A hot little sport boat recently caught our eye: the Zim 15. Coming from the former owner of Vanguard Sailboats, Steve Clark, the Zim 15 is meant for the post-collegiate sailor who wants excitement in a bit of a bigger boat. It's a small sailboat, a performance dinghy, and looks like a lot of fun to sail.
• The typical rolled lip hull to deck joint, which is highly prone to stress cracks, has been eliminated.
• The rig, designed by Southern Spars pushes development to a new level. The spars and sails, designed by North Sails, have been tuned with complex modeling software to provide spar to sail synergy.
• The mast is designed with specific flex characteristics that enable a large upwind sail plan without the boat being heavily overpowered in higher wind speeds.
• The large sail plan increases the boats potential performance off the wind eliminating the need for a spinnaker or genniker.
• The gnav strut and cunningham are the primary sail controls and are led to the thwart between the sailors for easy adjustment.
• Mast & sail combination is very tunable relative to the current boats in the marketplace. The ability to adjust the rig tension while sailing will allow the boat to be powered up or depowered easily.
• The incorporation of the dangly pole in not only to be used as a whisker pole downwind but greatly improves the jib effectiveness upwind and reaching while keeping the crew more engaged.
• The integrated bow and corner bumpers will provide additional durability.
• Pivoting rudder blade without using a rudder head.
• We have included the ability to raise the centerboard pivot position. This reduces draft and moves the center of effort closer to the waterline. Lighter teams will be able to “reef" the centerboard as part of de powering in fresh conditions and allow for a wider crew weigh range.
The Zim 15 will be debuting at the Annapolis Boat Show in October, and we can't wait to check her out!
Thanks to Teeps for sharing this one.
