Delphia: Ideal Racer Trainer
IT IS NEVER going to be easy to break into the UK sportboat market that is presently dominated by the Laser SB3 and which sees the J80 strong and the likes of the Hunter 707, the 1720 and the Beneteau 25 all going through their own little peaks and troughs as prices for used boats bottom out. The latter trio will always move and new fleets build as boats gravitate to different areas driven by good value for money. And all three of them have lots to offer at respectable money, writes YL racing editor Andi Robertson. However, the Polish built Delphia 24 is already successful in Eastern Europe. They have sold close to 40 boats outwith Poland and there are fleets building nicely in Germany too. As well as boats arriving in the Britain, where the Bosun’s Locker have one at Port Edgar and the UK agents brought a second to Tarbert, there have been Delphia 24s sold into Sydney, Australia and Scandinavia. The Bosun’s Locker have had a Delphia 24 on active service since the spring. Two raced at the Bell Lawrie Scottish Series and took fourth and fifth. They were over-run by three well sailed 1720s, but managed to hold their own against Melges 24, Beneteau 25s and J80s. It has to be said the Delphia 24 is up against a competitive group of boats, but it is a nicely built boat and a good, complete package. We had the pleasure of a couple of sails on the 24: An evening race in the mixed handicap fleet and an enjoyable day sail with my kids in near perfect conditions, just to underline a useful insight into the dual purpose nature of this interesting boat. Delphia are a relatively large scale builder in Poland. Building in Olecko, their output is everything from conventional cruising yachts to powerboats, producing over 3,000 boats a year. Previously, before they set up their own plants, they built under contract for Jeanneau, also J80s and J92s as well as numerous Feeling models. Nearly three years ago they recognised the need for a budget priced open monohull for handicap and one design racing which would also serve well the requirement for a training boat with a strong performance. Andrejez Skrzat, a well respected Polish designer with a large spectrum of boats to his credit was duly chosen. He thereafter designed all seven boats in the Delphia line up. So where does the Delphia find itself in the sportboat market? It is probably most similar to the 1720, but while the Castro design has no toe straps and corrals, the crew with granny bars to stop sitting out, the Delphia is a sit out boat. And the crew all face in unlike, say the 707, the J80 and the Melges. But with a lifting keel it steals a march on the 707 for being easily launched, recovered and trailed. The Delphia 24’s signature is its distinctive slightly concave hull sides, aft and chine. Forward the entry is shallow and relatively slender but with ample buoyancy. The coachroof blister is pronounced to afford space below. Deck layout is conventional. The kite is launched from a pair of transverse bags which works well. The cockpit is massive with plenty of space for crew, thus making it a good training boat. The mainsheet is set on a central swivel jammer which worked well for us, the backstay is led forward for the helm, while the pole controls are sent through the cabin and lie to hand on the starboard side of the little coachroof. We have to say that in terms of the layout and the ergonomics there were no complaints, it all seemed to work well. The kicker is the conventional cascade system which has a long tail allowing it to be tensioned or released from anywhere in the boat, and we liked the neat detailing on the clever washboard which drops in tidily and securely. The alloy rig offers plenty of tuning options. Spreader angles are secured by bottlescrews, but along with the jib Cunningham, forestay tension and shroud tensioning, there are enough speed controls for the tweakers. The main has a rounded roach, while the genoa has a small overlap and is sheeted to short tracks on a conventional 2:1 system and sheet loads are light. The keel is a straight vertical dagger plate with a 250 kilo lead shoe incorporated, which gives a draft of 1.62m, or 23cm with the daggerplate and lifting rudder raised. In RORC, RYA sportboat rating the Delphia 24 is off 0.908 which makes it slightly quicker than the J80 and slower than the Melges 24. The Melges gives the D24 three minutes in the hour and it will, in turn, give J80 about 1.5 minutes. The Delphia stayed contentedly with 35ft cruiser-racers upwind in 14-17 knots of breeze, with our motley crew hiking and leaving the J80 behind. Perhaps a well sailed J80 up against an average crew in a D24 would be more of a match, but this Delphia was going well upwind. The boat feels like a big dinghy upwind, stiffening nicely when the boat heeled. Certainly in terms of weight on the helm and responsiveness it was like a dinghy, but pleasingly positive and direct. More rudder depth/area might help in the stronger gusts when the boat was well heeled. Upwind in the gusts the boat remained balanced and tracked well. The Delphia 24 requires crew weight on the rail. Four up is OK, but five smaller weight individuals is possibly ideal. Sailing dinghy style, with ratchets on the jib leads and the mainsheet purchase, there was no problem in de-powering the main or the jib slightly and re-sheeting them, even for the lighter crews. The sails package is disappointing however. They are barely acceptable as racing sails, but Delphia UK have set up a package with Sobstad at a further £2,500. The gennaker shape is poor and for the wind strength and sail area we were setting, the boat lacked the power in marginal stuff. And when the boat was reaching the gennaker needed to be over-sheeted, producing too much sideways thrust. Overall the boat performs really well. It is a lot of fun for the money, well thought out and executed. As we have said before with this boat, you have to look beyond the origins and the badging. If it were produced by Laser or RS then it would be creating much more interest. We rather like the boat and, indeed, for the Forth and the Clyde it is an ideal sportboat. The fact you can stick it on a trailer and take it home is important. Certainly if you are in the market for a sportboat it is well worth a closer look. Give them a call at Port Edgar.