"Seahorse" April,
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April, Antigua Race Week: 2e/??
Project overview: The loads on an ILC Maxi are tremendous -- and are second only to the level of competition in the Maxiboat class. The challenge presented to New England Boatworks was to build a boat that could do battle for the IMS Maxiboat World Championship against the likes of established kingpins such as Boomerang, Morning Glory, Sayonara, and more. Sagamore has proven a top contender since her launch in 1999, taking line honors in the 2000 Bermuda Race, winning the Middle Sea Race in 1999, and placing first (1999) and second (2000) in Antigua Race Week. The yacht has been campaigned hard, from the Fastnet Race to the Cape Town to Rio Race, and her structure, a credit to NEB's engineers, composite specialists, and builders, has come through every challenge with flying colors. Construction details: Sagamore is the first "new generation" IMS boat to be built utilizing phenolic honeycomb core (1-1/4" thick), and through years of very tough campaigning the yacht has shown no signs of the post-curing or delamination problems that have plagued some other composite-built racing machines. We attribute that to our proprietary techniques for handling pre-preg carbon and Nomex. After ramping up the "oven temperature" for five hours, the 80-foot hull was carefully "cooked" in NEB's post-curing enclosure for 12 hours at 80 degrees Centigrade (the IMS legal limit). With precise monitoring of the temperature, using an array of sensors implanted in the laminate, insured that a complete mechanical and chemical bond between the carbon and Nomex was achieved.
June, Newport Bermuda Race, elapsed time 80h42': 4e/5 Class 9, DOLAN