One of the first stands to catch the eye at this weekend’s Sailboat and Windsurf Show at Alexandra Palace was the National 12 development class featuring a new modified Big Issue design built and fitted out by 21 year-old Mike Cooke.

Mike who’s been sailing 12s most of his life and who’s recently clocked up some top results on the open meeting circuit, has built the boat over the winter and produced a machine that looks set to do some serious business on the race course this year. To obtain optimum speed in heavier winds, the hull shape has been modified slightly from the original Phil Morrison Big Issue design making it finer in the bow area and wider the transom. Its shell is built of glass foam sandwich and the rest is carbon fibre. And although the boat has yet to be weighed, early indications show it’s going to carry at least 10kg of lead.

While the layout is fairly standard and fitted out with Ronstan fittings throughout, Mike has included one or two new simple ideas which should prove effective on the racecourse. Instead of the centreboard box finishing just aft of the crew area, Mike has run the case down the spine of the boat to the transom. This not only gives extra buoyancy but acts as a kick bar in the helmsman’s area and also gives the boat stability when righting after a capsize. Mike pointed out that although the hull is relatively self-draining, this particular design allows more water than usual in to the boat following a capsize. The buoyancy tank/kick bar therefore acts as sort of bulk head to prevent water sloshing from one side of the boat to the other which should give it more stability when recovering from a capsize.

The Super Spar carbon fibre mast is complimented with Cooke-made cruciform section carbonfibre boom and Alverbank sails. The well-finished foils are from Kevin Driver’s Wrecked’em Boatyard. For more information, visit the stand in the West Hall this weekend or contact the class association on national12@ndirect.co.uk