30/03/2023
It’s with great sadness that I’m writing this. Unleashed goes to her new home in Picton today, and with it my chapter of ownership closes on this boat. In writing this, it’s given me some pause to reflect on what the ownership of these boats is. A friend I met during my tenure referred to the fact that you don’t really own a sports trailer yacht, you’re more of a steward, a guardian, of the boat until it passes to another, and I think I agree with that.
There’s a certain provenance that one acquires with performance yachts like these. Unleashed, for instance, built in the early nineties of what was purported to be fridge foam, an ultra-light one-off design purely for speed and development of trailer yachts, driven hard and fast, often to the point of breaking, and won many, many races has made its own way to a degree of notoriety in the South Island Trailer Yacht circuit.
The boys and I have learnt a lot in continuing to develop the boat, adding our own touches, and ultimately trying to get a 7-meter boat to perform as well as the 7.8-meter Elders. Did we succeed? Jury is out on that one, we’ve definitely driven it hard, and the new keel has certainly given her a lot more speed and stability downwind, but unfortunately a poor tactical decision at Aviemore last year leaves what, in my mind, is unfinished business on the racetrack.
I honestly believe that Unleashed has it in her to beat the bigger boats on that track, there’s a certain degree of courage and drive that you feel in the boat when you’re punishing yourself upwind to get to the top mark in 25 knots, you get to the top, round the mark, get the kite up, then the boat and yourself breathe that collective sigh of relief as she takes off, preferably drenching the crap out of the bowman (because it’s funny), and you can almost feel the boat ask; “Where’s the bottom mark, and what’s the leg record?”
I’ll miss this boat, I’ll miss the speed, the development, the learning, the laughs, being drenched, charging downwind in a big sea, the inevitable beers (at the end??) of the racing. Most importantly I’ll miss the soul of the boat. It’s a sad day.
Though the boys and I are moving to something a bit different, we’re moving back to class racing on a 780, which will be an exciting new challenge - and the learning, and the friendship, and the beers will continue – and we’ll still see you all out on the course.
Matt signing off.
