#Industry News
Around and Around Vancouver
Aspen Power Catamarans of Burlington, Washington, and ArrowCat Marine, of neighboring Everett, successfully completed the Pacific Yachting Pacific Challenge issued in May 2014.
The Challenge to circumnavigate Vancouver Island burning only the fuel on board is a timed event for production power-boats not exceeding 40' (12.2m) on the waterline. The Challenge also has a category for powerboats of less than 30' (9.1m) LWL, and they may refuel once.
The start/finish line is in the Victoria, British Columbia, inner harbor. The distance is about 650 miles, depending on the route chosen. Vancouver Island is the largest island on North America’s West Coast and the largest Pacific island east of New Zealand. It is roughly the same length, north to south, as England. Victoria is the political capital of the province.“Pacific Yachting wants to encourage builders to produce tough, efficient family vessels, and that led to the Pacific Yachting Pacific Challenge,” said PY editor Dale Miller. “With currents running up to 16 knots and weather often kicking up 20' [6m] seas, the Challenge is a real test of not only a boat but also the ability and seamanship of skipper and crew. It also gives the builders a chance to, very quickly, find out if they need to make changes in their future builds.”
The first vessel to successfully complete the Challenge was an Aspen C100 (Aspen Power Catamarans, Burlington, Washington), a 32-footer (9.8m) skippered by Larry Graf, Aspen’s founder and owner. It sells for $287,440. The Aspen started the challenge at 2:55 p.m., June 20, 2014, and finished 47 hours and 5 minutes later.
The C100 is a wave-piercing, single-engine, award-winning multihull proa. Average speed was 13.6 miles per hour (22 kmh), and the total fuel burned was 267 U.S. gal [1,011 l]. Mileage was 2.43 miles per gal [1 k/l].
The C100, with a beam of 10' (3m), is trailerable without special permits. It has a draft of 3'1" (0.9m) and weighs in at 8,400 lbs (3,805 kg). The vessel’s port hull is narrower than the starboard hull and has 35% less volume. The engine, transmission, and driveline are housed in the starboard hull. The hull design is patented and in October 2014 was judged as the best multihull in the world in the 30'–39' (9.1m– 11.9m) category by the AIM Marine Group editors. (AIM publishes PassageMaker, Power & Motoryacht, Sail, and Yachts International.)
Arrowcat Marine was the second builder to accept the Challenge. Arrowcat entered one of its 30' RS high-speed planing cats powered by a pair of 200-hp (150-kW) Mercury Verado outboards. With a waterline length of less than 30' the Arrowcat entry was allowed by the Challenge rules to refuel once, which it did in Barkley Sound at Ucluelet.
Skippered by Arrowcat’s president, Kim Stebbens, the RS 30 left the dock in Victoria on August 22 and completed the circumnavigation in 28 hours, 59 minutes. The total fuel burn for the 643 miles traveled was 494 U.S. gallons (1,870 l), and the vessel averaged 22.18 miles per hour (35.7 kmh). Mileage was 1.3 miles per U.S. gal (0.6 km/L). Arrowcat, like Aspen, had two crew members onboard.
Arrowcat’s RS 30 has an overall length of 30'10" (9.4m) with a 10' beam. Draft, with engines down, is 30" (76cm), and dry weight is 7,500 lbs (3,398 kg). While the basic Arrowcats are built offshore, all design, engineering, planning, and commissioning are done at the company shop in Everett, Washington.
“We were happy that two local builders were the first to accept the challenge,” said Miller. “Both vessels, although substantially different in concept and design, are modestly priced family cruisers. By successfully completing the PY Pacific Challenge, they have proven their boats can operate safely and efficiently in the tough Pacific Northwest waters.”
Both challengers reported having to reduce speed after rounding the northern tip of the island and starting down the west coast. The Aspen crew found themselves in 10'–12' (3m–3.7m) standing waves, brought about by a combination of current, tides, and the remains of a gale flowing down from Alaska. The Arrowcat crew ran into a 10' swell topped off with a 2' (0.6m) wind chop. They hauled back the throttles and spent from about 3 a.m. until daylight making only 6–7 knots, not a comfortable speed for a high-speed planing cat.
The Aspen crew, while motoring along at top speed in the dark, ran over a floating tree, complete with all its branches. “After checking the boat and finding no damage, we proceeded,” Graf said, “but at a slower speed!”
Both challengers found ways to improve their vessels going forward, and they discovered one problem in common: some instrument lights at the helm could not be dimmed enough so that they wouldn’t interfere with night vision. Both builders have dealt with that issue, and also noted that crimped electrical connections are not as good as soldered ones when bashing through rough water for extended periods of time.
The Arrowcat crew noted that the Verado stock props had to be changed as the boat burned off fuel. They also noted that the vessel might perform better if fuel was carried a bit farther forward.
Aspen noted that a bulkhead, bolted into place to dampen sound, did not work as well as planned, so it will be mechanically fastened and bonded to the surrounding structure on future builds, Graf said.
Both builders agree the Challenge gave them an opportunity to test their boats in a way that regular boating could not. “That’s why we do these challenges,” Graf said, “and for the fun, of course!”
Graf, when he was president of Glacier Bay Catamarans, was the first builder to successfully complete the Bermuda Challenge.
