Luna

FIN17

In 2010, after decades of successful offshore racing, Harri and Markus Roschier got the idea of non-handicap racing. Intensive research pointed at the classical beauty, the 8mR. The target was the World Cup in Helsinki 2013. Finland mostly has light to moderate winds, the search was therefore for a successful all-round/light-wind boat. Designed by Charles E. Nicholson, Vision seemed superior with several World Cup wins. Drawings for a sister ship that was never built were found at British Museum (£ 30!) David Viera´s Absolute Projects in Lisbon had just built the 8mR Aun and restored many others. Their reputation of beautiful, high-quality boats was supported by one statement: “David is a perfect gentleman”. One carpenter was the Bowman of Vision! We made some small alterations within the Sira rule: The cockpit was moved forward and the teak deck was replaced by 80 kg lighter cedar. A second-hand aluminium mast was bought from another 8mR, moving from Sira Class to Neptun. The fantastic, beautiful LUNA was launched in March 2012 in Lisbon. Unfortunately, the mast broke during a training session. The Perfect Gentleman helped us and promised to deliver “the best wooden mast in the world”. Although Absolute were super-quick in building the mast, we came to the World Cup in Cowes in the last minute, unprepared with the new wooden mast. Strong winds and rain almost every day! We repaired and finished Luna every night. Surprisingly we were second in the Sira class! Our amateur team has practiced a lot. Having the same crew since years helps too. Luna has been on the podium in many World Cups. We won the Europeans 2016 in Copenhagen and the Worlds in Langenargen/ Germany 2018. Now the focus is on the Turku World Cup in 2025. We know the boat, the racing area and each other. Will that help us to win?