Archambault to a Tee

by Mark Rothfield on 5 Jul 2010 If you thought the Archambault A40rc was good when it won the 2009 Audi Australian IRC Championship, wait until you see the new 'turbo-charged' version that the French builder is now offering.

Where the all-conquering Alegria sported a vinylester hull with conventional plan-form keel, there’s now the option of a full epoxy laminate and a contemporary tee-bulb keel.

The standard yacht is renowned as being exceptionally stable, thanks to a 48% ballast ratio and great form stability, but the changes will make it even more powerful both upwind and down.

Epoxy resin saves some 200 kilograms and makes the hull inherently stiffer, allowing more ballast to be placed in the bulb and lifting the ratio beyond 50%.

In-house testing of the tee keel began when Archambault first released the new A40rc in 2008, with the yacht Aria campaigning on the European circuit.

While the plan-form keel proved to be slightly favoured under IRC handicapping, Archambault naval architects Joubert/Nivelt now feel the balance has swayed as rulemakers are looking more favourably towards the tee keel.

Club racers are still able to choose the standard keel if they want something a little more forgiving and affordable. The tee-keel can also be specified with the vinylester version.

'We can’t wait to see an epoxy/tee-keeled A40rc take on the Beneteau First 40s and others,' said Archambault Australia’s Glenn Coulton.

'Alegria beat the First 40 Two True at Hamilton Island in their only meeting, and in the Fastnet race two A40rc’s with plan-form keels finished second and seventh in their division while the First 40 was eighth.

'We’re confident that the new options will put the A40rc further ahead on IRC and make them even more fun and exciting to sail.'

Archambault uses more advanced construction techniques than most other production yacht builders, with hulls being hand-laid, vacuum-bagged and foam sandwich while the decks are resin-infused.

They use full vinylester or epoxy laminates, not polyester with a vinylester outer layer that the mass producers tend to favour.

At the same time the A40rc has all the style expected of a French manufacturer, courtesy of a classy moabi timber fitout. There is two metres of cabin headroom, twin aft cabins with optional pipeberths , spacious galley and an enclosed head compartment.

The performance-oriented options list includes carbon rudder (saving 50 kilograms), carbon spars with rod rigging, twin adjustments for the hydraulic backstay, upgraded Nanni diesel and more.

The end result is an affordable production yacht that’s on par with specialized custom racers.

The epoxy/tee-keel combination comes at an introductory cost of just $30,000 more than the $399,000 standard base boat.

A stock yacht is available for immediate sale or test sail at Newcastle Yachting in NSW.

For details or to contact your state dealer, please phone (02) 4962 5288.