High Tech Hot Wheels from McConaghy International

by John Curnow on 16 Oct 2009
The 'Toy Shop' is McConaghy’s development area at their Mona Vale, Australian facility. It’s where the functional and structural necessities of Maxi’s, Mini Maxi’s and Ocean Racing Yachts are turned into carbon fibre works of art - one of the unique and defining factors of all McConaghy boats.

Under the stewardship of owners Jono Morris and Mark Evans, it’s the team’s super-keen eye for form and function that has helped launch winning designs such as the high tech interior of Stephen Ainsworth’s ‘Loki’ and Neville Creighton’s much photographed and über-cool, ‘Alfa Romeo II’ dual helm stations, and ‘Alfa Romeo Jr’s’ automobile-like navigation station, engine bonnet and dashboard.

During a recent on-site visit, I spoke with the very gifted Steve Moxham and we reminisced about the 1980’s, when IOR reigned supreme. We all remember the class and thankfully, it was around then that wire braces started to disappear and go the way of the Blooper. He commented, 'We were putting huge Volvo diesels with heavy flywheels right over the keel for IOR. All the weight we could muster went into a ball that we had to get right on top of the keel bolts. That’s only the half of it however, as we also had to make the ends really light too. That’s just how the rule worked.'

Back then, one of McConaghy’s projects was ‘Abracadabra’, an IOR 50’ for a client in the USA. They were thinking about the weight issue and came up with an idea for a composite steering wheel instead of 316 stainless. In short, that’s how the now easily recognisable and world’s-first-ever carbon fibre wheel came into being and alas the McConaghy Carbon Fibre ‘Y-Spoke’ Steering Wheel was born.

In the early days they began making these Carbon Fibre wheels in two pieces with wet lay carbon fibre. As McConaghy’s continued to evolve their process, they perfected the use of the clam shell mold, transitioned to pre-preg carbon fibre and utilised pneumatic pressure to push the carbon fibre to the nether regions of the mold, while cooking the piece under pressure in an autoclave. This wasn’t going to be enough for Jono and Mark though. Just when you would have thought that they’d reached the pinnacle of strength and lightness, they worked out a way to get the inflatable air bladder out of the wheel once it had been baked. 'Why?' I asked, which produced this atypical response, 'Mate – the bladder weighs 200 grams, five of those and you’ve got a kilo!'

Jono and Mark are always looking for the best result. 'You can see what we’re about by what we produce, the collective power of our efforts is in the spectacular creations seen on the water around the world.'

I was fortunate enough to speak with Mark Richards, who drives the Reichel Pugh designed and McConaghy built, 98 footer ‘Wild Oats XI’ for Bob Oatley, about what it means to stand behind the wheel of this iconic boat. 'Look for sure it’s a big boat and we rocket along at up to 12.5 knots uphill and can reach 36 knots downhill! I cannot imagine what it would be like, not to have a real sense of what the water rushing past the rudder was doing. These big boats might look a bit like overgrown dinghies, but the control factor is a lot different. We can’t have the rudder acting as a brake, just because we’re unable to feel it and we certainly can’t tolerate the flywheel effect of a metal wheel, when you’re taking these kinds of loads. 'We’ve won a record-breaking four consecutive Sydney to Hobart Line Honours, in all sorts of conditions, so I think that says a lot about the build quality of the boat and the bit I hang on to most of the time', he mused.

As it turns out, seven out of this year’s eight Volvo Ocean Racing yachts depend on McConaghy steering wheels and systems and they are without a doubt, the favourite of Ocean Racing, Maxi and Mini Maxi skippers worldwide. The engineering and build of the wheel is understandable, but why do skippers prefer a McConaghy carbon fibre wheel?

Skippers keep asking for McConaghy steering systems because the ergonomics of the wheel simply let their hands last longer, after hours and hours on the helm. It turns out that it’s not just Maxi’s like ‘ICAP Leopard 3’ and ‘Alfa Romeo’ that have them. Ocean Racer Skippers the world over literally stand behind the famous McConaghy Carbon Fibre steering wheel!

Just like F1, where technology such as Variable Inlet Tract Length ends up filtering down to the more humble automobiles, the same applies to sailing gear that was once only found on Maxi’s, America’s Cup and of course the mighty Volvo Ocean Racing Yachts.

Now the McConaghy Y-Spoke wheel, the wheel behind many professional pedestals, is available as a production piece adding both pace and pizzazz to consumer yachts everywhere. If you’re of the age bracket that understands cable TV, then you too can 'pimp your ride'. Just like Mercedes-Benz’s AMG Black Series now sports carbon fibre elements, owners can option up their yacht with stylish, yet very functional carbon-fibre bits.

What does it all mean? It means this. If you own a yacht, be it a Beneteau, Hanse, Bavaria, TP52, Farr 40 or the like, you can now have the benefits of a wheel that was once the sole domain of professionals at the top of our sport. By way of a clever little piece of engineering, McConaghy’s universal centre enables the very best wheel on the market to fit all major pedestal brands.

Okay, so what do you tell your significant other when you say you need a new carbon fibre wheel? Simply that 316 stainless wheels are not your friend or theirs, for that matter. A carbon wheel reduces flywheel effect, has better rudder feedback so you can feel what’s happening underneath and ultimately helps skippers win races.

Metal wheels are cold to touch, especially out at in the ocean and according to the pro’s, it will be friendlier to your hands on those long watches. It might also give you another 10 years before carpal tunnel syndrome sets in!

So if you want that extra edge to help get you to the winner’s circle, would like to know exactly what’s going on with your rudder and would prefer not to be thrown over the side by flywheel effect (okay - yeah it’s a slight exaggeration) then a carbon wheel is probably for you.

To find out more, visit McConaghy's eStore at http://www.mcconaghy-aus.com/store/ or call +61 (0)2 9997 7722.

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