BIGGER THINGS.

It is not entirely a surprise to see that not only has Race1 gone ahead and run with the idea of a semi production Ker design, but also, since it was announced just before Southampton Boat Show, there has been a veritable flood of enquiries about the Ker IRM 11.3.

Designer Jason reports over 20 solid leads: the first definite sale is in the process of being concluded; a second boat is very likely; and, the target is for three or four boats to be on the water in good time for the Hamble Spring Series.

The short list for the builders seems down to three or four; including Ovington, Vision Yachts, and Rowen Composites with quotes in for the tooling from Neville Hutton and CustomEyes.

The principal objective is to produce a series production third generation IRM boat at a sensible price. The ballpark figure they are working to is about £110k (ex works and VAT) so, with a set of sails - probably Hyde - and a rig from a choice of two or three makers, this will be about £140k. Ker believes that the all in package will provide a straightforward race boat which is projected to be a little quicker than the Farr 40, for the approximate price of a Prima 38.

Ker Associates' speed polar predictions for the 11.3 suggest that on average it should be over two per cent faster than the 10.7 ('Roaring Meg') across the wind range: 'It will exceed the performance of all existing 40ft production racing boats, while rating lower under both IRM and IRC.' A bold statement, but having seen the performance of 'Roaring Meg' on different race courses, before the demise of her rig, then who are we to argue?

Simplicity and speed are the key design criteria. It is a relatively easy boat to sail well, and will come with a full tuning package, a la Farr 40, to ensure that everyone can reach near optimum speed.

The 11.3 will have a twin spreader carbon mast with a 15/16th rig, no runners, non-overlapping headsails and masthead spinnakers.

The semi production construction will be over a female mould tooling and will have a paint rather than gel and backing mat finish. This means considerable extra labour time incurred in the production process, but ultimately a fair amount of weight is saved, through using negligible amounts of filler.

'Utilising the best features of production and one-off technology, the 11.3 will be able to be produced to the quality of the best one-offs, while at considerably less expense,' say the design team at Ker Associates.

Keel and mast loads are taken by a large simple T-Structure to reduce deflections. and structural weight. The keel will socket into the hull to ensure the structural integrity is maximised, and the keel itself will be built around an aluminium bronze strut - on to which the bulb will be cast, and around which the composite fin will be constructed using a female mould.

The interior will be fully functioning, and stylish. in the same idiom as the Farr 40 and the lD35: an L shaped galley; three burner cooker large toolbox; pipecots for up to 10 crew; and a decent sized nav station. The aim is to produce a boat which will be well appointed for those who want to do some longer offshore racing, like Round Ireland or The Fastnet.

While it is designed to the latest thinking in IRM, Ker assures us that (among other things with a simple non penalised rig) it will also be very competitive IRC. Projections suggest it will come out around 1.153 - which is in the territory of 'Independent Bear', but it should be quite a bit quicker on the water.

The long term objective is to bid to have the boat accepted as a one design for the 2003 Admiral's Cup, but if the powers that be decide to return to a level rating band class. then the thinking is that this would be within the first choice rating band.

For its money, the Ker boat, they say, will be competitive at every level from top tier club racing, through the big IRC events - Cowes, Scottish, Spi Ouest, that is until IRM takes a hold at them - and a theoretical annual focus on Commodores' Cup and Admiral's Cup.

Although it is some way down the line there are no immediate plans to market the boat as purely an owner driver class, although at major events there would a positive promotion of this. Thus the owner-drivers would be recognised with their own prizes, but others would not be excluded. The finer details would be for the class association to decide.

Race1 has put the whole package together as practically as is possible. There is an interesting straight finance package they guarantee virtually as much charter work as you want - so a return on your investment is there to be had when you cannot sail your boat.

In short, they are looking to provide the fully serviced turnkey solution. race your boat when you want, have something coming back to offset costs when you are not able to use it, and they can also include a maintenance package.

Otherwise, Ker reports growing interest worldwide in his designs. He has just done some preliminary work on a 'Roaring Meg' sized IRC/IRM boat which would be for Queensland.