The boat

Warrior's Wish is a 1999 Jutson 30; designed by Scott Jutson and built in Australia. The boat was built to the "Mount Gay 30" box rule. The Mount Gay 30 never took off here, but was big in Australia at one point. The boat was originally built for an owner in Michigan, where it was competitively raced under PHRF in buoy racing on Lake Michigan. The boat then sat for a couple of years before being purchased by Don Gray of North Carolina, the boat's current owner. Don successfully raced the boat in the 2007 and 2009 Bermuda 1-2, and the 2008 Singlehanded Transpac, putting more than 8,000 miles on her in the process.

The boat has a water ballast system, but that will be disabled when I race it in the 2010 Singlehanded Transpac. Up until a few days ago, the boat had a 4' bow sprit and assymetrical spinnakers, but I have removed that as we intend for me to use a more conventional spinnaker pole and fly symmetrical kites. The rig is a fractional aluminum one with triple spreaders and running backstays, as well as an adjustable backstay. The boat is constructed of fiberglass with a combination of foam and balsa cores. The rudder is almost entirely made of carbon. Some highlights of the boat are all NKE instruments (depth, speed, wind) with a hydraulic, below-decks autopilot, cockpit display and remote control. There is a triple reef mainsail with Germany Admiralty Cup style sheeting and a traveler mounted near the transom. Two jib tracks are on deck (#1 and #2 are aft, #3, #4 and storm jib on forward track). The rig has halyards for both masthead and fractional kites. There is a 2-cylinder Yanmar diesel inside. Sails are mostly made by Doyle, but quite a few of the "Anson" sails from Australia are still on board. All of the cockpit controls are provided by Harken and Spinlock.

Boat specs:

Year: 1999

Model: Jutson 30

Country of Origin: Australia

Designer: Scott Jutson

Length: 31 feet (9.45 meters)

Waterline: 28 feet

Weight: 6,030 lbs

Ballast: 2,500 lbs

Draft: 7 feet

Beam: 10'3"

Steering: Tiller