K1- The Boat To Bridge The Great Sailing Divide
THIS MONTH, the YL test boat is the K1 keelboat; a small lightweight singlehander of 15ft length and weighing just 125kg, a similar weight to many dinghy classes. So it seems like the ultimate cross over, something which combines the security of a keel, but is dinghy like to handle on land. Manufacturers often trumpet that they have found a new niche which is without a suitable product, but how often in this crucible of classes which is the modern British market, is that true? Let’s see how the K1 measures up, writes Alan Henderson. The K1 is produced and marketed by K1 Sailing, an experienced team comprising the designer Paul Handley, builder Synthesize Yachts and the sales team at Vandercraft. Paul Handley has designed successful keelboats and dinghies, including the K6 and Mustang 30 keelboats, and the popular RS Feva and RS Tera dinghies, which both quickly became ISAF international classes, plus the recent RS100. With the K1, Handley leads the team, not needing a big company like RS on board this time. The K1 aims to combine the sailing qualities of a small keelboat with the versatility of a dinghy to create a package to appeal to keelboat and dinghy sailors alike. The K1 is built in the UK by Synthesize Yachts which builds both small keelboats and dinghies such as the RS500 and RS800. Marketing is by Vandercraft from Devon, which also markets Phantom and V3000 dinghies. The K1 has a light, narrow hull with a 60kg bulb keel to create a fast, compact single-hander keelboat. Its fine hull draws on the look of model yachts, but I can reveal it’s much more fun to sail! The K1 is designed to sail heeled so that the bulb weight contributes to sail carrying power as well as reducing the likelihood of capsize. Hull weight is kept low by using resin infusion on a lightweight core material, so it is easy to launch and recover. Another factor keeping weight down is the choice of carbon spars to minimise weight aloft. The light weight of the mast, which has a single set of spreaders, also makes it easy to step. The spars are complemented by lightweight Mylar sails. A lightweight jib boom helps make the jib self tacking and easy to handle, and the jib and its boom can swing square to the boat for running downwind. The keel is lowered and lifted easily with the boat in the water by a simple block and tackle which is stowed in a cockpit bag in the boat. The rudder is a lifting dinghy style, so the boat can be launched in shallow water to sail out to deeper water before dropping the keel fully. The test sail was on the Hamble, a sheltered estuary, and with a nice gradually inclined slipway available. The boat arrived on a dinghy style combi, with the roadbase a standard model for various RS and other dinghies. The mast was stepped and the boat rigged just as easily as you would with a dinghy. It is a clean and simple boat inside, so indeed needs a lot less faffing about than many dinghies in setting them up for launch. Designer Paul Handley demonstrated how easy it is to launch and recover single-handed, floating it off the launching trolley and then jumping on board. Winds were light for the test sail with flat water. My most lasting impression was just how easy the K1 was to sail. It was utterly relaxing. The boat felt light and quick on the water, and I have no doubt that any dinghy sailor would instantly feel in tune with the boat. Keelboat sailors will appreciate its fine sailing performance, which unlike most keelboats requires little grunt to deliver. Usually when testing a new boat, it takes a little time to get used to its controls, layout, balance etc, but in the K1, I was instantly at home. The K1 has just a main and jib, so avoids all the complications which go with spinnakers. Instead, the boat’s lightness and fine lines combine to deliver its performance. The jib is simple to set, with the boom helping to provide support on the foot, meaning that the helm does not need to spend any time floating shape into the sail downwind. The helm can thus concentrate on the mainsheet which is Laser style, on a traveller at the stern, leading forward along the boom, and down to a final block at the mast foot, so well forward. The cockpit is long, allowing the helm to move as far forward as he wishes, but the space onboard means that taking a crew for cruises would be simple. For racing, the K1 is expected to be sailed single-handed, but it would be a suitable boat for taking even young children or grandchildren onboard. The K1 sails off a test PY of around 1060, making it about the speed of an RS200 or Albacore, or not far off the speed of a Flying Fifteen in dayboat terms. On the water it felt that it would cope comfortably with that PY. Certainly it easily outpaced a Laser 2000, and pointed well. It is a boat designed to be happy when sailing heeled, so how hard you hike it is optional. The K1 was comfortable to hike, and the long sidedeck gives you ample choice of trim. Windspeeds of up to about 8mph on the test sail proved the rig with its 11sq.m of sail generated plenty of power, allowing me to hike fully at times. Downwind the K1 also slipped along well on its narrow hull, and the jib boom helped goosewinging. The helm can sit inside the boat as well as on the side deck, and on the run, some people may choose the former. Tacking and gybing was simple, indeed its momentum from its weight compared with some lightweight dinghies will probably make tacking easier than on many modern dinghies. Recovery of the boat is easy, and the rudder is a lifting type, so there are no worries about a rudder fin under the boat when coming in to the slipway. The keel is on a 6:1 multi purchase rope and tackle, and the keel can be part raised when coming in to land. Just in case you are in any doubt about its dinghy-like nature, the K1, after removing its keel, can even be transported on a roof rack like a dinghy. As usual with test sails, I had just one chance to try the K1, which happened to be in light winds and a sheltered location. This was quite sufficient to convince me of its speed, ease of handling and ease of launching. I’d be more than happy to try it again in windy conditions on the open sea, but for now I can certainly see it being an excellent boat for both lochs and estuaries, which coincidentally are the main habitat of the boat whose owners are making a large proportion of the K1’s enquiries and sales, the Flying Fifteen. Its lightness means that one person launching and recovering the K1 single-handed would probably find it an easier job than two people launching or recovering a Fifteen. The simplicity of its sail plan with just the jib and main would be another attraction compared with a Fifteen. The K1 also offers tremendous value for money. At £5,990 you could buy two K1s for the price of a Fifteen, and probably still have change. Comparing it with dinghies, it also offers excellent value for money and good performance, plus the keel helps look after you. So for older dinghy sailors, I see the K1 as an attractive option. For instance against a Solo, which is often sailed by the older age brackets, it is much quicker and nicer to sail…and costs about the same. Amongst younger and mainstream dinghy sailors, there are few keelboats which offer sufficient appeal for a dinghy sailor to even think of crossing over sailing’s big divide - the yawning chasm between dinghies and yachts. And if you can think of any which might appeal, the cost and hassle of finding several crew will quickly put you off. But now with the introduction of the K1, here is one with none of the usual downsides, plus a nimble sailing performance to match most dinghies. So yes, for the first time I can remember, here is a boat for which there really is an unoccupied niche, ready and waiting. Most designers until recently would not have dared to conceive a keelboat so light that it crosses over to appealling to dinghy and dayboat sailors. But now carbon spars and lightweight hull construction make that possible, while elegant design, and the boldness to be first to that new niche, have brought that apparently unlikely possibility to full fruition in the K1. The K1 attracted big crowds at the RYA Dinghy Show in March. Since launch early this year, orders have been taken for 23 boats, and the first fleet will be at Lyme Regis. Closer to home, I think the K1 could do well say at Largs or elsewhere on the Clyde or Forth estuaries, while Scotland’s lochs and the Lake District would be other ideal locations for the K1. Indeed two orders have just been taken for Windermere. Demonstration sails of the K1 are being arranged at various locations, so far in the south of England, but perhaps further north after that. Test sails can be arranged through Jeff Vanderbroght at Vandercraft. • Test sail courtesy of Vandercraft 01404 891 913 and Paul Handley.