ICAP Leopard 3

[rje]

Have had the good fortune to spend today out of ICAP Leapard. It has completely changed my sailing perception. Having sailed loads of fast dinghies, skiffs etc and some decent yachts, doing 15kts to windward in 15kts of boat speed is mad.... this 100 foot boats is mad.

http://www.leopard3.com/

What can I say, the canting keel and all of the hydraulics all make it almost too easy. Spent some time on the helm and it was amazingly easy to sail. The scary thing was just how quickly you caught up with things and how small the boat made the Solent feel.

The tender (about a 8 metre rib) was on the plane to keep up with us. I am sure is is major expensive to run (especially as it is only 12m old and already going in for a re-fit) but it is a fantastic toy.

Wow....

[ALawson]

Almost as expensive as the fuel for the generators to run the hydraylics.

I know what you mean about speed, once you have helmed a sail boat at over 30 knots you don't want to go back!

[rje]

I know what you mean. It did slightly take away from the pure sailing experience to have the engince runing all of the time and revving up when ever a hydraulic button was pressed. Apparently just the hydraulic generator used a tonne of fuel during the transatlantic record.

[jobbit]

Had the pleasure of being overtaken in a race by Leopard the other week.. what a truly awesome boat!

[ALawson]

Its almost a step backwards when you consider that Mari Char 5 (I think) when it set the sail (unpowered) record was only powered by manpower alone. So it is possible!

Good to see you had fun on it!

[muppetdave]

It was messing about in the Solent two weeks ago when we were sailing - very impressive boat - it caught us up in no time - amazing speed - sooooo wanted a go in it!

[devonshiredave]

saw it out yesterday plodding around when we were racing at cowes.

we came 20th in class (beneteau 40.7), suffering broken ratchet on genoa winch, a shredded spinnaker and very near broach, was a lovely day on the water though.

[Not Ideal]

Was on the Leopard 3 during the opening day of Cowes - truly awesome bit of kit. Couldnt believe how much noise the ropes and everthing make - it certainly wasnt peaceful.

Amazing tho.

[muppetdave]

It's eerie when you hear the noise these big boats make when tacking!

[Not Ideal]

Yeah its mad - feels like the whole thing is going to snap in half..!!

I was prob a bit spoiled going in that for my first boating experience

[Not Ideal]

Glad to see the Leopard rolled in 1st place in the Fastnet..!!

[johnnywb]

Not Ideal said:

Glad to see the Leopard rolled in 1st place in the Fastnet..!!

It's fairly inevitable. It will win most things it enters with line honours, it's much bigger than anything else it's up against, giving it a larger sail area. On corrected time, it's about 25th in class. Still a fantastic boat, don't get me wrong though!

For a 'real' thrill look at the new Atlatic record just set by Banque Populaire V. A crossing in 3 days 15 hours and 25 minutes is pretty impressive! Average speed of 37 knots, sailing through the night at over 40 knots.

Mad, mad Frenchman.

[Huntsman]

johnnywb said:

For a 'real' thrill look at the new Atlatic record just set by Banque Populaire V. A crossing in 3 days 15 hours and 25 minutes is pretty impressive! Average speed of 37 knots, sailing through the night at over 40 knots.

Mad, mad Frenchman.

The crazy thing about Banque Pop is that I have a motor boat that does 30 knots and I cant keep up!

Edited by Huntsman on Friday 14th August 09:11

[Not Ideal]

Huntsman said:

johnnywb said:

For a 'real' thrill look at the new Atlatic record just set by Banque Populaire V. A crossing in 3 days 15 hours and 25 minutes is pretty impressive! Average speed of 37 knots, sailing through the night at over 40 knots.

Mad, mad Frenchman.

The crazy thing about Banque Pop is that I have a motor boat that does 30 knots and I cant keep up!

That is quite a loony time and average speed to cross the Atlantic - I know very little about sailing and it seems quite mad..!!

Edited by Huntsman on Friday 14th August 09:11