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BROOKLIN BOAT YARD NEWS - July 2005Goshawk Takes Flight
At 9:00 pm on June 19th with a setting sun, rising moon and as high a tide as possible the new Bob Stephens designed 76ft Fast Sloop Goshawk was launched into the waters of Center Harbor here in Brooklin Maine.
As anyone who has ever commissioned a new boat knows, the work does not end at the launching and there was plenty to do to prepare "Goshawk" for her first real test which would be the centennial running of the Marblehead to Halifax Race. Under the leadership of "boat boss" Norman Whyte, the Brooklin Boat Yard crew worked long hours under less than perfect conditions ("Goshawk's 10'9" draft allows only limited time at the dock) to ensure that "Goshawk" was ready to race. "Goshawk" crossed the Gulf of Maine and arrived in Marblehead MA just prior to race day on July 10. The host club for the race (Boston Yacht Club) was quite a busy place what with all the pre-race activities but when "Goshawk" came to the fuel docks in front of the club you could have heard a pin drop as the crowds stood in awe of this modern classic.
Conditions for the centennial running of the Marblehead to Halifax race were (with the exception of a hole at the start) perfect. Most of the distance to the "corner" (Brazil Rock off the southwest corner of Nova Scotia) was covered with a full main and masthead asymmetrical spinnaker. As "Goshawk" approached Nova Scotia the wind began to come forward so the chute came down and the #1 Genoa went up for what started as a port tack close reach and eventually became a long port tack beat towards the finish. "Goshawk" was the first boat in IRC Class 2 to cross the finish line in Halifax, not to shabby for a boat "just out of the box". "Goshawk" is now back in Maine and ready to begin a busy August schedule racing in the Maine Classic Yacht / Eggemoggin Reach Regattas, Opera House Cup, Museum of Yachting Classic Yacht Regatta and the Shipyard Cup. Along with this racing "Goshawk" will be in attendance at both the Maine Boats and Harbors Boat Show and in the Wooden Boat Show.
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About a week after being launched her sails were bent on in anticipation of her first outing on the Eggemoggin Reach. Once sails were raised and sheeted home it was quickly apparent that "Goshawk" is a very fast boat. Even with her decks crowed with her owner, friends and the build crew from Brooklin Boat Yard she regularly achieved double digit boat speeds in wind speeds anywhere from 15 to 20 knots.
