Designer comments “Our goal in developing the Farr30 was to create a state-of-the-art offshore one-design that would be fast and exciting, yet uncomplicated and economical.
State-of-the-art offshore design? -Yes. Fast? -Yes. Exciting? -Yes. Uncomplicated? -No. Economical? -Both yes and no.
We have sailed the Farr30 for 4,800 miles last year and mostly doublehanded which many people think is stupid, you don’t sail a Farr30 without 6-7 people.
I disagree, the boat is lovely and possible to handle with just two onboard but we have learned it the hard way. When we set sails in May last year for the first offshore voyage to Stockholm (230nm) we didn’t now what the boat was capable of. When the log showed 14kn, 15kn, 17,2kn with just mainsail and jib, the water that was only 4 degrees flushed over the boat, everything was soaking wet, that’s when you missed the old boat.
We realized that we needed to sail A LOT to learn the boat and that’s what we have done. All around Sweden to Gothenburgh, 24 hours later back to Stockholm, up north to Vaasa, couple times to Sweden back and forth, from Estonia to Stockholm and the list of journeys just goes on. Sounds pretty stupid especially without an autopilot and all the time doublehanded but you learn from your misstakes.
The biggest challenge have been sail changes and handling the boat upwind. When you’re dragging the big gennaker bags to foredeck in high sea and make a misstake, nobody can help you because he/she is needed at the helm. We have always put safety first and gone trough the procedures step by step before getting in to action. The decklayout is also quite challenging with the big cockpit so the helmsman can’t really handle more than the main when the other is hoisting the kite for example.
For this season we are modifiying the boat more suitable for shorthand, a reefable jib, an autopilot etc. We feel confident for the shorthanded races next season even though if it’s going to be challenging! The main thing is that we are learning more and pushing the limits even further!