An afternoon with Jason Ker

by Blue Robinson on 23 Sep 2010 Fresh from presentations in Hong Kong and Singapore, designer Jason Ker was in Sydney on the weekend with Rob Brown of McConaghy boats. In front of a gathering of 18 interested parties at Middle Harbour Yacht Club they presented the new Ker 40 by McConaghy.

I sat next to Jason during the presentation. It was quite an experience.

Rob introduced Ker to the gathering of interested parties, and the Valencia based designer stood to elaborate on the Ker 40. Now Jason is a pretty quiet talker - so everyone in the room leaned forward to hear him speak, and after about a minute you just knew this was one smart guy... He ran through the reasons behind his preference for designing hull shapes that combine low drag and high stability, vital for making smaller boats highly competitive under IRC rules, and which seem to perform well under almost any rule.

A quick look at the Ker website win-list confirms a very successful 2010 - particularly from designs such as Ker 46 Tonnerre de Breskens and the Ker 39 Antix Eile. When Jason started expanding on the CFD done for the Ker 40, I got the feeling he was someone that not only knew his stuff, but had the rare ability to explain it - even to a slow learner like me.

Between presentations in Singapore and Hong Kong Jason managed to swing by McConaghy's China Factory, not only did he mention that he was very impressed by the facilities there but also came away when an even stronger confidence in the craftsmanship that will be behind the Ker 40.

The Ker 40 project had a planned timeline - but the surge of interest in this boat has rapidly brought that forward. Rob Brown confirmed deposits have been taken for six orders in the UK, Asia, and Australia, with further strong interest in the USA and Europe. The first boat is due early next year and the general feeling around the table on Saturday was this is going to be one little rocket ship...

THE RIG.....After a very thorough tender process Halls Spars NZ Pty Ltd will be the exclusive supplier of masts, spars and rigging for the Ker 40 IRC Race yacht, built by McConaghy Boats. This is exciting news for the class as it will be teaming up with one of the worlds leading spar manufacturers and benefiting from the years of experience providing the highest quality and performing racing packages.

Rob Brown General Manger of McConaghy One said this afternoon 'The choice of Hallspars has meant we can provide a spar and rigging package of the highest quality with each boat that comes out of our factory at an economical price. Also their ability to service clients around the world is major factor in choosing Hallspars. We look forward to their involvement in this exciting new class.'

http://www.mcconaghyboats.com