Tweet
Back in the 80's, the Midget Ocean Racing Club was the testing ground for all the newest and greatest designs, boats 20' to 30' ruled the day and designers and builders tweaked and tested various hulls, foils, rigs and deck layouts to get the most out of the MORC boats, costing a fraction of what their larger counterparts would, and could also be towed easily from event to event. Coming out of this surge of boats, a Jim Donovan design built for Jim Wolf, aptly named "Wolfpack". Built on the light end of the spectrum by Larry Tuttle, Wolfpack was as Larry recalls more of an "downhill ocean boat" with its modern lines and high aspect foils.
After a successful run on the West Coast and some Great Lakes events, Wolf Pack was sold and renamed Galaxy Girl, with a new zip code in the Great Lakes, Minnesota to be exact.
Fast forward a couple decades, most of which was spent either being worked on or idling in the shed, Wolfpack has returned to original stomping grounds, and has a new goal at hand, the 2014 Pacific Cup. Bill and Melinda Erkelens had been mulling over the idea of another Pac Cup together, and needed something faster than their Moore 24' would allow, and after doing some research, Bill came across the boat and approached the owner about its availability. After some lengthy conversations, they arranged a win-win deal where Bill could use his expertise in rigging, some sails and a new rudder to get the boat in top shape in exchange for a loan for the Pac Cup and Bill would provide commissioning of the boat soon thereafter.
Bill indicates:
We have had a LOT of help with the project: Herb Garcia, Glenn Hansen, Eric Steinberg, Peter King, Rufus Sjoberg, Dustin Fox, Bill Colombo,
Scott Easom, Artemis Racing, Richard Jenkins, Jim Donovan and many others have all pitched in to assist and or advise.
Wolfpack at rest in Alameda
Simplicity and clean lines are a tradmark of a professional rigger's layout, incorporating the latest and greatest from the grand prix boats is just a natural flow for those in the know. Note the emergency rudder stock
The Ronstan Rope Constrictor is just one of the enhancements, Bill loves the idea of not having a metal surface ripping a hole in his lines sheathing, the the product lives up to expectations!
New technology for turning blocks and removing clunky out dated tracks saves weight and provides less clutter
The trial run in the spinnaker cup was a bit of a mixed bag.:
1/3 of race was light to med upwind. Not great for us.
middle 1/3 was AWSOME with kite work showing the boats strengths. Very fast and easy to sail. We were very happy with how the boat sailed in the 12-20 range VMG running.
For us the last 1/3 of the race was a drag. as we went in the bay early and wind died. Boats outside had breeze and crushed us.
We were able to run all systems and check sails so a big day for our Pac Cup prep. More sailing to come.
After a successful run on the West Coast and some Great Lakes events, Wolf Pack was sold and renamed Galaxy Girl, with a new zip code in the Great Lakes, Minnesota to be exact.
Fast forward a couple decades, most of which was spent either being worked on or idling in the shed, Wolfpack has returned to original stomping grounds, and has a new goal at hand, the 2014 Pacific Cup. Bill and Melinda Erkelens had been mulling over the idea of another Pac Cup together, and needed something faster than their Moore 24' would allow, and after doing some research, Bill came across the boat and approached the owner about its availability. After some lengthy conversations, they arranged a win-win deal where Bill could use his expertise in rigging, some sails and a new rudder to get the boat in top shape in exchange for a loan for the Pac Cup and Bill would provide commissioning of the boat soon thereafter.
Bill indicates:
We have had a LOT of help with the project: Herb Garcia, Glenn Hansen, Eric Steinberg, Peter King, Rufus Sjoberg, Dustin Fox, Bill Colombo,
Scott Easom, Artemis Racing, Richard Jenkins, Jim Donovan and many others have all pitched in to assist and or advise.
Wolfpack at rest in Alameda
Simplicity and clean lines are a tradmark of a professional rigger's layout, incorporating the latest and greatest from the grand prix boats is just a natural flow for those in the know. Note the emergency rudder stock
The Ronstan Rope Constrictor is just one of the enhancements, Bill loves the idea of not having a metal surface ripping a hole in his lines sheathing, the the product lives up to expectations!
New technology for turning blocks and removing clunky out dated tracks saves weight and provides less clutter
The trial run in the spinnaker cup was a bit of a mixed bag.:
1/3 of race was light to med upwind. Not great for us.
middle 1/3 was AWSOME with kite work showing the boats strengths. Very fast and easy to sail. We were very happy with how the boat sailed in the 12-20 range VMG running.
For us the last 1/3 of the race was a drag. as we went in the bay early and wind died. Boats outside had breeze and crushed us.
We were able to run all systems and check sails so a big day for our Pac Cup prep. More sailing to come.
Comment