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Thirty-five firsts and two seconds in forty-one major races makes Afterburner one of the fastest sailboats in the Pacific. Afterburner, a native New Zealand boat, has gained much attention and acclaim as the fastest boat wherever she has lived. The enormity of her sails and hulls alone draws the interest of spectators. Her life at sea is a unique and fascinating tale, marked by stages of development and achievement. |
 Afterburner's rich history of modifications and improvements began in 1987, when she was built by John Hughes for Alastair Russell, both of Auckland, New Zealand. The original Bladerunner design by Malcolm Tennant was a 43' x 27' catamaran, a sailboat with two hulls. In the years to come, Afterburner would reach eight stories high, with its majestic 82' mast, be widened to 30' and stretched to a massive 52 feet! During the first 12 years of her life, Afterburner underwent many changes to perfect her original design. She went on to win the Lindauer Coastal Classic race numerous times and was hailed as the fastest boat in New Zealand. This was quite an honor, especially considering she was born in a country known for its love and expertise of sailing. In 2000, owner Alastair Russell, unable to find the time to sail this grande dame of the seas, placed Afterburner on the market, and fate stepped in. At that same time Bill Gibbs, President of Gibbs and Associates, decided to follow his dream and pursue his passion for offshore sailing, fast and competitively. He came across Afterburner on the internet. It was a match made in New Zealand…the only problem was that Bill lived clear across the Pacific, in Southern California. |
Afterburner Becomes an American
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Afterburner and all her crated pieces were shipped off on a freighter. Two and a half weeks later she arrived in Long Beach, California and was then placed on a truck to Ventura. Many logistics and details later, including documents, tariffs, and local regulations, Afterburner was carefully and diligently put back together. The project took a week's worth of work by 6 - 10 people each day. But in the end, a masterpiece had been reborn, and the west would soon know first-hand of Afterburner's grandeur, beauty and speed. |
A Star is Reborn…in California
It wasn't long before Bill was recruiting crew members and making his own improvements to Afterburner. He turned to his staff at Gibbs and Associates for willing deck hands. Don Meifert, VP of Operations and Finance, and Vincent Schmitt, Senior Software Engineer, became active members of Team Afterburner. The rest of the crew is filled out with local sailing enthusiasts. During Afterburner's first run at the Newport-Ensenada Race in 2001, the mast snapped, just half way through the race. Because many of her parts were custom made in New Zealand, the best solution for replacing them was to duplicate the original part. Using GibbsCAM software, an aluminum base was designed and machined to hold the new carbon fiber wand from the UK, which holds the wind instruments at the top of the mast The stainless steel ball that works in a ball and socket joint for the bowsprit, the carbon fiber pole that extends out 12 feet in front of the boat, was damaged and redesigned and machined using GibbsCAM as well.
With Afterburner rebuilt and refitted with new parts, Team Afterburner was on their way to making its mark on the west coast. |
A Winning Team - Gibbs and Afterburner
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Just over a year after their initial meeting with the Kiwi catamaran, Team Afterburner was charged and ready to enter the 2002 Newport-Ensenada Race, and they had their eyes set on the coveted "First Yacht to Finish" title. This particular race is acclaimed as the world's largest international yacht race, with 500 boats traveling a course running 125 miles from southern California to Mexico. On April 26, 2002 they joined the sea of boats in the third start and quickly took the lead in the race. Wind speeds reached 24 knots and averaged 20 knots for a couple hours that night. Eleven hours later, Afterburner sailed into the waters of Ensenada. It wasn't until the following day that they received word that they had joined the ranks of sailing greats Dennis Connor and Roy Disney, and had finished first in the race! |
Ready to Take-on All Challengers
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"As a team, we've really gotten to the point where we're setting our own standards and meeting our own challenges," says Bill Gibbs. "The competition is out there, but we're so far out ahead that we're focused on our performance, not what they're doing. You could say that we're our toughest competition." Team Afterburner returned to Newport on April 24, 2004 to defend their title in the Newport-Ensenada race and succeeded for the 3rd time. This time by a large enough margin to be the first overall boat on handicap as well as elapsed time. Her time of 9:56:56 placed her 3 hours ahead of Alchemy, the 2nd boat to finish. |
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