2002 the Canting Keel, 2003 the Elevator

by Rob Kothe on 24 Aug 2003 Two Davidson 59’s, Colin O’Neill’s Aftershock and Sandy Oatley’s Another Duchess, Two Davidson 59’s having been sailing on Sydney’s Pittwater for some time. Until recently they’ve been like peas in a pod but not any more.

The Riechel Pugh appendage package fitted to Another Duchess before its Hahn Premium Hamilton Island regatta has elevated it to another level. Yesterday she became only the second boat in the 20-year history of Hamilton Island Race week to win line honours and handicap honours.


A pleased Jim Pugh from the San Diego design firm said yesterday

‘Reichel Pugh congratulated Bob Oatley and his team on the Wild Oats and Aftershock's Admiral's Cup victory. ‘ We are very pleased with Bob and 's Hamilton Island success with the latest Reichel Pugh 'Elevator' appendages on Another Duchess. We have learned some valuable lessons through this project and are confident we have stepped up the level of our appendage design capabilities.’

‘We have done a lot of work in Australia and are proud to have been a part of the Australian Admiral's Cup Team's hard fought success.’

’The Reichel Pugh design team used a viscous CFD code coupled with our ‘in-house’ VPP to analyse numerous candidate configurations for the Another Duchess appendages, within the boundaries of both the existing structure in the boat and the rating level that we were targeting. The result was a fin with a trim tab and a non-conventional profile shape, a bulb with flat sides and extreme chines, matched with a rudder of very high aspect ratio.


Iain Smith managed the project on site in Sydney. The fin is a machine milled high strength steel forging built by Mayville Die and Tool. Mayville of Mayville, Wisconsin, built both the fin and tab. The rudder was
built by McConaghy's of Sydney and the bulb was machined by Private Parts, Bomaderry N.S.W., Australia.

Here is some history on recent Australian R/P successes.


Another Duchess August 2003 Hahn Premium Race Week won by Bob Oatley’s Another Duchess in its first regatta after receiving its new R/P design Elevator Package.

Alfa Romeo August 2003 The fleet elapsed time winner of the 2003 Fastnet Race (698 nm) was Neville Crichton’s 90’Alfa Romeo built by McConaghys.


Wild Oats July 2003 Australia’s Prince Alfred Yacht Club wins the 2003 Admiral’s Cup with some brilliant sailing. Bob Oatley’s 60’ RP Wild Oats
a (CBTF) canting ballast twin foiler built by Azzura Yachts and Colin O’Neil’s Aftershock scored this hard fought win.



Alfa Romeo June 2003 Neville Crichton’s RP 90’ maxi Alfa Romeo set a new course record
22 hours, 13 minutes, 48 seconds in the Giraglia Race, the offshore race of the Giraglia Rolex Cup.
SMASHES RECORD Alfa Romeo took line honours in every race during the Giraglia Race Week.


Wild Oats January 2003 The RP CBTF 60’ Wild Oats set a new elapsed time record in
18 hours, 29 minutes 14 seconds Australia’s Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race. Wild Oats
SMASHES 19 YEAR OLD RECORD eclipsed the prior 1984 record by 90 minutes.


Cone of Silence January 2003 James Neill’s RP 30’ Cone of Silence finishes 1st overall in the PHS division in the Strathfield Pittwater and Coffs Harbour Offshore Series.


Alfa Romeo December 2002 Neville Crichton’s RP 90’ wins line honors in the 2002 Rolex Sydney To Hobart. Alfa Romeo's elapsed for this light air race was still the second fastest time for a line honors winner in the 58 year history of the race.



Alfa Romeo December 2002 Neville Crichton’s RP 90’ Super Maxi wins on line honors and corrected time in the Canon Big Boat Challenge on Sydney harbour, Australia.


Alfa Romeo December 2002 Neville Crichton’s RP 90’ Super Maxi wins line honors and first
(Formerly Shockwave) corrected time in the four race JPMorgan Regatta on Sydney harbour, Australia.


Shockwave August 2002 Neville Crichton’s RP 90’ Super Maxi Shockwave wins line honors at Hamilton Island Race Week on her maiden regatta, winning 8 races from 8 starts and takes 2nd place on corrected time to the RP 60’ Wild Oats.

Wild Oats August 2002 Bob Oatley’s RP 60’ Wild Oats, with CBTF, patented canting ballast twin foil technology, wins the prestigious 2002 Hahn Premium Race Week Big Boat championship at Hamilton Island, Australia.