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Mx-ray Sailboat

Very fast, monohull single-hander

The MX-Ray sailboat is one of those that lots of dinghy sailors want to know about, but evidently not enough wanted to buy, as it is no longer made. With a top speed of 20 knots, the ability to plane in winds as low as 6 knots, this tiny sailboat or sailing dinghy is truly amazing.

How come it is so fast? Well, it is similar in concept to the Moth sailboats, which have been used in international sailboat racing for years. Like the Moth, the e MX-Ray sailboat has a very narrow hull, giving a small wetted area, but widens out above the waterline so the crew can sit out to counterbalance the force on the sail.

In the Moth, which was normally wooden, a trampoline was mounted on the hull, but the MX-Ray sailboat is plastic, so it is molded to provide the space for the sailor to sit out. This is how it gets the name – well the Ray part. Looked on from above, the MX-Ray sailboat looks like a stingray.

Unlike most single-handers, the e MX-Ray

Article continued below...

Eaton/Clarke on Canaan Win 2010 Little America's Cup
NEWPORT, RI, August 28, 2010 -- If wing technology didn’t have everyone’s attention after BMW Oracle Racing’s victorious 33rd America’s Cup, it definitely does now. The high speeds and almost instant acceleration of cambered foils had members of America’s Cup syndicates, top designers, and all sailors in awe.  Canadian C Class Catamaran Team of Fred Eaton, Magnus Clarke, Steve Killing, Rob Paterson, and Rossi Milev have been along for the entire ride, one way or another. Clarke, Paterson, and Milev took six months off from their C Class program to manage wing protection for the largest wingmast ever built for a race-boat: BMW Oracle’s (223 foot) 68 metre-tall wing. Reunited in March, their team brought four wings to the International C Class Catamaran Championship hosted by New York Yacht Club on Narragansett Bay this past week. “Upwind the camber is moderate, but downwind with the flap set at 40 degrees, the wing will produce almost double the force of an equal area soft sail,” explains Killing. Eaton and Clarke raced Killing’s latest design, Canaan, to a thrilling victory today in the final day of match racing. 


mx-ray sailboat image

sailboat has a lot of sail. Like many modern high-speed sailboats, it has a bowsprit so that a large foresail can be carried despite the short length of the hull.

Not only is there a mainsail with a deep roach, but also a jib, genoa, with stowing tube and a spinnaker. With this much sail, it is no surprise that the e MX-Ray sailboat is very fast, and can leave Lasers well behind.

The MX-Ray sailboat is made from advanced materials, with a carbon fiber mast and bowsprit and daggerboard. This is fine with a new boat, but now that you cannot buy a new one, getting a replacement for a broken mast could be a problem these days. Of course, these carbon fiber parts are expensive.

The basic specification of the MX-Ray sailboat is: LOA: 12 feet 11 inches Beam: 8 feet, 2 feet 6 inches at the waterline Draft: 2 feet 8 inches Weight: 175 lb

The MX-Ray sailboat was a remarkable design, able to give plenty of excitement to those that want to go really fast but have a small budget.




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