New Design for the 2009 World Cup to be Built in Maine

Brooklin, Maine (April 2, 2007) - For immediate release, Brion Rieff Boat Builder (BRBB) is in the design phase of a new modern 6mR Class yacht to be raced in the 2009 World Championshipsto be sailed off Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Over the past 10 years there has been growing interest in the US for the 6mR Class through the Classic division, with the possibility of twelve yachts on the East Coast competing in 2008. The West Coast Fleet remains strong and has also taken an interest in the organization and growing numbers in the East. This North American interest is expected to peak in the next few years with the return of the World Championships to the East Coast USA, last held at Oyster Bay – SCYC in 1987. While the Classics may be the elegant approach to the World Championships, winning in the Moderns takes cutting edge ideas, technical refinement, and thorough design work. The Modern 6mR epitomizes a purpose-built racing machine; slender, efficient and powerful. To create a competitive design, a team must be willing to take some risks and look outside the norm to improve on standards set by the past century‘s greatest yacht designers. The BRBB Design Team embodies this philosophy. The three co-designers: Brion Rieff, Jacob Vargish, and Sam Chamberlain, have lead restorations of Classic 6mRs in the recent past establishing a very high and competitive standard of practice. They have also worked on the building and appendage refits of current 12mR World Champions and other successful 12mR programs.

The time is right for them to launch a newly designed Modern 6mR.

Devotees to historical yacht design and ratings, BRBB Design Team has been researching and developing ideas and concepts for their Modern that transcend several generations of metre boats from the early 1900s to the most competitively sailed metre boats, the ex- America’s Cup contenders, the 12mR Class Grand-Prix Division. Careful review of the designs for the 2007 America’s Cup Class yachts has also been made. They believe by studying and understanding the footpath of the past, they are more capable of stepping even farther forward today. From its onset the Design Team has incorporated persons from all facets of a successful racing yacht: the technical designers, the boat builder, the sail maker, the spar and rig builder, the hardware supplier, and of course, the sailors. Most have several years to decades of experience in their field. With each design team leader working closely together, every part of the yacht will be designed to best fit with the overall project, yielding the best overall design and manufacture for success. Any rating based development class that has undergone over 100 years of refinement, requires a high level of analysis to prove an evolutionary concept. Analysis of the design is being made with extensive use of proprietary Velocity Performance Prediction software. Evaluation of preliminary hull and appendage designs is being made through the well-tested Computational Fluid Dynamics software, FloSim. Lastly, final design concepts are being verified with 3rd-scale models, constructed by the builder, through model testing. Of course, the yacht will comply with all applicable Class Rules and will be optimized for the expected sailing conditions. Already they have shown advances in design over the present fleet, and with several more months of the primary design phase further improvement is expected. Design and testing will continue through the summer and fall 2007.

The building of the new boat is set to begin in the winter of 2007. Extensive sailing and two boat trials with 6mR US108, ST FRANCIS VII, currently in Brooklin, Maine is scheduled for 2008. Boat modifications will not be unexpected after these trials, and she and her sailing crew will be fully race ready and in Bristol trim for the summer of 2009. The BRBB Design and Sailing Teams look forward to plying the waters off Newport with the best in the World.

Parties interested in leveraging the design effort being undertaken to produce their own version of BRBB's design should contact Brion Rieff: http://www.brionrieffboatbuilder.com/