Whilst at the 2024 RS Venture Connect World Championship at Rutland Sailing Club earlier this month, we took the opportunity to sit down with the man responsible for growing class activity in the UK and beyond, Dan Jaspers.
The RS Venture Connect is a self-righting keelboat version of the RS Venture, a family cruising dinghy known for its stability and good use as a club training boat.
Keeping the boat hull and rigging constant, RS Sailing modified the cockpit design, manufactured plug and play para sailing equipment, and re-designed how important control lines were led back to people who might need to sail the boat from a more static, seated position. After a few iterations and working with suppliers like North Sails who helped to design a higher powered, racing suite of sails, the RS Venture Connect was born.
“Is there a limit to the adaptions that can be made?’’, I asked Dan. His response: “If there is, we haven’t found it.’’
He continued: “One of the adaptions is a joystick which is used to control the movement of the boat. It is like a tiller, but in a vertical format; moving the joystick left moves the boat left, and vice versa.’’
The joystick enables sailors who may not have the upper body, or core strength, to control the boat. Dan expanded on other adaptions built into the boat design: “Other modifications include a servo-assisted steering mainsheet kit, which uses an electric powered ram to push or pull against the tiller to turn the boat and an electric boom-mounted winch to control the mainsheet. This type of system enables some sailors to use their chin to control the steering.
The sip and puff control is another innovative piece of equipment. It uses air pressure as the force to activate a switch by sucking or blowing into the straw to reduce or increase air pressure. This action turns the switch on or off and that makes the servo-assisted element go one way or the other (left or right or in and out).
RS Sailing developed this ‘servo-assisted’ equipment in partnership with Scanstrutt, and in 2017, the collaborative innovation of the RS Venture Conversion Kit was recognised by a DAME Design Award at METSTRADE.
Excitingly, the RS Venture Connect fleet is growing worldwide, reflected in the 15 countries competing at the Worlds, and the expansive racing calendar which is already stacking up for next year.
A Caribbean Regional Championship is rumoured to be taking place in Antigua early in 2025, and the Swiss will once again be hosting an Invitational Cup in May on the stunning waters of Lake Geneva, with the Europeans being held in Norway.
“The RS Venture Connect class, much like all RS Sailing Classes, started in the UK,” stated Dan, “and as a result, hosts the most boats of any country at present, with Germany close behind. The challenge with countries like the USA is their size and spread of the potential fleets, which can make it harder for the sailors to race against each other. One of the focuses of the class is to consolidate these pockets of activity to help grow the fleets.’’
“RYA Sailability has done a fantastic job of getting people out and onto the water at a grassroots level. In 2022, they announced a new programme, the Para Sailing Hub, a platform designed to address the challenge of converting recreational sailors into more racing-oriented activity. With eight British teams at the World Championships, the signs are good that these efforts have paid off.’’ said Dan.
About 50% of the fleet at the Worlds have sailed before, but not in an RS Venture Connect, with the other half of the fleet having sailed the boats before, but only as part of their time at events such as the Para Sailing World Championships and the RS Venture Connect class worlds. According to Dan, limited experience is required to sail these boats: “It's a joystick. Left is left, right is right, and the sailor can be seated, with an instructor behind them if that’s what is required; the boat offers plenty of room in the cockpit for that extra person.’’
The RS Venture Connect class rules state that the spinnaker must stopped being flown at 17 knots of wind speed, due to an increased risk of boats being knocked on their side. At around 18-20 knots, the teams will be told to reef (reduce the size of) the mainsail, to lessen the total power being transferred into the boat by the wind. If the wind reaches 24 knots, racing is abandoned or cancelled.
Following a successful World Championships, what is next for this class? “More international events, hosting of continental championships in regions such as Asia, expanding the fleet size in America, and also supporting World Sailing in the para inclusive strategy launched earlier this year.’’ Dan replied.
“The longer-term goal is to develop a performance para inclusive ailing pathway which will, if we all do our bit to help, assist World Sailing in getting sailing reinstated by the International Paralympic Committee into the Paralympics.’’
Sailing clubs, organisations, and programmes, are recognising the potential of the RS Venture Connect, with most boats being sold to these groups.
Versatility is a key selling point - if you take the seats and control tower out, and you run all the control lines back to the front of the boat, the RS Venture Connect becomes a 16-foot family training keelboat which you can put an instructor and up to seven kids in or a family of between 4-6. This conversion process takes as little as 10 minutes after a few practise runs.
A challenge some clubs face is member retention, so perhaps introducing a keelboat that is available for members to hire could offer a new angle to sailing for some members and help to keep them engaged.
If you or your local club is interested, contact RS Sailing via info@rssailing.com or find your local dealer.