Right now a lot of people are asking just what the big story is about the Devoti D-One. Is this just yet another design that will further fragment the already crowded dinghy market, or is the D-One a really significant development that will have a long term impact on the single handed dinghy scene?
Whatever else Devoti have done, their boat is fast and fun in big measures. The bum cheeks may be gripping the wing to hang on - but the smile is from 'ear to ear'!
To get answers to these questions, I travelled out to Torbole, at the Northern end on Lake Garda, to test sail (make that ‘test to destruction’!!) one of the first production D-Ones. I had sailed an early development version of the boat out at Hyeres and found it a stable yet exciting platform, that promised huge fun when sailing. However, my first reaction on seeing the new boat was one of disappointment. The hull lines of the boat are pleasing enough, yet Devoti had used a solid dark blue finish for the deck moulding that was reminiscent of a 1970s Lark! Having expressed my views on this, it was stressed to me that the primary objective of the Development Team was to get the technical aspects of the boat sorted. Now that this task is close to completion, a Design Studio will address making any necessary changes to the aesthetic appeal of the boat, a move that will I am sure counter many of the doubters.
Photo: bearfacemedia
Beauty, so they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Even D-One designer Phil Morrison would be pushed to admit that the new Devoti boat may lack the timeless grace of a boat such as the 505 or FD, but this is made up for with a purposeful look to the clean lines. Although an early critic of the hull form, having now sailed the boat hard and spent time looking at it, from all angles, both ashore and afloat, I would have to say that once again Phil has got the balance between 'form and function' spot on!
I started by sailing the D-One hard upwind and immediately settled into the task of controlling the power from the large, unstayed rig. For a whole generation of youngster sailors, raised on mainsheet strops and hoops, the idea of a full width traveller may seem alien. I am sure though that as soon as they find just how much precise control this offers them, that they will soon adapt their own sailing techniques, using the traveller to help them drive the boat upwind.
Photo: bearfacemedia
Hull, spars and foils are all carbon, with a very high standard of build quality. The boat looks to be superbly kitted out with wall to wall (well, gunwale to gunwale) Harken as with the full width traveller.
One cannot deny that even with the benefit of the hiking wings, getting the boat to go upwind takes effort, not to mention time to master the very individual nature of the boat. Luca Devoti, out sailing in another D-One, gave me the hint; loads of cunningham, ease the traveller and the boat quickly accelerates and starts to plane to windward. As with most fully battened mainsails, you need to be positive tacking the boat to avoid going into stays. Apart from this, the D-One felt well balanced and responsive to trim and control.
Just think - a whole generation of sailors have grown up without experiencing the pleasures of sailing with a full width Traveller. Okay, it is a new skill to learn, but once mastered, this opens up the door to a 'new' way of saiing upwind fast.
Bearing away was easy, with the Phil Morrison designed hull offering a high level of initial stability, an essential factor when single handedly managing the spinnaker. Hydes have made an excellent job of interpreting Devoti’s requirements for the spinnaker, with the new sail giving a lot more power yet remaining stable. Keeping the speed up made carving into the gybes a fairly routine manoeuvre, even though by now the breeze was continuing to build into a classic Lake Garda afternoon ‘Ora’. When sailing the boat in wind and waves, it quickly became apparent that the extra freeboard that the designer had given the boat, plus the ‘elevation’ of the wings, has made the boat far easier to sail than some other boats with solid wings. Having sailed boats such as the Laser EPS in the past, I can confirm that this is no small matter as I would expect the D-One to easily handle difficult conditions such as the Hayling Bay or Solent ‘chop’!
A number of 'doubters' have expressed reservations about the asthetic aspect of the boat. Whilst not denying that the dark blue decks in this particular case may not add to the overall image, once afloat the clean lines of the Morrison designed hull show their own brand of charm. It will surely not be long before sailors introduce their own paint schemes!
The following morning I sailed the boat in a very light and shifty breeze, far more typical of conditions at home on the Solent than Lake Garda. Despite my cumbersome efforts in finding good places to sit, the boat was again well balanced and carried its way well in the changeable conditions. I was enjoying myself so much I sailed again in the afternoon, only to encounter a real rarity for Garda, a wind that blew straight across the lake, rather than the normal ‘up or down’ breezes that are such a feature of the location. Within 10 minutes, with a mountain thunderstorm raging, the wind increased from an enjoyable 15kts to a nasty 25kts plus with huge slamming gusts. The lake was strewn with capsized boats, so to go for a spinnaker hoist was an action that some might view as foolhardy. It was amazing that even in these conditions, the inherent stability of the Morrison hull played a big part in allowing me to have a wild, almost airborne sleigh ride across the lake. The boat was fine, but in the end it was my skills that failed, as I was too slow to bear away in a brutal gust. The bow dug in, forcing the carbon mast into a truly ‘bent banana’ shape, before I lost control completely, breaking the kicker then capsizing.
Okay, 11.5sqm of main, add in 15sqm of genneker, turn on a LOT of wind and you have an amazing downwind experience. A lot went wrong here....fittings not yet tested to destruction proved to be a weak link, as was the skill levels needed to sail a boat such in this in these (admittedly) windy conditions. But the unstayed rig was fine, another blow for the doubters who question the wisdom of setting a large spinnaker on an unstayed mast.
It says much for the strength of the rig that despite this rough treatment, the mast was perfectly okay and after getting the boat ashore for some quick repairs, I was out afloat again the next morning. The build quality elsewhere in the all carbon hull looked equally high, as was the standard of fittings provided by the builders. There are still some niggardly little details to be finalised by Devoti, but I think that potential purchasers can be sure that for a company with a worldwide reputation for quality, one can be sure that these too will soon be addressed. The rudder set up can still be frustrating and after my experiences in the very strong winds, maybe the wings need extending further aft by another foot. Having complained at Hyeres about the non-slip finish, Devoti showed they had listened by finishing the boat with a surface abrasive enough to destroy the seat of a new wet suit in 4 days, not to mention removing most of the skin from my knees and elbows.
These issues, plus the aesthetic changes, are all in hand with the Devoti Team, with the expectation that as the full production boats start coming out from the factory, that they will be rewarding sailors across Europe with some amazing sailing. If an unfit 56 year old can have as much fun in the boat as I had, then the D-One really could be the boat that brings ‘skiff sailing’ to a much wider audience. One can only hope that this is so, for this is a quality product, well conceived and designed, carefully engineered and built to the highest standards. The D-One will bring a smile to the faces of sailors of all ages….and for that reason alone deserves to succeed.
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The above article formed the main part of what was intended as a boat test to be featured in the September 2009 issue of Dinghy Sailing Magazine. Sadly, space and other issues curtailed just how much of a presence the article was given in the magazine.