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No More Waiting for the Shoe to Drop

Posted 7 months, 4 days ago

No More Waiting for the Shoe to Drop
There was a silent pause in my conversation with Ken Read as we sat in the fresh spring grass outside Goetz Custom Boats, in Bristol, R.I., and as Puma Racing Team's new 70-footer hovered 20 feet off the ground, spot-lit in the late afternoon sun, suspended by the long arm of a yellow crane. Then he chuckled and pointed out the irony of how it was the sailors, not builders, standing on the deck. Just like that, they'd taken it over like a bunch of surfers taking new sticks from their shapers--eager to carve their first turns. The boat was theirs now to ride, and ride it they will across many an ocean mile. And my, oh my, will it be a killer ride. "It really is incredibly amazing," Read tells me, his eyes hidden behind stylish Puma-branded shades. "I swear, 24 hours ago, this boat looked nothing like it does now. The deck looked no where finished [in fact, the final bit of graphics on the deck had just gotten its final touches the night before] it was all covered in plastic wrap and there was still stuff that had to go down." But Goetz's crew put in the final push to get the thing out the door, knocking off 14-plus hour days, In the end, some says Read, some were napping in their cars to get it done. But here, the final product hovered before them, a graphic masterpiece by artist Graham Batting, of Barrington, R.I., whom I'm told is responsible for the slick paint job of Philippe Kahn's Open 50 Pegasus. In keeping with the sneaker theme of their training boat, the Avanti, this one's got "sole" as well. Black, cloth-like texture covers the broad, curved topsides, Puma trademark sweeps across the starboard side, and the port side is altogether different (picture the inside of your sneaker). Asymmetric, says Read. Puma likes to be different. Across the underbody is an athletic sole, across the transom is white stitching, and of course, the trademark feline subtly graces the stern quarter. When the rig is up and the sails flying, the Puma cat will appear to leap from the bow and across the mainsail. "No matter what sail combination we have up," says Read, "it'll be there...it's so very cool." Cool, however, merely defines the graphics. The Botin & Carkeek shape, at least to the sailor's eye, is far cooler. Wide, aggressively chined, and void of any noticeable rocker, il mostro, as the boat is named, is a very, very powerful machine indeed. Il mostro, by the way, translates to "the monster". It's at the wide end of the Volvo Open 70 "box" says Read, and the chine is "pressed," giving them a shape that he feels will be do them many favors when they put on their new masthead gennakers. "I wouldn't be surprised to see everyone going this way," he says, acknowledging that it's so far true of Ericsson 3, the first VO 70 to be put to the public's eye. "With the mastheads, these boats will be absolutely powered up in 6 knots of breeze--I'm talking 'don't-stand-near-the-runners' kind of loads." The "haul-out" at Goetz was pretty much an open affair, a bustle scene consisting of the entire sailing and shore team, its media operation, and the builders. Pre-dawn on Tuesday morning the boat will be trucked to Newport Shipyard where the team has set up a sprawling base that includes a sail loft, containers, tents, and all the other makings of a modern-day Volvo campaign. For the occasion of the delivery, and for the media op, Volvo dispatched from South Carolina one of its new, top-of-the-line big rigs to do the hauling. And with a monday-morning arrival in Newport, Read says he expects (hopes) to have the boat on its keel, and the rig in by late in the afternoon, and possibly some light sailing by week's end when Puma's top brass comes into town to see their creation for themselves. In a few weeks time, they'll go full press, tuning up alongside the Avanti (ex-ABN AMRO), and participating in a few local regattas. With their new black shoe, and seven months before the start in Alicante, Spain, Read and crew will be hitting the water running. **There was an embargo on the images until Tuesday morning, so keep an eye out in this space for visuals. Full Story »

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