Sailing boat with Future Fibres made component wins race

The Mills 68, previously known as Alegre, recently underwent a significant upgrade including an optimised mast, boom and carbon rigging package from Future Fibres. The rig was stepped in late April at the America’s Cup harbour in Valencia and after only two days of sea trials, went straight into the summer Med’s summer racing circuit.

The first event was the Palma Vela regatta, where the mini-maxi Caol Ila R performed well, winning the coastal race, as the crew got to know their new rig.

However, it was only a few weeks later at the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, when the mini-maxi took centre stage with a string of fantastic results. They took both line and handicap honours in the offshore Volcano race after battling harsh 35-40 knot winds and won the event overall on handicap for the Rolex Trophy.

Owner’s rep, John Hildebrand, is thrilled with the boat’s performance: “In terms of stiffness it is night and day compared to the old rig. The rig tune was simple and quick, straight out of the box, and repeating the settings has been really easy. We just love the lower topmast deflector position and would never go back to a conventional two stay configuration. Simply put, Future Fibres has put together an awesome package.”

With its new retrofit, Caol Ila R is enjoying boat speed it never knew existed. David Barnaby, rig designer at Future Fibres, talks about the performance gains: “Caol Ila R’s new rig has been optimised to provide significant weight savings and controllability over her last package, meaning the yacht is stiffer, with a rig that now performs through a broad range of conditions. She’ll definitely be the one to watch on the water from now on.”

Caol Ila R (Mills 68) is also boasting some new race-winning rigging products which are not going unnoticed. The latest full-length deflected FlexC carbon backstays have been fitted, which are the smallest and lightest product on the market today. So small and light in fact that the brand new Mills 72 Alegre recently converted to the same race-winning, aft rigging technology!

Future Fibre