Maximum Shockwave to debut at Hamilton Island

by Peter Campbell on 18 Jul 2002 Sydney-based New Zealand yachtsman and CYCA member Neville Crichton has launched his super maxi yacht Shockwave, the bows of the 90-footer firmly aimed at winning line honours in the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Shockwave, which will make her racing debut in the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island in North Queensland in mid-August, is a masterpiece of yacht design, engineering and construction in carbon fibre.

The long, lean hull, painted sparkling silver, was built in Sydney, as were the sails, with the towering mast constructed in Auckland, where Shockwave went in the water this week after being shipped across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand.

Virtually everything about Shockwave, including the hull, keel and rudder, mast and boom, the mainsail and headsails, is carbon fibre.

Designed by the successful US naval architects Reichel/Pugh, Shockwave has the potential of being a world beater in Australia and on the international maxi racing circuit. She is the biggest yacht in the world built so far as a maximum rater under the 1.600 rule for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

For his sixth yacht named Shockwave, Crichton commissioned Reichel/Pugh to design him firstly, an all-round maxi yacht capable of withstanding the toughest weather, and winning, the 630 nautical mile Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Then, in her full-on, water-ballasted mode, he asked for a yacht able to outsail the fastest maxis in the world, including in the 2003 Transatlantic Race from New York to Hamburg, Germany. Support for the new Shockwave is being provided by Alfa Romeo and Qantas.

'I am very confident that I now have the boat capable of winning line honours in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart,' said the internationally successful ocean racing yachtsman, former champion touring car driver.

Shockwave is designed for maximum visual impact as well as maximum boatspeed, with the carbon fibre hull silver on the outside, black on the inside.
McConaghy Boats, based in the Sydney northern beaches suburb of Mona Vale and recognised as among the world's best builders of large yachts from composite materials, completed the hull in late June.

The hull was then shipped to Auckland for Southern Spars to step the 135 foot carbon fibre mast and complete the rigging. At the same time a special keel was being flown out from America. Her battery of winches and deck gear are from Harken, the sails by North Sails Australia.

After sea trials off Auckland, Shockwave is due to sail back across the Tasman Sea, direct to North Queensland to compete in the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island as a shake-down event.

She will then return to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney where Neville Crichton and the crew of 24 will prepare for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Shockwave will race with the most sophisticated sails in the world, with North Sails Australia responsible for the design, manufacture and servicing of a state of the art inventory of the moulded carbon aramid 3DL working sails and Gradient design spinnakers for Shockwave.

'The designers predict that she will be capable of 30 knots on a spinnaker reach, but she has been designed as an all-round performer, with high average speeds to windward, and capable in all conditions,' says her owner/skipper

The latest Shockwave is the sixth boat of that name owned by Neville Crichton. With his various Shockwaves, Crichton has won the world Two Ton Cup, represented New Zealand in the Admiral's Cup (finishing top yacht of the 1983 series), the Kenwood Cup and Big Boat Series in San Francisco, and sailed for Australia in the Southern Cross Cup.
A highly rated helmsman, he is currently one of Australia's leading 'owner-drivers' in the highly competitive Farr 40 One Design Class with his yacht, Team Shockwave.

Following the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Shockwave will be sailed to Auckland for the prestigious Millennium Regatta which will be part of the 2003 America's Cup Pageantry of Sail.

From there, the super maxi will go to the Northern Hemisphere, competing in the 2003 New York to Hamburg Transatlantic Race against the world's fastest other maxi yachts, followed by major European Regattas and possibly the Rolex Fastnet Race.

A full story about the new Shockwave is featured exclusively in the upcoming August/September edition of 'Offshore Yachting' magazine.