img11182The latest yacht to come out of Sydney Yachts Custom Division has been launched on Sydney Harbour with instant success on the race track.

The 60' Grand Prix racer is co designed by David Lyons with owner Dick Cawse and is a design development of the previous 'Vanguard' (a Lyons/Cawse 46). One important development is the trim tab on the keel that has the potential to make the yacht one of the fastest fixed keel yachts in Australia, and after its first race on Saturday produced a 10 minute win on IRC, it seems that the potential will be recognised.

Dick said 'We had our first race on Saturday, the CYCA Short ocean race, and were very happy to get the trifecta, Line honours, 1st IRC and 1st PHS so everyone was quite chuffed with that for our first outing'.

He went on to say 'The new Vanguard certainly likes going upwind and so far has shown no vices, but it is a steep leaning curve to get the best out of the boat. The trim tab seems to work perfectly, and it's fascinating to watch the boat lift and the leeway reduce as it is applied'.

The yacht will be heavily campaigned in most of the major 2004/2005 events in Australia including the CYCA Ocean point score, Rolex series, Canon Big Boat Race and Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race where it will join a hot fleet of 60 footers including Wild Oats.

The new 'Vanguard' is the latest of a line of yachts, as Dick explained 'Over the years I've had 6 Vanguards (Farr one ton centreboard, Etchells, Peterson 45, Farr43, and last one was the first of the Lyons/Cawse designed LC46) I hope I haven't forgotten any'!

When asked about dealing with Sydney Yachts for this project Dick had this to say 'Well I thought building the last Vanguard 46 was a breeze but I have to say I think this was even better in many ways'. Firstly you have a very highly skilled custom team that were extremely easy to work with, and the co-operation from the management and office staff really made my job much easier. However I think the best thing in all this, was the 'one stop shopping feature' with the metal shop, spar-maker (Carbontech) and electrical specialists all on the premises, it sure makes it a whole lot easier and quicker to communicate and sort out any issues that are bound to occur in a project of this size and nature. In fact the two things that made me choose Sydney Yachts for this project was the 'one stop shopping', and the marketing ability of your organization'.

The LC 60 continues the impressive output of Custom Projects from Sydney Yachts Custom facility with the Sydney 34 canting keel racer launched in July and a second Warwick 66 luxury Cruising Yacht under construction.

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