New Gunboat 57

At Annapolis another new Gunboat was on show. When the company went bust, the owner of Vaivai, a Gunboat 55, rescued his part-built boat from the Gunboat premises and turned to designer Nigel Irens to tweak it before organising the completion of the build himself. This has now been relaunched as the Gunboat 57 and adopted into the new Gunboat range.

Elongated at the stern, the new 57 has a revised and improved steering system with more performance-orientated lifting daggerboards in place of the original pivoting centreboards.

“The daggerboard installation did require a cabin redesign, which in turn allowed the engines to be repositioned amidships to lessen the pitching moment and improve the trim,” notes Irens.