When Doug Baker wanted a new Magnitude he didn't let the lack of an offshore rule get in his way. Instead, he went to Alan Andrews Yacht Design and Dencho Marine, both of which he'd built boats with before, and asked for an 80-footer that would do well in West Coast distance races.
Baker, 66, knew that canting-keel technology would be important. "If
you want a grand-prix boat, that's what you have to do," says Baker.
"It's a big hassle to put in because there's so much engineering
involved, but it's a huge advantage and well worth it. You put all that
weight up on the high side and there you are." Because of its complexity, Magnitude 80
had its ups and downs in 2004. "Last year was part of the growing
process," says Baker. But by mid-summer they were starting to figure it
out, and Magnitude 80 was second across the line only to the 140-foot Mari-Cha IV
in the West Marine Pacific Cup. Earlier this year, Baker and his 13
crew took line honors in the Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta Race and
broke the course record in the 800-mile Newport Beach to Cabo San Lucas
Race by eight hours. Forward of Magnitude 80's
Hall Spars rig is a single daggerboard on centerline, which gives the
big carbon-fiber boat the lift that the keel strut doesn't provide. "We
quickly decided that was the way to go for so much offshore racing and
downwind sailing instead of a forward rudder or twin bilgeboards," says
Andrews. "Having a retractable board means we can get rid of the drag
and have as much or as little of the board showing as we want."
Having a daggerboard directly forward of the mast, however, prevents
the use of a spinnaker pole-a tradeoff Baker accepts. "Doug also likes
to sail Wednesday night beer can races," says Andrews. "When you're
sailing around Long Beach in a boat that big and that fast, and using a
kite, you want a system that'll work well with that, so we figured 'why
not put a retractable bowsprit on this thing?'" Andrews and
Hall Spars developed a retractable deck-mounted pole that, once fully
extended, can swing on a pivot point. "For the Wednesday night races
they lock the pole on centerline so they don't have to use spinnaker
guys," says Andrews. "When the wind comes up on a distance race and you
want to pull the pole back a bit, instead of blowing off a tack line
and having the whole sail blow off to leeward, you raise the pole out
of the chock and pull it back. It's a little complicated but it solves
that problem of having the spinnaker pole hitting the top of the board
when the board is pulled up." Before the start of the '05 Transpac race Barker had his strategy laid out. "We're not rated as fast as the three maxZ86s (Pyewacket and Morning Glory, both canting-ballast, twin-foil boats, and Windquest,
a fixed-keel boat); they have to give us just under 10 hours," he said.
"On paper, we're not as fast, but we're not conceding that we can't get
there first. Our hope is that maybe the three of them will go someplace
and we can slip away." Magnitude
wasn't able to sneak past any of the bigger boats, crossing the line
fifth, but it did finish second overall on corrected time in Division
1, 1h:14m behind new course record holder Morning Glory. Technical Highlights LOA: 80' LWL: 70'7" Beam: 14'6" DSPL: 31,750 lbs. Ballast: 13,050 lbs. Upwind S/A: 3,075 sq. ft. Downwind S/A: 6,983 sq. ft. Draft: 12'2" Design: Alan Andrews Builder    : Dencho Marine Sails: North Paint Systems: Sterling Topcoats Mast/Rigging: Hall Spars/Navtec/Future Fibres Instruments: B&G Deck hardware: Harken Rigging hydraulics: Cariboni Keel system: Dirk Kramers DKI -Tony Bessinger