Juan Yacht Design's Rambler 88 wins the 6th edition of famous Caribbean regatta "Les Voiles de St. Barth", after a four-race series that took place from Tuesday 14th to Saturday 18th April. Rambler 88 raced in the Maxi 1 Class along the other event's largest and fastest boats, such as Comanche and Bella Mente, where some of the most technologically advanced racing yachts in the world offered great racing and exciting competition as expected during the whole week.
Credit : Ch.Jouanny
After the 3 first days of racing, Ramber 88 had already won the regatta, having finished in 1st place in the 3 first races in a row in corrected-time. On the last day of racing, Rambler 88 took second to finish with, while Bella Mente won the 4th and last race. But Rambler 88 kept its place at the top of the scoreboard, while Bella Mente's performance of the day handed the tiebreaker to their team, since they shared the same point score with Lucky and Comanche.
This regatta was the first time that Rambler 88 and the 100 footer Comanche were seen sailing against each other, which was one of the most awaited moment of the week. Although Comanche took line of honors in all races, Rambler 88 prevailed with corrected-time performances.
It is the 4th time that George David, Owner of Rambler 88, wins Les Voiles de St. Barth out of 5 participations. He comments: "I'm very happy. I think we sailed very well to rating, and we are just a click off Comanche. Of course, they have the big-boat edge and get in front, and that tends to help a little bit, but I am impressed by how fast we are. In fact, I'm very impressed. This boat is wicked quick and I think we'll do even better in the future. I don't count us out for records, including the Transatlantic Race 2015 this summer, which we hold already (with Rambler 100, also designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian)."
Rambler 88 is indeed a state of the art and fast maxi monohull, designed to compete on all the famous offshore classics such as the Transatlantic Race, the Fastnet Race, the Middle Sea Race and the Sydney-Hobart Race.
Juan Kouyoumdjian explains: "First of all, congratulations to George David and the crew of Rambler 88 for the victory, they are learning the boat very quickly and making progress every day. It is amazing that they matched Comanche's performance in some conditions at this early stage of development, it is very encouraging. Maybe we should skip our self-imposed draft restriction, go to the same draft as Comanche and truly go boat for boat? Rambler 88 is faster in all conditions than the previous 100' Rambler 100 we designed 8 years ago, therefore congratulations to the Comanche Team and designers since they have done an excellent job and put the bar very high."
Juan Yacht Design will continue its commitment to develop Rambler 88 further in direct collaboration with George David and his Team and at the same time looking at their next projects, one of them being a 100' footer of over 7m of draft that will compare the different concepts allowed within the Maxi Class, but also keep designing exciting and innovative concepts, where performance is key for a team of passionate and curious professionals that offer a unique method in yacht design, project management, and a reliable CFD support all integrated within the design.
From : S.Nadin
