The X-41 is something very special

Never before has a one design keelboat seized the imagination of sailors all round the globe with such speed. The demand from the international sailing community has been unprecedented and 70 of these sleek racers were produced within 18 months of the design’s launch.

 

On 17 July almost half those boats came together on the waters off Copenhagen for the X-41 International Championship. The three days of keenly fought racing formed part of the X-Yachts Gold Cup and saw some of the best in the business do battle.

 

Playing by the rules

The rules in one design classes have to be strictly upheld and crews watched nervously as their boats and gear were measured and weighed. The first casualty was the Italian crew of "WB Five", owned and sailed by Gianclaudio Bassetti, with the famous TP52 sailor and sail maker Alessio Razeto as tactician. The crew of 11 was found to be 8kg overweight and so spent the night before the first race looking on hungrily while other competitors enjoyed the evening buffet. Despite their efforts the crew was still 800g over the 850kg maximum limit and so 93kg trimmer Andrea Walloni was replaced by Federico Nepa, weighing only 67 kilos. The crew change may have influenced the performance of the Italian boat which finished a disappointing 16th in the first race.

 

The professionals

Another rule limits the number of ISAF ‘Group 3’ professionals to a maximum of four and there were 66 such sailors among the fleet of 32 boats. Several boats used their full quota of pros, among them "Tazkeena III", a French boat whose crew included Bertrand Pacé, tactician and second helmsman from America’s Cup boat BMW Oracle. On board "Lady X" from Italy was Flavio Favini, who helmed the Italian America’s Cup entry as well as winning the Farr 40 2007 championship.

 

The Danish team aboard "Hvor’f det" that led after five races had its share of experienced and famous sailors. Peter Kampmann helmed, with Jens Christensen, Lars Ive, Kasper Helweg and Arndt Howard as his Group 3 crew.

 

Final countdown

The success of a one design can be judged by the tightness of the fleet and the competitiveness of the racing. After three days of hard sailing in a variety of conditions the championship was decided on the last leg of the final race – praise indeed for this exciting new class. The Italian boat "WB Five" was leading for most of the race and if the Danish crew in "Hvor’f det" came worse than eighth, the Cup would go to Italy. The Danes knew they had a job to do but hovered around eighth for most of the race. It was nail-biting stuff and it looked like the Italians has done enough until the final leg when "Hvor’f det" powered through the fleet and managed to finish just behind "WB Five".

 

"Hvor’f det", helmed by Peter Kampmann and with the owner Finn Rants, Jens Christensen, Kasper Helweg, Jesper Riise, Lars Ive, Christian Jensen, Lars Rants, Arndt Howard and Dan Hansen as crew, had won the first ever X-41 International Championship. "WB Five", with former Maxi Racers world champion Lorenzo Bressani as tactician, took silver with 34 points, seven points behind the Danes. The German boat "Extasy", with Thomas Brügge at the helm, came third with 39 points. "Tazkeena III" did not sail fast in the rough weather and dropped from second to fourth overall. "Lady X" finished strongly on the final day with a second, first and fifth, but it was only enough to secure fifth place.

 

Looking ahead

They say that ‘success breeds success’. If that is true then the X-41 fleet will continue to grow as more and more yachtsmen discover this beautifully made one design that guarantees close, fast racing yet also boasts a comfortable interior that is a world away from the Spartan shells of many racing classes. The good news is certainly spreading as the X-41 was declared ‘Best Crossover Boat of the Year 2008’ by Sailing World in the USA. With ISAF class recognition imminent this is a one design that is clearly going from strength to strength.