Slow burn success
The Melges 40 is something of a slow burn success story. As the only canting keel, all carbon, strict one-design grand prix racer it remains unique. It is very much an elite, niche class. It was never targeted at the wider horizons of the one-design production racing class, such as is the new Melges 37.
So far it appeals only to a small cross section of experienced, competitive owners who want electric downwind speed, and quick and efficient upwind sailing. The canting keel adds a whole new dimension to windward-leeward racing. Melges 40 owners want to go quicker than anything else of a similar size, and to travel and race internationally with their team. They are owners who might otherwise be in the TP52 fleet, but perhaps don’t want to employ fulltime shore crew or to be running a development programme.
The Melges 40 is the confluence of two sets of ideas. Botin Partners were already convinced that canting keel technology was the way forward and had done their own preliminary (lightship) (max) designs, while Melges had a small number of successful top-level Melges 32 owners who wanted to move up to something bigger. And the new design simply had to be faster; which is a big ask considering the downwind and reaching speeds of the 32.
Adolfo Carrau of the Botin design office is a huge fan of the end result. “The concept and the way the boat behaves are unique,” he explains. “It is really easy and safe to race hard but it goes very fast. It is very overpowered but it is easy to control. It has a huge sailplan and a very tall rig. It accelerates really quickly and the owner-drivers can push the boat very hard downwind because the bow is usually up, and it has the twin rudders.”
The Melges 40 is hugely powerful, with a 72m2 square top main and 49m2 jib – that’s 20 per cent more sail area than a Fast 40+.
The keel sets a 1.1 tonne bulb on a 3.4m carbon fin. In essence you get 10 per cent more righting moment than the Fast 40+ with a bulb approximately half its weight.
The keel technology is super-simple and well proven. Manufactured by Cariboni it is a direct development of the IMOCA and Volvo 65 systems using a single ram with a double-acting cylinder (which both pushes and pulls).
It’s driven by a 24V 4,500W power pack that is controlled by Cariboni’s four-point system. A simple keypad on the turn of the cockpit, at the helmsman’s back leg, is for the tactician/runner