The Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF) has received $100,000 in donations to support its mission to provide the science to understand the performance of sailing yachts through research and education. This milestone has in turn prompted SYRF’s receipt of another $100,000 in funds, thanks to a generous challenge grant established by an anonymous donor.
Heidi & Steve Benjamin’s HPR Carkeek 40 SPOOKIE (Norwalk, CT) exemplifies the high performance planing boats being developed under the auspices of the Sailing Yacht Research Foundation.
© Stephen Cloutier
“This is an outstanding achievement, we are extremely grateful to all our donors and supporters,” said Steve Benjamin, Chairman of the Board for SYRF. “The generosity everyone has shown helps illustrate the importance SYRF has to everyone who has an interest in learning more about performance sailing. In the long run this will benefit everyone in the sport: sailors, designers, builders, race managers, even media and spectators as we better understand boats as they become faster, safer, and more competitive.”
SYRF is busy putting the funds to work. Data is being generated in their Wide Light Boat Project, a study that will characterize the performance of modern planing yachts. The structure of a new online data library to archive past research results is being designed, Technical Director Myles Cornwell gave a presentation on SYRF to the International Technical Committee meeting of the Offshore Racing Congress, and the second HPR (High Performance Rule) regatta of the 2014 season was held at Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week in April. For more information, visit sailyachtresearch.org.
