As we prepare our newest Hunter 36 for the SailTime Channel Islands fleet, the Owner, SK, has plans to race her in the local Wet Wednesday series as well as the legendary Newport to Ensenada springtime right-of-passage event. So, what can we do to make 1421 a faster boat when sailing ? She will be outfitted with an asymmetrical spinnaker, a vertical batten roller furling mainsail and above all else, a Kiwi Prop feathering propeller.
SK is showing it off in the “thrust” position. We got a test ride of this prop on another boat and were astonished at how powerful and positive reverse was with it – and no prop walk ! But for racers, the benefit is when the engine is off, you leave the boat in gear and so, the shaft does not turn and the blades feather for less drag; perhaps as much as 3/4 of a knot compared to a conventional 3-blade prop. Thats like a 3 mile or around a 1/2 hour quicker over a 20 mile race course

The vertical batten will help the notoriously low performance roller furling main design perform better. The sail has a bigger roach than a normal sail and the leach will have support. I’m betting a pretty substantial difference. The spinnaker is made by North and utilizes a snuffer sock setup for easy deployment and retrieval.

I’ll let you know what happens with all of this in a few months.

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