Race to mackinac - the movie

Stay tuned for the race to Mackinac movie. Here's a teaser ! 

http://youtu.be/4PZvxV4w72Q

Understanding VMG's

Check out our latest video on understanding VMGs and polars. How to use them for yacht racing at: http://youtu.be/nyQdxIqPQv4

Entire hull planked, faired...

The entire hull has been planked and mostly faired. We'll do a little touch up this week, before covering. Soda can for scale reference. 

On another note we've been getting lots of interest in the TP52 from all over the place! We have an Australian builder going full scale in Asia. We'll keep you updated as the class progresses. 

Port side complete!!!

As promise, we've got some detail photos of the kit. We pushed through and got the port side of the J Class model complete today. 110 planks, with very little scrap. 

This photo shows the back bone of the model. The backbone is broken into five pieces so that the kit and frames can be shipped easily. To ensure proper alignment, it's notched so that it can be glued together. Also in this picture you can see how it locks into the frames. Eliminating the need to get proper right angles and measure distance. Everything slides together easily. 

Here we show the bottom frame alignment on our center rail guide. Similar the the backbone, the center rail comes in five pieces that lock together. There's a notch for every frame, and the frames are notched so that they can be set onto the rail and everything lines up with no measuring needed. You can also see the stand off portion of the frame has been cut, to allow for easier removal once the hull is complete and allows for the deck to be laid with the proper scale camber. 

Here's the completed left side. You can see glue marks between the deck and waterline. We switched glue at that point, and changed our technique a bit, resulting in a faster build, and less running. Fingers not sticking, etc. In this picture, we've rough trimmed the planks, and are ready to sand smooth. We'll go over the hull one more time looking for loose fitting pieces, reglue as needed before sanding. All in all, we're very happy with our first J Class hull. 

We grossly underestimated our required planks, and need to wait on another load.  I the meantime, we'll work on the Open 10, and TP52. 

Stay tuned. 

Planking the plug

Planking the plug of the J class yacht 'Ranger' over our laser cut frames. No tracing, no lofting, no cutting. Glue them together and in an hours time, be planking away. The estimate is this saves about 10 hours or more depending on your skill level in the build process and allows you to move into the planking stage. We'll post detail pics of the bow and stern soon.

Using 36" strips butt joined together. Ca glue to frames. No steaming or wetting. Bends easily. 

At the stern where there is high concave twist, edges of planks leave small ridges. This will easily be sanded out before filling. 

As you can see in the photo, planks were staggered every two frames. This minimizes weak spots and allows for easier fairing with less "hard" spots. 

Bodacious Dream wins Leg 1 of the Atlantic Cup

Congratulations to Dave Rearick and Matt Scharl on Bodacious Dream, a Kiwi40, for their win in the first leg of the Atlantic Cup. Having sailed and raced with Dave, I know they not only won, but had a good time doing it, and deserve this victory. Leg two starts in a few days, and takes the boats to Newport RI. Beckwith Racing Yachts is proud to know these guys. We look forward to having a PBR with you back in Charleston after the Bermuda 1-2.

Our latest all carbon TP 52

Enjoying some sunshine and 80 degree weather is exactly what our latest TP52 hull is doing. Enjoying a black custom Burberry paint scheme, we'll be getting. "Infidel" out on the race course soon.
This variant, our scaled down design from its true to life big brother, weighs in at a mere 2lbs with out deck and hardware.