The 'new' Alfa Romeo 3 is the outcome of owner/skipper Neville Crichton's ultimate confidence in his designers, US-based Reichel/Pugh to completely modify the existing project and to virtually replace their original concept of a boat built in 2008 to the then new Mini Maxi rule and in his builders, Australia's McConaghy Boats, to achieve a practical result within a tight time frame.
That she is back on the sailing circuit, and already winning, is a tribute to the boat's small professional crew led by Murray Wade, to designer RP's Jim Pugh, and to the team of shipwrights at McConaghy Boat's China factory where the 'new' boat was ultimately built.
Alfa 3 has grown in hull size, strength and weight during her eight month re-build. LOA is now 71 feet 6 inches as against an original LOA of 69 feet. She is 5.4 metres wide, approximately 38 cm wider than before and her weight is up by about 1 tonnes, a combination of her increased size and a heavier bulb. The new hull is more rounded in shape, fuller at the bow and narrower at the stern. The rig is unchanged other than a six inch increase in the J measurement. The original mainsail has been recut, but for the moment is the same size. To achieve stability with the fixed keel, the beam is almost the same as the 100-footer. The rig is sweptback, thus eliminating backstay runners, but adding new challenges in rig set-up before each race.
Like her predecessors, Alfa Romeo 3 is in every respect at the cutting edge of yacht design, engineering and construction, and in rig and sail design and in sailcloth. With a conventional bulb keel, she is a striking-looking racing boat, with a long bowsprit protruding from a powerful, beamy hull driven by a tall sweptback spreader rig.
Winner of the Copa del Ray 2009
Winner of the Mini Maxi Event at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup |
