Lewis Beery, Tom Purcell, and Andy Rose, who sail out of Balboa YC in Newport Beach, Calif., asked Alan Andrews to design them a boat capable of performing well under three wildly different rules, ORR (a VPP-based rule used for the Transpac and other West Coast distance races), PHRF (still hugely popular on the West Coast), and IRC (used by St. Francis YC for its Big Boat Series). To add to the challenge, they also wanted a boat that would be comfortable, fast, and easy to sail. "In effect," says Andrews, "they wanted a gentleman's racer."

In order to serve many masters a boat must be adaptable; It's OK is all of that, especially in downwind mode. It has the capability to fly symmetric spinnakers on a standard spinnaker pole, asymmetric spinnakers flown from a bolt-on, deck-mounted bowsprit, or a large, bow-tacked, masthead, roller-furled gennaker.

To keep the boat light, Dencho Marine, of Long Beach, Calif., built It's OK with vacuum-bagged carbon-fiber laminates and a PVC foam core. "Because the boat was going to have plenty of amenities in the interior," says Andrews, "we had to pull something out of the bulb. To help righting moment, we used Navtec PBO rigging to support the high-modulus Hall Spars carbon rig. IRC doesn't particularly like PBO rigging, but it's fine under ORR, which likes a stiff righting moment."

Andrews took a lot of technology from the TP 52 rule for It's OK. "The mast size is about the same size as a TP 52, with a taller foretriangle," says Andrews. "PHRF of Southern California hits you about nine seconds a mile for the masthead gennaker, but when you're sailing in a seven-knot breeze, you'll increase boatspeed by about three-quarters of a knot with an easily handled sail."

The interior is comfortable, which worked out well during this year's Transpac, in which It's OK placed third in class, after sailing for 11d:4h:26m. "The boat has a huge refrigerator and freezer, and even though we took two days longer than planned to get to Hawaii, we never had to eat freeze-dried," says Andrews. "In the middle of the boat there's a wrap-around settee with pilot berths above on either side. The galley has a two-burner stove, an oven, deep sink, and a microwave, and across from that is a comfortable, sit-down nav station."

Technical Highlights

LOA: 50'
LWL: 46'6"
Beam: 13'9"
DSPL: 18,500 lbs.
SA (u/d): 1,631/2,894 sq. ft.
Draft: 10'5"
Design: Alan Andrews Yacht Design, Inc.
Builder: Dencho Marine, Inc.
Sails: Ullman Sails
Paint Systems: Awlgrip
Mast: Hall Spars
Rigging: Navtec PBO
Instruments: B&G H3000
Deck hardware: Harken
Rigging hydraulics: Navtec
Engineering: High Modulus, NZ