When Covid-19 put paid to the grand plans of a Japanese racing-yacht owner, the New Zealand marine industry was perfectly placed to step in and deliver the job. Story by Sarah Ell. Photography and video by Roger Mills.
In between the America’s Cup boats foiling around, the sharp-eyed around Auckland might have noticed a new kid on the block – a distinctive set of black sails on a purposeful-looking yacht. If so, you’ve caught a glimpse of Sled, a Fast 40 which has been given a new lease on life through an extensive refurbishment in a suburban North Shore boatyard.
Leading the project was three-time Olympian and America’s Cup veteran Don Cowie, who manages the Sled programme for Japanese owner Takashi Okura. In non-Covid times Cowie sails on and co-project-manages (with Toshiro Honda) Okura’s TP52 programme on the world circuit, sailing with a Kiwi-Japanese crew. Okura bought his first 52 second-hand back in 2013 – he’s had two new ones built here since, by Cookson Boats (2015) and, more recently by Core in Warkworth (2018). Both are also named Sled.
In 2019 Okura wanted to improve the older-generation boat’s performance, so the team spoke to original designer Marcelino Botin who suggested making the keel fin 150mm longer, replacing the keel bulb and extending the overall hull length by 400mm. These new parts were to be manufactured in New Zealand and sent over to Japan, along with a new workshop container, also to be kitted out here.
“Then Covid came along and Okura said why don’t we put the boat on a ship and send it down to New Zealand instead,” Cowie says.
After struggling to find a suitable shed in which to do the work, a solution presented itself: a large, structural tent at the boatyard of the Milford Cruising Club on Auckland’s North Shore – just down the road from Cowie’s home, and at the club where Cowie learned to sail as a kid.
“It worked out great for us, great for the club and great for Okura,” Cowie says. “In the end it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.”
The boat arrived in May 2020, at the end of the first lockdown, with black topsides and a white bottom. Pete Geary, a former foreman at Cookson Boats, led the team doing the construction, and work began on the lengthening.
As the renovation progressed, a few more items were added to the list. Cowie likens it to starting work on an old villa, meaning to give it a bit of a tidy-up then finding there are more and more jobs that need to be done to get it just right.
Sled now has a new carbon rig and boom (Hall Spars), all new Carbo-Link rigging designed by America’s Cup legend Murray Jones (who also sails on the Sled programme), new sails, new rudder, new tiller, all new running rigging, new deck gear, a new prod (380mm longer), a new paint job on the hull and decks, and new wiring and electronics. The forestay tension was also increased to improve upwind performance, which required some structural strengthening of the hull and decks.
“You peel things back and find other things that are not quite as you thought they would be. For example, when we sanded the hull back we found we really needed to re-fair it. There’s no point in doing things by halves,” Cowie says. “When it was originally built it was kind of a GL model – very stock standard. Now it’s got all the bells and whistles.”
A large number of local suppliers have been involved in the renovation, from big guns such as Hall Spars and North Sails to marine electricians Angus Small and David Minors, who completely rewired the boat; PURE Design and Engineering; Innovate Composites; Touch of Gloss; Brad and Robyn Marsh of Caniwi Rigging and KZ Marine.
“Pete Geary had a real ‘can do’ attitude to everything we suggested, and he was able to find ways to do all the things we wanted to do. Right from putting it on the Milford slipway we were working outside the box,” Cowie says. “Everyone we talked to was happy to get involved, even though Covid didn’t make life that easy.”
One of the biggest changes visually is that the deck layout now resembles a mini TP52. As well as having the same paint job as the big Sled, it also features the kind of systems standard on the bigger boats. Most sheets and lines and now running under the deck, for a super-clean cockpit, with tails stowed neatly away on take-up reels down below. A ‘suck’ button enables loose lines to be drawn below decks and stowed neatly.
Some of the boat’s original winches have been repurposed, but there’s a new pair of very large, swooshy-looking, Harken carbon primary winches, powered by the pedestal. There’s a pair of smaller winches for the running backstays aft, another pair for the mainsheet, and single one to starboard on the low-profile cabin-top for control lines.
Because there is just one pair of primaries, when the jib and genoa sheets are changed over at mark roundings the old sheet can be jammed in place in cleats below the deck and removed from the winch, so the replacement can go on the drum.
Another cool system is the gennaker takedown – a line is attached to the middle of the sail and when it’s time to drop (often mid-rounding), a wheel below the deck connected to the pedestal system pulls the spinnaker into the hull, instead of having the foredeck crew stuff it down the hatch.
Team coach Rod Davis, who won silver with Cowie as his crew in the Star class at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (and that’s just a fraction of his impressive CV) calls it “a disappearing act – one minute it’s there, the next minute it’s completely gone.” There’s also a handy fine-tune on the end of the prod that pulls in the last little bit of the tack once the gennaker is hoisted.
Speaking of Davis, we had a star-studded line-up on board the day of our test sail. As well as Cowie, Davis and Jones, there was round-the-world and America’s Cup veterans Tony Rae and Robbie Naismith, and AC bowman Jeremy Lomas, all of whom usually sail on the 52 Sled.
The main and jib are quickly hoisted thanks to pedestal power and we were off down the Waitemata in a light southerly. At this stage the boat has just one new jib, along with a new North 3DI RAW moulded composite main and three new gennakers, but the wardrobe will expand.
“Because so much has changed on the boat, we need to check the geometry before getting any new upwind sails,” Cowie says. “There are a bunch of small adjustments to be made as things stretch and settle in.”
Sitting on the rail with a bunch of rock stars, it’s fascinating to listen in on the constant stream of information being exchanged; even though we’re not racing, they are heads up, looking out of the boat, supplying and exchanging information and giving feedback all the time. There’s a bit of banter, but it’s low-key.
You can tell these guys have sailed together a lot. Despite Cowie’ disclaimer that the boat hasn’t been back in the water long (just over a week) or sailed that many times in its new configuration, everything runs like clockwork. There’s the odd adjustment to be made, and more jobs get added to the work list, but it’s all coming together.
Once we’re at North Head the A1 gennaker goes up (the first time it’s been hoisted) and we’re off. We’ve settled into the groove after the first gybe – only the fifth gybe the crew has done since the relaunch – when Cowie asks me to come and steer. I climb off the rail and casually take the helm, as if taking over the drive from Rod Davis is something I do every other day. No pressure…
Cowie shows me how to sit like a pro – body facing inwards, not forwards, with both feet braced on the U-shaped chock (I need slightly longer legs) – and I settle in to the job. The boat is tiller-steered, which means plenty of feel and responsiveness. In today’s conditions, when reaching along under gennaker, the aim is to steer to around 140 degrees apparent.
Keeping it at the right angle of heel is the most important factor, and it takes a few minutes to get into that groove. As the puffs come, expertly called by Jones, I can feel the helm load up as the pressure fills in, and it takes a while to get used to that sensation and get the heel right. I can only imagine how exciting she would be in a bit more breeze.
Back on the wind and on a two-sail she sits in the groove nicely too. It probably helps that the pro crew are making me look good… I’ve got Jones calling the breeze, Davis talking to me about heel and Naismith feeding back on how it feels on the gennaker. Maybe it’s because they’re used to sailing with owner-drivers, but there’s no condescension or dumbing down; I feel like I am actually part of the team.
Sled is only in the water here for four weeks before being packed up and sent back home, along with the container. Under normal conditions, Cowie and some of the guys would go up with it and help get it set up, maybe do a regatta, but we all know these are not normal times.
To celebrate the boat’s relaunching and thank the club for having them, the Sled team took the boat out on a Milford Cruising Club twilight race, usually the domain of Pied Pipers and other smaller racer-cruisers.
“They fired a massive cannon for us,” says Cowie. “It was a really nice thing to be able to do for the club, to come back and race there.”
Needless to say, the boat was trucked in and out of the yard and sailed around from Westhaven to compete in the race: the marina at Milford is tidal, and Sled’s new 3.02m draft is way too deep to make it over the sill.
The price of the renovation is not disclosed, but Cowie says the owner has got value for money. “He’s taken the oldest boat in the fleet and spent a lot less money than building a new one on refurbishing and refitting it. We’re expecting to have made a significant performance improvement. To do this reno and give this boat a new life has been pretty cool.”
