Junior Training for the America's Cup + Video

by Neil Deverell on 20 May 2011
Three days ago we ran the story of a new catamaran design aimed at Optimist sailors. In an updated story we present three video clips of the Vudu sailing in the Bay of Islands.

Bay of Islands Yacht Club Optimist sailor and world’s team member Nathaniel Deverell is hooked on cats! One of the rewards for getting into the world’s team was a sail on Oracle Racing and he has been buzzing ever since!

Nathaniel sailed on Oracle White with James Spithill on 3rd May, the week prior to the AC 45 cats being packed and sent overseas. Jimmy gave Nathaniel the helm and he steered the boat for 10 min, which was a great thrill for him!

When the opportunity came up to race the Vudu cat at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club last Sunday, he couldn’t resist! He found the boat accelerated quickly in the 12 knot gusts and was very impressed with how similar it was to racing on the AC 45.

The Bay of Islands Yacht Club is promoting this boat as a way to keep young people involved in club racing, and by the queue of kids lining up to have a sail it looks like having a promising future! It was also noticed how several adult sailors, who also were involved with the racing, did not want to let go of the helm!!

Founder and builder of the Vudu, Bill Kidman, is currently looking at tooling up so these boats could be mass produced as a one design class, and having strict class rules so all boats will be the same to help keep costs down. Four boats have been built and can be seen racing on Sundays at the BOI Yacht club.



Vudu is designed to introduce youth to performance multihull sailing, enabling even beginner sailors to enjoy the thrill of instant acceleration and excitement of being on the edge! They are fun to sail and easy to sail fast.

Intended for single handed sailing, ideally suited to teenagers who want to have some sailing fun, they can also be sailed by two younger children; or an adult, not too heavy! (Although bigger guys have had a blast, and a larger sail could be added.) The Vudu is a great stepping stone to next level of performance cats such as the Formula 18s, Tornados, A Class cat, or the new Americas Cup catamarans!

Specifications
LOA 3.8m
Beam 2m
Beach weight 50kg
Sail area 7sqm
There has been some concern that Nathaniel may turn up to the Optimist Worlds, held at Napier, N.Z., Dec 31 2011, in a catamaran!!






Maybe the Vudu F 12 Cat will be the way the youth sailors of today will replace some of the grey hair seen on some of the AC boats!!

More about Vudu can be found at http://www.boiyachtclub.co.nz/vudu.php