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Designed
by Nic Bailey
and built by Rob Ward and the Venture West team in Cornwall, England,
in 1994, 'O Flo' is a high-tech, fast cruising cat. [For anyone
who is interested, she is a foam-epoxy sandwich, vacuum-bagged using
unidirectional glass, Airex, Divinicell and Herrex with loads of
additional carbon, a rotating carbon wing mast, all carbon spars,
retractable daggerboards and rudders and a kevlar skin below the
water].
There is a collection of photos of the O Flo, click here
to take a look at her in actions.
She is 40' long, 23'6" wide, draws 20" and weighs something
less than 4 tons. She is not a luxury boat but she is very fast
and exceedingly strong capable of well over 20 knots on flat water
and much more when surfing always in complete safety. She was designed
for safe cruising and has a modest 45', 3/4 fractional, rig with
fully battened main, 100% jib [hanked], gennaker and spinnaker.
Accommodation is in two doubles forward with adjoining cabins which
can be used as dressing rooms or converted into single or small
double cabins [this leaves little room for storage so leave the
Kitchen sink at home]. There is also a double cabin aft of the navigation
station on the starboard side usually reserved for the skipper.
The saloon seats eight comfortably around a central table and there
is no shortage of space in the cockpit,on deck or in the nets. There
is one large toilet with foot-pump operated shower [water = weight]
port aft and a small but adequate galley forward. At present there
is no refrigeration but we find that two coolers do the job nicely.
The design of the boat precludes the fitting of internal doors.
Curtains suffice and allow easy passage of air.
'O Flo' has completed one circumnavigation and eight Atlantic crossings
and loves it.
Additional Information about the Orinoco and it's
journeys
Here are some articles written by Rob Ward, the previous owner,
which appeared in Multihull Magazine. You may need to
download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files.
Circumnavigation
of O Flo - Part 1
Circumnavigation of O Flo - Part 2
A look at the Caribbean - Part 3
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