Saturday 7th March 2009

After completing the rigging and preparing the boat, today Vandal has sailed her first miles. She will go to Lelystad to further complete the installations. Leslie will have quite some work to do on the boat, before Vandal will leave for Lewick early this summer.

VELOCITY GIRL ON HER WAY TO SOUTHAMPTON

25th February 2009

Sharon McMichael and Richard Lett started their trip to deliver Velocity Girl to her home port in Southampton. Rather cold, only a few degrees Celsius and the wind on the nose as usual for this route. Dick Koopmans took some nice pictures. when they left the port. Velocity Girl arrived in Southampton just in time for the Petit Bateau solo sailing festival. More details on this epic journey will follow.

Saturday 1st November 2008

Velocity Girl, the second VQ32 is in the water and ready to sail! Although the hull is the same, a number of improvements were made, and some changes were made on request of the owners. The boat has a different deck plan, slightly different interior, with a smaller chart table, nice big windows. More attention has been given to the finishing and the result is a great looking boat. The boat is fitted out beautifully by the owners Richard Lett and Sharon McMichael, with no compromise to quality.

27th October 2008

Home of Jazz, the proto type of the VQ32, has participated in the BluQube Solo 1000 as a qualifier for the Ostar. Although the boat did not have proper sails yet, and no rating, the information obtained in the 2500 miles sailed this summer is very valuable. The upwind preformance of the boat is significant and in heavy wheater she has proven to be realiable and relatively easy to manage. 

Over the next months Home of Jazz will be prepared for the Ostar. She will go back to the yard for some small jobs. The rigging will be made even stronger to cope with the full forces of the water ballast. This winter training will continue for Maarten Russchen. You can read more on this on the weblog of Maarten Russchen  

Wednesday 30th April 2008

Richard Lett and Sharon McMichael have come over to Holland for their VQ32 (building nr2). In between working on the boat there they have taken the opportunity to race the VQ24 Eppie in the 50 miles double handed race. Click here for their report. Their VQ32 is coming along nicely and according to schedule the boat should be ready for launch by the end of May. Building not just one prototype but three boats is good experience in many ways, especially the friendships with the people involved like Richard and Sharon.

Tuesday 1st April 2008

Today the Home of Jazz was launched! Rather rainy and windy but that appeared to be no problem at all. Only one try was required to let the engine run smoothly. First trip of 100 meters without damages. A great day and a big step forward for this project. Tomorrow I will try to get the waterballast system to work properly and then on Friday I will bring the boat to the riggers in Sneek.

Monday 25th February 2008

Now that the corecell panels for VQ32 nr 3 have arrived, we have three boats under construction in Medemblik. Very different stages: nr 1 almost ready, nr 2 well underway and nr 3 just starting off.

Wednesday 6th February 2008

Now available a video compilation with photos made during the building at Vels & Partners in Medemblik over the last three months. Click here to watch the video.

Saturday 5th January 2008

Possibly the jazz record label called Home of Jazz will sponsor the racing program of the VQ32 proto type. The graphics are looking really good!

Saturday 5th January 2008

Most of the Christmas Holidays I have spent on painting the interior of the proto type. Next week the electrical system will be installed by Jongkind and Peter Hart (Vels) will start with the deck gear. Meanwhile the hull is being painted. In addition to all the work that is done on the proto type, Paul Galema (Vels) is making good progress with the building of the second VQ32, taking advantage of the know how from building the first boat. The second hull was built in only one week.

Saturday 8th December 2007

Many pictures are available on www.flickr.com. Simply follow the link and search for VQ32. There are different sets of pictures on the first two ships built.

Friday 30th November 2007

Richard & Sharon report on their visit to the boatyard of Vels & Partners on 23rd November  to view the progress on their boat Nr.2: 

It was great to meet the team at Vels who made us feel very welcome; the planned hour turned into a full day watching and learning from the professionals handcrafting the first 3 VQ32s. After much coffee and chocolates we got a much better impression of the experience and skills going into the Dick Koopmans design.

Along with Dick and Maarten we talked over the options; it was really enjoyable feeling so involved in the development of the VQ32.  Dick and Maarten as ever showing great patience with our ideas. Nr.2 will be called 'Velocity Girl' and has been registered at RORC with the sail No. GBR932R, hopefull our sailing skills won't bring too much derision with the choice of a name indicating we aim to cruise and race at a reasonable speed!!

Thanks to Maarten for inviting us to join him and his brother Jaap in his clubs 'Frostbite Series' on the VQ24; and it was a very cold saturday particularly when the wind got up to full strength by the afternoon.  When the spinnaker pole broke I thought our race was over; I didn't anticipate Maarten's determination as he held the ends together for a further 30 minutes to finish the run. We were the smallest boat in the fleet that included a Maxfun 35 in full ABN Amro racing colours and a 65ft Ketch; we were very happy to finish 16th in such company and windy conditions.

Vels indicate 'Velocity Girl' will be ready to sail to the UK by the end of March.  Our aim is to have her worked up enough to at least take part in the BMW Round Ireland Race on the 21st June (probably without a full set of sails by this time & a crew coming to terms with how she sails).  In August we hope to be ready to enter the RORC Madeira race; both in the 2 handed division. If we are really lucky we will try to bring her to the UK in time for the Petit Bateau conference at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club.

Sharon is learning to sail fast, taking the yachtmaster theory over the winter.  We have chartered a Sunfast 32i out of Largs over Christmas to gain more experience on this size of boat.  Lets hope the weather is kind enough for everyone enjoying some Scottish winter sailing this Christmas.

Anyone interested in the VQ32 concept will be very welcome to view and talk over the design once in the UK; she will either be kept at Shamrock or Ocean Village. Looking forward to our next visit in the New Year.

Saturday 25th November 2007

For a compilation of pictures and video's made so far during the building of the proto type please click here.

Saturday 10th November 2007

At Geuzenboats in Sneek the building of a new VQ24 has started. This boat will be built in polyester from a female mould. A series of four boats will be produced for a chartering company who will use the shallow draft version for the area of the Frisian lakes. In the near future the VQ24 section of this website will include more details.

Saturday 10th November 2007

The building of the second boat has started and immediately it is going full speed ahead. The building frames for both the hull and the deck have been placed the week before. By now the building of the hull in corecell is almost finished. In the pictures you can see that the hull is much smoother than the first boat, by using smaller seized foam strokes at the curves of the hull. This will surely save a lot of filler. It is good to see that improvements can be realized immediately.  

Friday 8th November 2007

Last week the deck was fitted on to the hull. Great stuff. The boat is looking really good. The space in the interior is more than I dared to expect. I can even stand up straight near the cabin entrance. For more detailed information on the building process, photos and video's click here 

Fridat 26th October 2007

The keel is ready. Looks quite impressive I must say! The weldings have been doubled for additional safety. After reading the report on Hooligan we just want to be very sure not to risk losing a keel . There will be 12 keel bolts of 25mm each, which will be bolted on an U shaped stailess steel profile inside the hull. This should be a very strong solution chosen by the designer Dick Koopmans. 

Saturday 6th October 2007

The interior is fitted on the proto type. As you can see on the pictures (see more under gallery) there will be two single berths aft, in addition to a berth in the cabin and a double berth in the forepeak. Building number two will have a double berth aft in stead of two single berths. A lot of hours are spent with thinking and practical engineering. The skills of Peter, Ewoud and the others at Vels really is what makes the difference. Meanwhile, the plug for the keel has been delivered by 2MV in Enkhuizen. Hoekstra in Joure is now ready to produce the three bulbs. 

Thursday 27th September

At the shipyard in Medemblik the boat is now really taking her final shape. The bulkheads and the interior are laminated into the hull. Not long before the engine can be placed, electrical system and waterballast system can be fitted. I intent to do most of the installation work by myself so that I will know exactly how all technical systems are laid out in the boat. It takes many hours of thinking to determine exactly how to do it, and how to fit things fool proof in the best possible way. Meanwhile the bulb for the keel will be produced next week. After that the keel will be assembled in Lemmer.

Monday 3rd September 2007

The proto type of the VQ24 will be sailed by Maarten Russchen in the 200 miles solo race starting on 26th September. She will be one of the smallest entries in this challenging race. For details please read the weblog of Maarten Russchen.

Monday 3rd September 2007

Tomorrow the HISWA boat show in IJmuiden will start. Two of our suppliers, Kemper&Van Twist (Lombardini saildrive) and StarTracking (Iridium) will show posters of the VQ32 on their stands. Henk Jukkema has updated the existing poster and made some adjustments. Over the last months the rigging has been changed. The mast lenght was extended with 1 meter. Additional runners will be fitted in combination with the checkstays which will give a better support for the mast. Mast bending will be controlled by a seperate backstay. In addition an outrigger is fitted in the top of the mast which will allow for a bigger roach in the main. All of this will give a more powerful, more save and better looking rigging.

Friday 20th July 2007

Yesterday Dick and I visited Vels & Partners to take a look at the progress. Fully on schedule! You
can watch two short videos of the inside laminate being applying to the deck. Watch this

Tuesday 10th July 2007

For a video of the construction of reinforcements for mounting the deck gear click here. You can watch the fast hull, the deck and the well protected position in the cockpit here.

Saterday 7th July 2007

After carefully looking at the design and the specs of the Selden standing rigging, Dick Koopmans has decided to increase the mast lenght. This will mean the boat will have even more power. Also the aspect ratio of the sails was improved. For a recent video of Dick Koopmans and Maarten Russchen in the 1000 mile double handed race, click here.

Friday 6th July 2007

After filling and sanding the hull is ready for painting. The proto will be painted in green / lime. Building number two will probably be painted in red and number three in white. The building schedule is aimed at completion of all three boats by 1st April 2008. We might take some nice colourful pictures with these three boats in the water. 

Friday 6th July 2007

Building in foam means that for all deck gear reinforcements have to be made. This meant that some final decisions were taken in relation to the deck plan. After fitting all of the reinforcements at the right locations, the epoxy laminate was applied to the deck this week.  

Monday 25th June 2007

After completing the outside laminte of the hull, the deck, cabin top and cockpit were constructed last week. I was out sailing the first leg of the 1000 mile duo www.1000mile.org with Dick Koopmans. After returning to Holland I immediately went over to the yard to take a look at the progress that has been made. Also I have been able to try the position just under the roof in the cockpit. Very shetered indeed, and probably very comfortable in a blow.

Monday 21th May 2007

Last week the construction of the hull was completed. The hull will now be prepared for application of the first layer of laminate. On the picture you can see designer Dick Koopmans standing next to Ewoud Akkerman, director of Vels & Partners.

Friday 11th May 2007

The building frames have arrived at Vels and Partners by the beginning of May. By using computer cutting files the frame is like a jigsaw puzzle. Within one single day the frame was ready to start building of the hull in strokes of strongplank and corecell. Finally I have learned enough about the CMS of this website to post this message and to upload a picture. The hull will be closed today and next week the first layer of glass expoxy will be applied.