't still own the Porn Star! The pair gave their boat special billing at the wedding at the Opua Yacht Club, in the middle of a major storm.
This was the second 'Shaw boat' wedding, after the marriage of designer Rob Shaw to his crew, Sarah Ell, last July.
Shaw designs took first and second on line at the Asian International Sportsboat Championships in Hong Kong in November 2007. Shaw 7 Custard Truck and 650 Turbo Snatch made the voyage from New Zealand by container, courtesy of sponsor Maersk Line. Sailing in a mixed fleet of sportsboats, Custard Truck took the gun in all 11 races, with Snatch gathering a large handful of second placings. Check out the great photos at www.guynowell.com - search on 'custard' or 'Asia SB'.
Shaw boats took centrestage in the sportsboat division at
the 2007 Bay of Islands Sailing Week, with Shaw 7 Custard Truck taking
the line-handicap double. The bright-yellow speedster edged out last year’s
regatta winner, Shaw 750 Animal Biscuits, winning seven of the nine
races on line and also taking overall handicap honours.
Competition was tight at the ‘maxi boat’
end of the sportsboat fleet, with Animal Biscuits first over the
line in two races to take second overall, and the 25-foot Paul Bieker design
Helter Skelter frequently putting the pressure on.
Fourth on line and second on handicap was Snatch, a ‘turbo’
Shaw 650. The smaller boat kept in the hunt with its larger rivals to take
a handful of wins on corrected time, and finish four points behind Custard
Truck on handicap.
Conditions were ideal for the three-day event, sailed in the scenic Bay of
Islands. While the first and last days were predominantly light, the sea breeze
kicked in on the second day of windward-leeward racing to test the crews and
produce some fantastic downwind rides.
For more on the regatta, click
here.
The new
Shaw 750 Animal Biscuits has featured on the cover of Boating
New Zealand magazine, New Zealand's largest-circulation marine magazine.
Editor Rebecca Hayter gave the carbon and E-glass speedster a rave review,
saying "I didn't want the gennaker ride to end", then adding, "Helming
was even more fun than the gennaker ride. As the gusts came through, the boat
went wherever I pointed it, vice-free . . . The boat is much stiffer than
comparable sportsboats. It tacks, gybes and accelerates easily."
Launched
in late 2005, Animal Biscuits made its major racing debut at the
2006 Bay of Islands Race Week, where it won six of nine races and took line
and handicap honours. Owner and builder Craig Partridge says he has so far
recorded a top speed of 28 knots, with the boat regularly doing 7-8 knots
upwind.
For
more on the design, click here.
