MELGES IC37 EXCELS AT COWES WEEK

The First IC37 in Europe Debuts With a Win

After making one design waves in North America with a full summer of events, the first IC37 delivered to Europe won IRC class 1 at Cowes Week with conviction— Kanreki finished first in four of six races.

Such impressive IRC results from a boat originally drawn as a one design concept are a nice by-product of the tight collaboration between North Sails/Southern Spars, Melges, and boat designer Mark Mills.

North Sails expert Pete Redmond was onboard for Cowes Week and experienced firsthand how this fun, modern 37-foot race boat performed under IRC. “The IC37 had the advantage of planing speeds, especially in breeze where boat lengths can be gained quickly,” Pete explained. He was also impressed by the IRC-adapted sail inventory. “The sails fit perfectly out of the bag. “We used the standard one-design tuning and our IRC inventory included a slighter smaller mainsail, full-sized jibs that were purpose-built for Cowes Week, and a North Helix Code Sail, which we easily flew off the bowsprit with no modifications needed. Finishing off the inventory we had two A sails for lighter and heavier breezes.”

IRC is very popular in the UK. Pete feels the IC37 is a great contender, as it is suited for a wide range of sailing styles. “The boat is set up very simply, and everything runs well. Anyone will be able to get this boat around the corners, and switching between modes isn’t hard either.”

Kanreki’s crew, a mix of family and friends, was able to get the boat up to speed quickly, even though they hadn’t actually sailed the boat together before the first race. “They found racing the IC37 to be a lot of fun,” Pete added, “and that’s the only reason they wanted to sail Cowes Week – to have fun.”

Sam Pearson, class leader of the IC37 for the UK, was also impressed by Kanreki’s performance and optimistic about the future. “Although it was never our intention to focus on IRC when launching this new one design circuit, we knew we had to keep it in the back of our minds. If we wanted to see one design flourish, the design had to appeal to a broader audience. With these wins straight off the bat, the IC37 is 100% the weapon of choice to re-energize big boat one design racing in the UK.”