NEW STP 65 CLASS - Box Rule Finalized

In addition, the bylaws include an update to incorporate the move to an Owner/Category 1 Driver Class that, according to Jim Swartz (San Francisco, Calif.), "will be attractive to a number of owners." Swartz, well known for campaigning his successful Swan 601 Moneypenny, is currently building a Reichel/Pugh-designed STP65 at McConaghy's Boat Yard in Australia. Another owner, Udo Schutz (Selters, Germany), also has begun construction of a Judel/Vrolijk-designed STP65 at Premier Yachts in Dubai, UAE, while a third STP65 -- launched in June and making waves in the yachting world ever since -- is Rosebud, designed by Farr Yacht Design for owner Roger Sturgeon of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"Rosebud is setting a very high bar for us," said Swartz upon hearing the news of the boat's class and overall IRC victory at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which followed its IRC victories in the Rolex Rating Series and the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge, also held in Sydney.
According to Rosebud's campaign manager Malcolm Park, "These results, combined with Rosebud's third-place class finish and third fastest time at last year's Transpac Race (Los Angeles to Honolulu) should give more owners who are looking at the STP65 proof that it is a viable IRC-rating boat."

According to the class web site, the STP65 box rule, jointly developed by the Storm Trysail Club and the Transpacific Yacht Club, is "intended to produce a class of fast, centerline keel, yachts that are capable of racing inshore and offshore," both as a Box Rule and an IRC or ORR performer. "The speed producing facets, such as construction, length, displacement, draft, VCG and sail area, are controlled," which means that as the class grows, the STP65s can begin racing within the box without time allowance, effectively as one-designs.

For the near future, Rosebud has planned its itinerary around such IRC events as next June's Onion Patch Series, which includes the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and the Newport to Bermuda Race, followed in the Fall by the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup (Sardinia) and the Rolex Middle Sea Race (Malta). Swartz, with his new STP65 Moneypenny to be completed soon, also has targeted the Newport to Bermuda and Middle Sea Races with an eye toward the 2009 Transpac Race (Long Beach to Honolulu). "I don't know if I'm working myself up to the Rolex Sydney Hobart or not, we'll see, but I know I want to do the Fastnet," said Swartz.

Ken Read, a professional sailor and member of the STP65 Board of Directors (once there are five owners in the class, an Owners Association will replace the Board in governing the class), has called the STP65 "a TP52 on steroids," referring to another box-rule boat that has been highly successful. "Like the TP52 rule," said Read, "the tight parameters within the STP65 box rule will insure highly competitive racing while minimizing quick obsolescence."