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Why The Nova
I remember it was a beautiful sunny day a couple of years back when the renowned Naval Architect, Mr. Phil Morrison, rang me asking how I was?
Then came his bombshell “I have a great new boat designed” (“Oh yes” I replied in a downbeat tone). “It is very adventurous, stunning, it is something I have had been working on for many years. This is a very special boat, it is well ahead of its time, a single-hander for racing sailors with a weight range from 48kg -70kg”.
My immediate thoughts were of a time Mr. Morrison rang me many years previous to invite me to join Derek Clark’s team building a Women’s Skiff for the Olympic Trials, I can remember Phils comments “(with you on board I think we can win) with a new boat called the Rebel”.
Some £250,000 later we had the fastest 15ft Women’s Skiff ever built, weighing just 39kg all-up, full of very expensive carbon and the very best technology and innovation money could buy, the boat looked out of this world. Sleek, fast and a handful to sail even for any experienced Skiff sailors, in fact it went dark when we put up the massive asymmetric spinnaker. The whole team were happy we had given it our best shot; this Skiff will be the fastest women’s skiff at the trails we had to be in the hat for the possible winner.
Testing Day
Testing day came, on the way out of the Santa Dare big open harbour with the New Zealand Skiff crew sailing our boat going out to sea, on the beat out they joined the Spanish Men’s Olympic Racing team in their Men’s 49er Skiff, the only problem was they joined them and then passed the team to windward and left them behind. This indeed was a very special and fast Skiff. After days of testing the final decision came, we hadn’t won.
The fact was, my team during this project had learnt so much skill and new boat building techniques, we would not today have the depth and the boat building knowledge and skill set if we had not participated in the trials. We at Hatley Boats are indebted to Phil and Derek and the rest of the Rebel team. Many, many times during the past few years we have gained knowledge from that past experience.
The Meeting
On the way down South to our meeting both Mark and I thought about our boat range, we had the Byte and H10, the Racing fleet market and the U.K was about to hit a recession, plus all our other commitments with many projects we had planned already, our collective view (we have enough to do, but thank you for giving us first refusal).
The Meeting
What happened.
Phil explained at our meeting this boat had been on his computer for some years not finished but his desire was to build a very special single-hander, one that any sailor would have to learn how to sail it, they would need to work hard and have a good standard to get the best from this very quick, well balanced single-hander - this was not your average dinghy.
Then we were shown the drawings of the hull and the deck, our immediate response was “yes, yes, yes, we will build it”.
Planning
Following that meeting and with many other long meetings with Phil the boat strategy and technical build details were completed, the drawings were signed off ready for the CNC tooling to be commissioned.
We all at Hartley Boats could not wait for this fantastic boat we had been looking at for months on a computer to be made, seeing the finished item in the flesh, would it live up to its drawings and would it look the business?
Finished Plugs
The big day came, the hull and deck plug arrived and then we saw our very special single-hander for the first time. Every member of the Hartley team stood amazed, being so proud we had decided to build this very special boat. With the moulds to make it is great we employ one of the best pattern makers in the U.K. Now it was time for many hours ahead and plenty of overtime needed.
Final Boat
When the first boat was assembled the result was even better than we could have wished for, it was the right decision to take on this project.
That made the next decision easy.
Give it the very best rig possible, this boat must have a Carbon Mast, Lightweight Alloy Boom, a Square Top Sail with a very modern but special boat fit-out to match. To see the boat rigged, and the boat finished was a great day we were very pleased to learn Mr. Morrison was also delighted with our finished product.
Testing
We starting testing the new boat with a Byte to get an idea of performance and handling. After much testing we are delighted with the boat, it is lively, very responsive, great to sail upwind and downwind, it does exactly what it says on the tin. We are delighted with our new boat. This is a great boat for those sailors who wish to sail a lively challenging and thrilling dinghy, responsive and a great single-hander, a boat that will reward those sailors who try hard and want to develop their sailing skills.
The hardest part of this journey was to have the right sail, finding the right balance to ensure all our hard work resulted in a beautiful boat and one that handles well in all weathers. Having the best sailmaker in the business gives us the confidence to have the best package possible.
Boat Name
Both Mark and I had decided from the day we took on this project we would have a feeder boat for the Supernova Fleet. With the weight range of 48kg to 70kg this is an ideal starter boat for all potential Supernova sailors.
With a hull weight of only 34kg and a sailing weight range from 48kg to 70Kg, this is a great boat for the lighter weight sailors as well as being a fantastic youth boat, the very special name we have given this boat is the NOVA.
Future
Later this year all Nova sailors will be invited to training sessions throughout the Country, starting July, each month onwards. Later, Nova sailors will be invited to attend Supernova Open meetings and become part of the growing Supernova family.
Boat Show
The Nova is to be on display at the R Y A Dinghy Show with an incredible half price offer on a first come first served basis only.
We look forward to meeting you all and answering your questions.
Thanking You
Mark & Richard
