tall order

It’s always fun to see what some cool boats are up to. Here’s one from our bro Brian Janney with Quantum San Diego…

Over the past few years we have been quietly making some good changes to the R/P86 Windquest (ex. Zephyrus V); first 2 years ago we got rid of the 45’ spin poles which saved a ton of weight and made boat handling easier, this year we have gone to a new, bigger square top main. To do a mod like this takes a bit of work as you might imagine – we had to change the mast from the permanent backstay to now have top mast runners.  Over the spring Jim Stone from Gorilla Rigging came to Windquest’s home in Holland, MI to oversee the rig mods. We then took it out sailing with only 12 people to help keep the tests moving along. 12 is not many for this rig!

The reason we went for the big main is that Windquest was built to the old MaxZ86 rule (before it was changed to allow canting keels like Pyewacket and Morning Glory), and is a water ballasted boat. This means that this boat is wider than the newer boats and was a little sticky in less than 10 knots. Not anymore! We now have more power in the light air, and the boat really feels good.

Everything went together great and I’m happy to report that the new Quantum main fit and the rig set up like a champ. Our first races with the new set up will be the Bayview – Mackinac and then the Chicago – Mackinac. We’ll let you know how it goes!