Two yachts to this design have been built. DONKY 6 for Dr. Shuji Doi of Japan, and the second, SHOCKWAVE, making her racing debut under the ownership of Neville Crichton, a New Zealander living in Australia.

 

Doi prepared DONKY 6 for Japan Cup competition where the yacht finished a creditable second in her class. The yacht now moves on to the Two Ton and Kenwood Cup events in Hawaii this August.

 

SHOCKWAVE'S first racing event will be the Two Ton and Kenwood Cups, to be followed by competition at the 1993 Admiral's Cup.

 

DONKY 6 and SHOCKWAVE are a logical development from the successful 1990 Design 242 seen on the water as LA ROUGE. LA ROUGE won the 1991 Two Ton Cup and additionally placed first in her class, and second overall on the winning, all Farr-designed Italian "A" team at the 1990 Sardinia Cup.

 

WINGS OF ORACLE, a 1990 development of Design 242, indicated gains in all round performance. Design 268 follows those trends with developments that included subtle changes in hull shape to improve performance in waves, and more efficient keels and rudders.

 

Both the Admiral's Cup and the Japan Cup share variable weather conditions demanding boats with all round performance strength. For the Japan Cup however, more emphasis is placed on reaching performance, whereas alterations in Admiral's Cup courses over the last two events place a premium on upwind/downwind sailing ability.

 

In order to develop reaching performance for the Japan Cup without compromising strong upwind/downwind characteristics, Design 268 reveals more powerful stern sections to increase the heeled length of the boat at the cost of a small amount of sail area.

 

Design 268 then makes a smooth transition to windier venues such as the Kenwood Cup where fresh to moderate conditions prevail. By increasing the stability, trimming down at the stern, and removing sail area this design becomes longer and more powerful.

 

Construction details include carbon fiber specifications with improved lighter pre-preg intermediate modulus fabrics bonded to Aramid honeycomb cores to achieve a lighter, stiffer structure for a better concentration of weight.