Carroll Marine ID35: Built For Speed
The ID35 is a top-quality one-design racer
From the moment one first steps aboard the Carroll ID35, the impression is that she is stable — so stiff in fact that the side decks barely rock when you step aboard. Plenty of stability and a big rig ensures lots of power and she loads up quite quickly as the main sheet is brought on. The main sheet itself, though well-loaded, is easily worked, while the traveler, situated well aft behind the helmsman, is also easily worked via a multi-purchase system carefully hidden inside the side decks. All the major controls, including the hydraulic forestay adjuster, come out at the helmsman's feet into a central console.
Upwind, the impression is of a powerful, stable, easily-driven boat. Increasing heel adds progressively more helm load and though the boat is well-balanced, the rudder is certainly doing plenty of work. This is a boat to be steered with the full hand rather than just the fingers. Tacking presents few problems and even the big jib can be sheeted in by hand. The thin foils do not have a lot of bite so it is essential to load the boat gently coming out of the tack, ensuring that the speed builds before too much heel comes on. Similarly, on the wind this is a boat that needs to be kept on her feet with carefully coordinated work between the helmsman and main sheet trimmer. Foot chocks for the helmsman are well placed and the mainsheet trimmer has a well-organized workspace.
Perhaps the most unusual feature about the 1D35 is the rig. Surprisingly, it manages not only without runners, but also without any standing backstay. Fore and aft support for the rig comes instead from a pair of deeply swept spreaders balanced by a fractional forestay. The forestay itself is also unusual in that it connects via a Vectran strop to a hydraulic cylinder under the foredeck, allowing rig tension adjustment underway. All this is achieved by using a stiffer than usual carbon rig from Hall Spars and substantial rod-rigging.
On the very solid-looking mast is set a huge mainsail and small jib. The largest jib has an overlap of just 110% with an 85% short-hoist sail as the first change. Spinnakers are set to a conventional pole, with a bow strop (not fitted at the time of our test) to facilitate gybing the permitted asymmetric spinnakers.
With such limited control afloat, correct initial set-up of the rig will prove vital, with the individual shroud tensions requiring adjustment between races as the wind builds or drops. On our test sail, the rig was if anything too straight, leaving the mainsail a fraction full in the front and subject to back winding from the jib. While there is little doubt that the simplicity of the system makes the boat easy to sail, setting it up for specific conditions will take some care. Though the limited adjustability will make little difference in terms of one design racing — as all boats will be the same — one can not help thinking that more conventionally-rigged boats might gain some advantage in terms of gear changing if and when the boat has to race in a handicap fleet.
Attention to detail is universally good with each and every fitting and system designed and position for effective use. The fittings themselves are from Harken and Spinlock, all working to perfection. On deck there is plenty of space for the crew, with no real compromises made in the deck layout to allow for increased volume down below. On the critical side, given the huge expanse of deck area, the non-slip could have offered a better grip.
As might be expected from any boat built by Carroll Marine the standard of construction seems very high. Most of the interior panels are fully structural with a molded deck lining the only real concession to aesthetics. Though the epoxy- and fiberglass-laminate over a foam core may not be the cheapest solution it does offer light weight and durability. While the middle of the boat is finished in a simple utilitarian white, the ends have been left unpainted allowing the quality of the glass work to show through the translucent resin.
The fixtures and fittings down below are there almost entirely to ensure compliance with regulations. The one exception is the cool box that also serves for the bottom step of the companionway. Useful and centrally-placed it makes an excellent stowage space even if you don't add any ice. The small stove and sink unit can expect to see only marginal service. For those who require it a slightly public head is located just forward of the main bulkhead on the starboard side.
Despite the simplicity, the attention to detail is as good belowdecks as it is above with good quality wiring and electrical systems promising long-term reliability in an hostile environment. Sea water inlet and outlets are restricted to one seacock each, with a simple manifold system taking water to and from the places where it is required.
Relatively low displacement and high righting moment is not always smiled upon under the IRC rule and it will be interesting to see how well the boat performs in this arena. Perhaps more interestingly, the ID35 has many of the attributes that the new IRM rule seeks to promote. Surprisingly, stability still falls slightly short of the IRM base value, though the easily-driven hull form is exactly the kind of thing IRM is trying to promote. Handicap racing might be fun but a fleet of ten or twelve racing together really would be interesting.
