It's plain sailing on a good ship Nippa

by Marge Belessis on 10 Jan 2005 Sailing legend and designer Iain Murray got the word from his young daughters that many of the sailboats used for training juniors weren't ‘cool’; he set about designing one that was.

The result was the Nippa, a trendy-looking little boat, 2.74m long, which looks remarkably like a scaled down version of the 18ft skiff in which Murray won six world titles.

Chris Pomfret, who, when he's not sailing 18-footers himself, is involved in promoting the Nippa, said young women like the Murray girls, Eliza, Lucinda and Imogen, were very in tune with what was attractive to their peers.

`It's no good trying to get kids involved in sailing by telling them it's good for them, you've got to be able to present them with something that's eye-catching and can compete with, say surfing,’ he said.

The Nippa is all of those.

The hull, a computer-generated design, is built from PVC foam core with E Glass lamination, and comes with a centreboard (also computer-designed) and retractable rudder, and carbon fibre and fibreglass two-piece mast.

Sails come in a choice of red, dark and mid blue, and fluoro orange, pink and yellow.

The hull is stable and easy to sail, is easily righted from the capsize position, and the self-draining cockpit allows water to dissipate quickly, doing away with the need for bailing.

A key feature for parents is the Nippa's weight. The hull weighs just 25kg, and fully rigged only 42kg.

Murray's wife Alex said she and the girls had played a big role in the Nippa's development.

‘When Iain and Cocko (Michael Coxon of North Sails) were working on the design together, they sent me and the kids out in prototypes in all sorts of conditions,’ she said.

‘All three girls can steer the boat quite beautifully even Imogen, who's only six.

`Iain's donated 10 of the boats to Avalon Sailing Club, and they're available for everyone to sail.

‘The girls all belong to the club, and Iain, who's down there a lot, got sick of seeing kids getting fed up with capsizing and having to be towed in.’