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Bicho Grillo – Green Flash 33
Bicho Grilo was designed by our office and built by her owner, João de Deus Assis, and attracted worldwide interest when she was launched. A couple of articles were published on the ORC website (http://www.orc.org) One reproduced below.
Joao has shared some thoughts with us on his new boat:
Q: What are the specifications of your boat (length, draft, beam, upwind sail area, downwind sail area, displacement, ballast)
A: My boat has the same specifications of the ORC GP 33 Class, but as the construction began in 2006, it has both a spinnaker pole and also a bowsprit. My upwind sail area is 63 m2 and the asymmetric spinnaker has only 104 m2. I don’t have a scale to know the total weight of the boat, but the construction was with Divinicell and Epoxy resin from Barracuda. The ballast and the keel weighs 1050 kg and the max draft is 1.90 m.
Q: What materials were used to build the boat and the spar
A: Divinicell, Epoxy and biaxial cloth were used in the hull and aluminum in the mast and boom. The rudder axle is of hard aluminum with self aligning roller bearings made by Nautos.
Q: Why did you choose to build a GP 33? What did you like about the box rule?
A: My son and I like racing, but instead of buying an old used boat, putting some good sails on it and going racing, that boat would always be an used boat with all the problems of old boats. My son said to me: Why don’t you, with all the knowledge with Fiberglass that you have, built your own boat? That was the beginning; I started looking for a project at the end of 2005. First, I contacted Alan Andrews several times but had no answer. Mark Mills was kind but the price was too expensive for me. Volker has an IMS 29 that I like, but the project was not complete. Then I knew from a friend in my town that he had a project in this new class (the ORC GP 33) from Roberto Barros. I went to his house to learn about and see this project. It was exactly what I was looking for!
So in January 2006 I bought the design and in May I started to built the boat. Exactly 2 years later the boat was launched to go to my club to complete the installation of the fin bulb, mast and all the fittings. The Box Rule is very simple: all the boats are similar and racing is boat-on-boat. I also race IOM-International One Metre radio-controlled yachts and it is also very competitive.
Q: What kind of sailing are you planning to do, and where?
I intend to measure in ORCi and compete in Florianopolis – Santa Catarina and in the next Rolex Ilhabela Race Week.
Q: Have you found the boat to perform to your expectations?
Before the first trials I was very nervous about the boat’s reactions, but I was impressed after the first mile of sailing with 10 kts of wind where we were making 6 kts of speed upwind and with only 3 persons onboard. The reactions of the boat are great. The rudder is neutral and the response is immediate.
Q: Any other comments?
I advise every one who wants to built a sailboat to think about seriously.