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| YACHTS & YACHTING - MARCH, 2002.
THE RACE1 KER 11.3 IS A TRUE SPEED MACHINE. GAEL PAWSON AND MARK JARDINE TOOK HER FOR A TEST DRIVE. A giant sportsboat is perhaps the best way to describe the Jason Ker-designed 11.3. She might be more than a tad bigger, but she's just as frisky and this isn't a boat designed for chefs or those after luxury sleeping quarters. The Race1 Ker 11.3 is a full-on racing machine, no glossy interior for this beast - in fact there's not a hint of cruiser-racer to be seen. From behind there's no doubt this is a Ker baby, with the trademark scooped stern a dead giveaway. The 11.3 is a development of the Ker-designed 'Roaring Meg', the 35-footer which gave many bigger boats, including the 40-footers a run for their money during the 2000 Commodores' Cup. Built by Vision Yachts, she is finished, or 'race prepared', and distributed by Race1. Designed to race with a crew of between eight and 10 (maximum nine for racing under IRC), with a weight limit of 766kg for IRM or one-design racing, giving her a rating of 1.047. You can easily compare her to a Farr 40 in her general proportions, but she's a good deal narrower at the waterline with distinctively flared topsides. First impressions belie her size, as she does look smaller than her 38ft. The deck is dominated by a large shallow cockpit, minimal coachroof and she has a relatively low freeboard compared with many of today's cruiser-racers.
Hull and interior. The keel itself is deep, short chord, thin section fin, with a low-slung teardropshaped lead bulb - the 11.3's all-up weight is just 4.3 tonnes, 2.5 tonnes of which is in the keel. The keel fits snugly into the hull avoiding the need for fairing and is simply attached to the 'T'-frame, making it fast and easy to remove. Downstairs is downstairs. There are a couple of functional bits that make the boat legal for offshore races, but you wouldn't serve up dinner at the table! However, Race1's attention to detail is in evidence throughout. The housing for the cooking facilities on the port side is purpose-built, and four functional pipe cots provide basic offshore sleeping comfort. To starboard there is a small chart table, with a sink to port and heads just in front of the bulkhead, with ample working space forward and room for sail stowage. The 18hp Yanmar engine provided plenty of power for what is an easily driven boat and the folding prop mounted on a minimum diameter shaft minimises drag under sail.
Sails, rig and fittings. The options on this boat seem almost endless - this is a strict one-design but you can personalise your pride and joy from the rig manufacturer to sails and deck hardware. Our test boat was particularly well sorted, with Harken winches and deckgear and a Formula Spars mast and boom rather than the standard C-Spars option. The 2:1 mainsheet system is led forward along the boom to the mast, where it disappears under the deck, emerging by the cockpit winches. Although not to everyone's taste on this size of boat, the twin winch system seemed to work for us during our jaunt on the Solent. The boom has an internal 24:1 cascade outhaul control that exits directly from the boom near the mast. The backstay and traveller controls are found at the mainsail trimmer's feet just forward of the helm. The rest of the controls are led back to two banks of Spinlock clutches on the coachroof. The jib sheet system has a 10:1 purchase to the jib cars and a 10:1 barber-hauler, all led to the trimmer's primary winch area. The standard sail wardrobe includes the Kevlar mainsail, three Kevlar headsails, and two masthead kites plus a Dacron trysail and storm jib. The sails on our test boat were by Hyde, but this definitely isn't a class dominated by one sailmaker - the path you take is purely personal preference. We also took the opportunity to try out the optional asymmetric spinnaker. The twin groove Tuff Luff headstay makes for straightforward headsail changes and dual spinnaker halyards allow for peeling kites. The encapsulated Kevlar backstay is controlled by a two-part drum, with a smaller drum leading to a large diameter carbon fibre drum, which provides a 72:1 purchase and is housed aft, under the deck on the port side. This makes for a simple, easily controllable system, and you can simply add a wrap on the drum if required in stronger winds. The system also helps to save weight from the stern of the boat. Take care when letting it off downwind though, and don't let all the tension off, or dump it too quickly to ensure none of the wraps on the drum come off. Make sure the backstay flicker is long and stiff enough on the boat. The roach of the mainsail is big and can get caught. However much you try not to, everyone always looks at the leech of the main when it is caught and that alone could lose you a lot of ground round the track. There is an option of wheel or tiller steering, our test boat 'I-Site' was sporting the tiller configuration, but the boats built so far seem pretty evenly split. This is down to a matter of personal choice, but for our money the tiller gets the vote as it makes for a roomy cockpit. The carbon fibre rudder rotates in a fully sealed unit with self-aligning needle bearings. Jason Ker is fanatical about saving weight in the ends of the boat; thankfully this time he has let a little weight gain happen and has specified rudder bearings that are up to the job.
Sailing the boat. We probably didn't have enough breeze to get the full thrill downwind, but you could certainly feel the potential of the generously proportioned masthead kite even in 10-12 knots of breeze. Again. gentle movements are rewarded, throw it around a gybe and you will pay... The boat we tested had a dip pole system that worked smoothly. An end-to-end pole system is an option, and would have the advantage that you don't need to send someone all the way to the bow for gybes, but it is a lot of kite for an end-to-end system and if you are reaching, a spinnaker pole clip on the mast can put a lot of strain on the ring fitting. On balance we felt the dip system was the best option. The flared topsides mean this is a beamy boat on deck, the almost full width cockpit ensures there is plenty of room for the crew to cross the boat efficiently upwind, while the foredeck provides a nice playground for the bowman, and is roomy enough for others to lend a hand with the drop as required. With the tiller steering, there was plenty of breathing space for the helmsman to cross the boat, in fact with the mainsheet winches so far forward there seemed to be acres of space behind and in front of you - which could leave you feeling a little vulnerable when racing offshore. Sitting, the helming position felt comfortable and the footrests provided a natural home for long and short legs alike.
Overall. The build and finish quality are high throughout the boat, with the semi-production construction combining some of the best features of one-off versus production technology. We particularly liked Race1's care with the smaller details, including nice little touches like the carbon wear strips on high wear areas like the companionway entrance. Buying an IRM boat may seem like a bit of a gamble at the moment, but this is one fast IRM design, which has also shown that it can perform under IRC, and with 10 boats on the water for 2002, has a healthy one-design future to boot. The inaugural 11.3 national championship attracted a six-boat entry in 2001 with races won by two different boats illustrating the competitive level of one-design racing. Price-wise the boat is extremely competitive, and one of the extra options offered by Race1 is the company's purchase plan, which includes an 80 per cent finance option and enables you to claim the VAT back on your purchase by running the boat as a VAT-registered charter business. The perfect solution; race your boat when you want, but make the most of the times you're not using it and help to offset the costs of running the boat through chartering. The 11.3 is truly a delight to sail, who needs a settee?
Thanks to Y&Y for a great report of the Race1 Ker 11.3, featuring so many of the important details that make the boat special. Our aim at Race1 was to produce a boat that would be equally competitive without modifications in IRM, IRC and one-design racing, IRM for the elite High Performance Class in Cork Week - IRC for Cowes Week and the Commodores' Cup and one-design for the class nationals. In fact the top two boats in 2001 finished first or second in 65 per cent of the 54 IRC races they started. This success is a tribute to Jason Ker's versatile design. The 11.3's phenomenal performance causes comparison with a 'giant sportsboat', but its large bulb and high ballast ratio configuration make it much easier to handle. It is designed for offshore as well as inshore racing, as underlined by the 2001 Channel Race win. Despite her minimalist interior, the boat has everything for comfort offshore, even down to a watertight compartment for valuables with phone recharging points. The base boat is totally ready to race; sails, instruments, rail cushions, even a tool kit. Race1 offers an ownership plan that can refund the VAT and give many other benefits. Contact Race1 for demo sails and 'Try-Before-You-Buy' refundable race charters that will be taking place throughout the Spring Series.
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