Radford Sprint

Graham Radford is the designer behind a lot of great cruising and racing yachts fashioned from fibreglass, steel, aluminium and even strip-planked cedar. But unlike so many modern-day boat artisans he doesn't rely on computer-aided equipment. Intuition, insight and perception - innate traits of good sailors, too - count for more than keyboards and CAD. And it shows.

Radford began an apprenticeship with Joe Adams in 1974, where he became an active partner till 1987 before going it alone. During the Adams era he had a hand in everything from Metre boats to Zestons and, notably, the 50-footer Buttercup that Don Macintyre sailed around the world to a great second place in Class Two of the 1990/91 BOC Race.

Today, in his signature floppy hat, the self-employed designer says he doesn't need to go chasing sales because people find him. He likes to design his style of boat for people who like his style of boat. He sells plans primarily from his website to local, European and Canadian sailors. A lot of them seek cruising boats to build in kit form.

Radford also has a new 12m cruiser-racer due for April delivery. The yacht has been designed for shorthanded coastal cruising, offshore racing, and might even suit the Melbourne/Osaka Race.

But when I meet Radford at Manly, his stomping ground, we were aboard his favourite day sailor - the sprightly 10.6m keelboat called the Sprint. The Sprint has just been re-released with a new keel, rudder, sail plan and interior. A day racer, pitched at Harbour and bay sailors, this is a quick boat now made even quicker.

Naturally, the Sprint embodies the designer's philosophy about what makes yachts sail well: "Today's market is filled with mostly imported production boats with lots of accommodation," Radford says. "I prefer to concentrate on the sailing characteristics of my yachts instead of their internal volume." This bode well for the impending sail.

RADFORD FORMULA
Radford favours a narrow hull form with a low centre of gravity and a lot of vee in the forward-to-mid sections for windward work. Downhill, these veed sections cut a swath through the water; the rest of the hull, which has a flattish run aft, follows. In a sense, it's the destroyer approach.

The designer says his yachts have "definition about where they want to go". Where we went, the Sprint wanted to sail itself with a soft helm. The tiller man, moi, was almost redundant when the boat was in the groove. But if the weather boomed in on the nose, no worries - the Sprint is based on a moderate-to-fresh-air design to begin with.

Collectively, the veed hull, plumb bow and a relatively flat run aft create a long waterline length - 10.45m of the 10.65m length overall - and we all know waterline length equals speed. While the boat doesn't pivot as tightly around the buoys as a round-bottomed yacht, it doesn't have a propensity to round up either. If the helm loads up you ease the sheets till the fingertip-light steering resumes. Easy.

Radford says he designed the yacht for a crew of five or six in a simple trench-type cockpit. The sidedecks are angled inboard to give comfortable sitting positions for the mainsheet trimmer and helmsman. Wide sidedecks lead to the bow, where toerails and non-skid help with the bowman's footing.

The large fractional rig flies a new sail plan with those obligatory non-overlapping jibs and a masthead asymmetrical spinnaker. Sail the Sprint at a reasonable angle of heel and it will reward you, as it did me, with excellent boat speed. Off the fickle 5-8kt breeze, I got a taste of the acceleration delivered by the kite, which is set from a retractable bowsprit on the centreline.

BORN IN BASS STRAIT
Released as a production yacht in 1993, the first Sprint was ordered for the then builder of the Adams 16.4m. He was looking for an exciting performance yacht that he could sail anywhere from the Bay to Bass Strait.

While it is described as a light displacement harbour racer, the Sprint is built strong. Shekinah Boat Works in Taree, which makes a number of yachts including the Adams 10s, is responsible for the handiwork. You could take this boat to Hobart, Radford says, adding that he sailed a flush-decked A10 from Sydney to Hobart. Of course it would be wet.

The composite lay-up comprises quadraxial E-Glass around 20mm Corecell foam, with stringers and transverse members for stiffness. The mast has two swept-back spreaders and is keel stepped. Chainplates are bolted to ring frames. The keel case extends to the deck and includes a stainless-steel frame to withstand grounding loads. There is a new elliptical rudder, which is smaller but deeper than that on the earlier boats.

The narrow hull has ballast stability instead of form stability derived - not from a lifting bulb keel as with the early boats, but thanks to a new 2.4m fixed-draft stainless-steel foil with a 1200kg lead bulb on the end. All-up ballast is 1380kg of the boat's 2850kg race-ready displacement.

PACKAGED TO GO
The Sprint package includes settees, quarter berths, cushions and a full Kevlar sail wardrobe from local loft Truflo.

Headroom, if you can call it that, is 1.2m below decks. There is a lot of storage space for sails and ancillaries, and room to sit or sleep if you really needed to.

The sail plan has seen changes with, as mentioned, non-overlapping headsails instead of genoas. The Sprint comes with a No 1, which we flew, No 2 and No 3 (Dacron) jib. The big main measures 39.4sqm, with three full and three short battens.

The boat is being sold as package for $157,750 with instruments, safety gear, an 8hp Mercury outboard, registrations and even insurance. Incidentally, the outboard lives in an aft well. An ingenious folding bracket lets you retract the motor so its leg is above water level when you have the boat parked on its mooring.

DECK GEAR
To his credit, Radford endeavours to fit out his boats with as much local gear as possible. Aside from the sail wardrobe, the standing rigging was from Allyacht Spars in Queensland. The deck gear was from Ronstan and Frederickson with Arco two-speed winches.

The boat has a moulded bowsprit, bowrail and deep anchor locker. All the mooring fittings are extra heavy duty, which is just as well when your yacht is parked near south-facing Manly. There is a solid boom vang and an adjustable backstay, which made a difference during upwind work.

All lines lead back from the mast based to clutches on the deck ahead of the accommodating cockpit. The dedicated mainsheet trimming position before the helmsman worked a treat. As the helmsman, I found vision was never impaired.

BLOW THE MAN DOWN
We had fickle, unsettled, sultry, shifty conditions for the test. Such weather has been a feature of this east-coast summer. The Sprint relished the going till the wind shifted 180°, died, then came in again from the south, then died, then built from the east before dying again. Amid this salad of puffs and pants were some uplifting moments.

I wish I could convert the Sprint's performance into figures, but hey, the instruments hadn't yet been fitted. Instead, I will do as Radford does - he never sails with instruments, doesn't think about figures, and bases his performance on observation alone.

"You're either going fast or slow," he says, relating performance to the rest of the fleet and the prevailing conditions. For my bit, we were working fast to windward. In eight knots of wind we could have been doing five to mid-six knots.

The race results of the Sprints at the Fremantle Sailing Club and in the Adelaide Port Lincoln Race have been encouraging.

In this year's Melbourne to Geelong Race, a Sprint sailed over a Sydney 38, Radford says.

As happens with designers, Radford is close to the boat he presently likes best - so much so that he is loath to see it sold.

The yacht outpaces the ubiquitous Adams 10s, and when the going gets tough for the lightweights the Sprint will still be standing tall. In fact, with some wind, the Sprint should leave them floundering.