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Indeed - Kaufman 40' Screamer
This article about a Kaufman Screamer appeared in the UK Sails newsletter:
PHRF UNDERDOG TOPS FLEET IN HAWAIIAN DISTANCE RACE
TROPICAL SPLASH, a highly modified one-off Kaufman Screamer, owned by Dr. John Myhre won the 77-mile Lahaina to Honolulu Invitational Race. The course went from Lahaina on the Hawaiian Island of Maui past the north shore of Molokai to finish at Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu. Perfect tradewinds blew 15-20 knots making the race all downwind.
TROPICAL SPLASH was second to finish, but won the 11-boat Division PH1 by 17 and a half minutes on corrected time over a Riptide 55, which rated 96 seconds per mile faster. The following is Dr. Myhre's report about the race:
TROPICAL SPLASH had the killer start and stormed on a close reach from Kaanapali, Maui toward the north shore of Molokai in a tight four-boat race. The fast boats included a Farr 44 (PHRF 54) named TIARE, a Riptide 55 (PHRF 45) named ROCKET SCIENCE, and a Sydney 40 (PHRF 3) named BULL. (Editor's note: BULL won overall corrected time trophy in the 2001 TransPac -- the smallest boat in 12 years to do that.) The lead pack was followed closely by a J/120 (PHRF 50) named GINGERBREAD MAN. The winds peaked at 15-20 knots and the seas were about two to six feet.
After passing Black Rock, chutes were set and the race was for all intents and purposes over. None of the boats can sail as low or as quick as TROPICAL SPLASH downwind in a breeze. This is in part due to your quality UK Sailmakers' sails and in part due to our 15-year-old boat that has been updated with a keel and rudder designed by Alan Andrews. The boat is nothing more than a great big windsurfer, with a hull that planes very easily off the wind. Then toss in our PHRF 51 rating and TROPICAL SPLASH is devastating. The joke of the day was: When is a $80K TROPICAL SPLASH worth more than a $300+K Sydney 40, a $200+K J-120, a $150+K Farr 44 or an $800+K Riptide 55? Answer: When you horizon job them in the Molokai Channel.
TROPICAL SPLASH lead the fleet until near the end, when ROCKET SCIENCE with her fancy water ballast and a long water line could carry her bowsprit asymmetrical spinnaker on a puffy three-mile beam reach, and all we could do was try to match her with our blast reacher. TROPICAL SPLASH finished the race four minutes behind ROCKET SCIENCE. We corrected first, and ROCKET SCIENCE corrected last.
TROPICAL SPLASH sports some very high-tech UK sails, which are awesome -- I am a very big UK fan. Our Tape-Drive main has been nothing short of spectacular, and it got even better when we converted it to full length battens. There is a huge difference in how low your UK symmetrical spinnaker can go compared to ROCKET SCIENCE's asymmetrical. For mainsails UK Tape-Drive technology has served us very well. The Tape-Drive laminate system is also my favorite choice as I have experienced many problems with durability due to delamination of North 3DL fabric.
The crew of TROPICAL SPLASH was made-up largely of the University of Hawaii Varsity Sailing Team. So some of the nation's finest sailors were at the helm and on the sheets.
Sincerely,
Dr. John
Home.
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