Ovington team up with Bennett Yachting & MacKay Boats for VX ONE drive
by Ovington Boats 8 Aug 2013 12:13 BST
8 August 2013
The VX ONE © Ovington Boats
Brian Bennett, CEO of Bennett Yachting and Lead Designer of the state-of-the-art One Design VX ONE announces a collaboration that will bring the VX ONE firmly onto the international stage and provide high quality, tightly controlled production of this multi award-winning design by two of the world's best production small boat builders.
The VX ONE was the unanimous winner of the 2012 Sailing World "Overall Boat of the Year" and "Best One Design" as well as Sail magazine's 2012 "Best Boat" award. The VX is a robust, easy to sail high performance 5.8m (19') "ballast assisted" dinghy that is highly responsive and powerful, with conveniences such as a furling and self-tacking jib. Speeds in excess of 24 knots have been recorded!
Some Basic VX Facts:
- LOA = 5.79m (19′)
- LWL = 5.74m (18.83')
- Beam = 2.19m (7.17')
- Sail area main + jib = 19.97 sq m
- Sail area asymmetric spinnaker= 26 sq m
- Draft- keel down = 1.32m
- Crew Weight tolerance = 170 – 205 kg (380 – 450 lbs) 2-3 person
Additional Features:
- Boats built in the UK by Ovington Boats
- GNAV (above boom carbon vang strut)
- Self - tacking jib on Harken Radial track
- Recessed Harken jib furler
- Large mouth spinnaker launcher
- Single line spinnaker halyard/ retrieval/ pole launcher
- Clear coated carbon mast by Southern Spars (NZL)
- Clear coated carbon spinnaker pole
- Clear coated carbon boom
- Simple and uncluttered cockpit
- Extruded and hard anodized aluminum keel for perfect shape and durability
- High performance profile Carbon/ E-Glass rudder
- Simplified rig utilizing sensible engineering; provides easy tuning
The international class association is professionally run and backed by an executive committee of owners with considerable One Design experience. Class rules are written to ISAF guidelines for easy crossover in the next few years.
The VX ONE is supported by three established brands with decades of experience; Ovington Boats, MacKay Boats and Bennett Yachting. With fleets growing throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, this collaboration will further set the VX ONE on a firm platform for significant international growth.
Both Ovington and MacKay are world renown for their high quality Olympic and world championship race boats - Ovington for their 49er, 29er, Flying Fifteen, I-14, and Musto Performance skiff and Mackay for their 470's and 49ers.
"Ovington and MacKay are ideal partners in this project. While they compete on the 49er and 49er FX, there is a lot of quality collaboration and exchange of information that is hard to find elsewhere. Both are thoroughly established, experienced, and proven in the field of International and Olympic classes and their development" notes designer Brian Bennett.
Preparation for production has been under way at Ovington's Newcastle factory since July, in time for deliveries to the US North Americans, Texas in November and a major European launch this winter.
Bennett Yachting will focus on full-scale support of the growing North American VX ONE fleet, with a major Gold Cup style circuit planned for 2014. As a licensed dealer, Bennett Yachting will also market and distribute the highly regarded International Musto Performance Skiff throughout North America.
For more information on the VX ONE you can view the NA class website at vxone.org/na and through the Facebook page www.facebook.com/vxone
Ovington Boats are planning to have a UK demo boat on the water in the Autumn – please get in touch for further details and more information – or 0191 2576011.