RP66 Black Jack For Sale - Yoti 'Sailing as it should be'

by John C Cowpe on 11 Mar 2009 It has today been announced that yacht sales platform YOTI 'Sailing as it should be' are to represent owner Peter Harburg in the sale and marketing of his Reichel-Pugh IRC 66 'Black Jack'.

Launched last year by three time Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham she was formerly sailed out of Newport Beach CA as 'Stark Raving Mad'. Since her launch, no expense has been spared ensuring the best people with the best technologies were employed to maximize performance outcomes. Having competed over the last season on the east coast of Australia she has shown herself to be hard to beat on the grand prix circuit.

A highlight was the epic battle in Division 1 Racing at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week where matched against Mark Richards at the helm of sister ship Wild Oats X she finished taking overall line honors for the event.

Sailing to Hobart saw her running third on line honours for most of the race and ultimately her finish in between brand new builds Limit and Loki across the line at constitution Dock.

It is a topic hotly discussed both between those who can afford a yacht like this and those of us who dream and imagine having to make the decision, what would we do?

New build or near new with a proven record?

We spoke to Peter Harburg to find out the motivations in going to this boat and his intentions moving forward.

Interestingly it was a new build that first motivated the owner and simply good timing that Black Jack was available when it was – incredibly, this led to a saving of over 5 Million AUD when compared to the original plan for commissioning a new build.

Both Judel Vrolik and RP were approached with the task of producing a 60-70ft vessel to beat Wind Oats X over the water. This was a task that neither felt confident to guarantee and when Black Jack the sister ship came up at the same time, it was decided to go for it and put together a team good enough to drive this machine forward against what Harburg feel was the best crew around – the team on Wild Oats.

The Successes they found with Black Jack are testament simply, Harburg notes, to 'the boat itself and the crew he had onboard led by AC sailor Mark Bradford on Helm.

The boat is the most wonderful and most fun boat I have ever sailed on.'

So, where to from here? Interestingly it is geography more than anything prompting this next move with the waters around the owner’s home city of Brisbane being too limiting in accommodating the draft of this canting keel RP66.

At one stage the owner flirted with the idea of relocation to Sydney where he feels Black Jack would be in her absolute element racing offshore and around the harbour.

The decision now to move towards a vessel with the ability to lessen her draft looks likely to be a valuable indicator in his ultimate decisions of which tack he will take next….watch this space…

Get in touch with the team at Yoti for a list of full specifications - www.yoti.com.au