This review comes from www.windchaseryachts.com/gybe_mark.asp and is required reading for anyone seriously interested in the Rocket. Rudy is a very experienced sailor and has put a lot of thought into his review and we thank him for his efforts.
The new Rocket 22 Review
When I first formerly reviewed the original Pocket Rocket design close to a decade ago for the Pacific Yachting “Race West” magazine, I remarked that legendary designer Gary Mull was easily some 17 years ahead of his time with this classic 22’ design. Little did I know that Mull may well have been 25 years ahead of the game, after a carefully executed Don Martin supervised re-fit that would apply the latest in cutting edge design and technology to produce the third and most advanced version of what is now called the Rocket 22. For those of you unfamiliar with Don Martin, aside from keeping up to date on the latest technological breakthroughs as an official Americas Cup class measurer, Mr. Martin is also a well known builder and designer with a reputation for pushing the performance envelope well beyond conventional thinking of the day. His design pedigree of the original Martin 24, the highly successful Martin 242 OD, and the breathtakingly fast Martin 243 were all boats that offered groundbreaking performance in their respective era’s. Thus when the opportunity arose to do a formal review on the new Rocket 22 I certainly welcomed the opportunity with open arms.
What’s different? Well in fairness quite allot. It’s one thing to change to a new lighter weight and stiffer laminate schedule, in fact in today’s day and age, it’s basically an expected requirement. Likewise to add a backstayless, taller carbon rig with a flush furling, non overlapping sailplan is also a given; as is new, more modern, higher lift, lower drag foils. Dual kites? Once again not uncommon in a new modern day sportboat and yes the new Rocket 22 has both. In fact most every sportboat on the market these days will boast ALL of these features. However like most good things in life, it is always those little things that make all the difference and that is precisely what set’s the new Rocket 22 apart from the pack. For most sportboats; the focus is on performance and convenience features as just listed above and other than that little else. While speed and ease of sailing are important considerations, for those of us who enjoy the fine art of tuning and tweaking, this is where the new Rocket 22 really excels.
Unlike most sportboats, the new Rocket 22 has a well designed “center pod” that not only houses all basic controls, it also offers controls largely ignored by most other boats in the class. Jib luff, mainsail Cunningham, are just some of the controls neatly led under deck to the console. Likewise the Rocket 22 also boasts underdeck barber haulers for the jib, and adjustable jib car fairleads; ideal for optimized sail trim and to assist in de-powering the large sailplan, There is also an adjustable mast base step to easily and effectively add rig tension and pre-bend to the large carbon rig; a nice touch given the lack of a backstay. Most every control line that can be led cleanly under the deck or through the hull is and most every exit and entry point has a special catch basin that will deposit accumulated water back out of the hull. In addition, the 2:1 jib sheets, much like the spinnaker sheets, can be easily and properly sheeted from either side of the boat without winches or the need for cross winching; another clever touch given the boats rather gargantum 9’8” beam. There is no question that a rather considerable amount of time was spent throughout the boat in finding innovative solutions to age old problems. For example the spinnakers are launched from a flush mounted bow hatch that is connect directly to specially shaped spinnaker bags down below; aside from creating quick hoists; it also keeps the cockpit and companionway area clear and makes for easy kite changes. Another flush mounted hatch that met with my approval is a special cockpit housed cooler – that’s right, hidden beneath the cockpit and easily accessible by all, is your very own built in cooler. Finding this one full of ice cold glacial fresh Kokanne clearly meant it was time to go sailing.
Wind conditions included an unstable South Easterly puffing sporadically in the 15-20 range and offering reasonably flat water, not the greatest conditions for racing, but great conditions for testing. While most every boat has come up with a different system for lifting the keel, the Rockets is easily the most creative utilizing the 2:1 main halyard and a clever winch system that attaches directly to the boom. Once the keel was secure the lifting gear was stored and the main hoisted leaving only the headsail to be unfurled, another quick and easy process I might add. We waited all of five minutes before extending the carbon-fibre bowsprit and hoisting the massive masthead asymmetrical spinnaker, once again easily and quickly done courtesy of the ability to launch directly from the bow without having to skirt the kite around the shrouds like on other boats.
Once the kite is up the Rocket effectively launches; instant acceleration is evident and the powerful hull shape wants nothing more than to break out on a full on plane. Before long we were doing exactly that and clipping along effortlessly between 10-11 knots, and I do mean without breaking a sweat whatsoever. There is not a ton of rudder under the boat and with every puff you need to bear down sharply where you will be rewarded with an adrenaline rush of pure speed as the bow rises, the knotmeter climbs, and you suddenly feel like an addict waiting for the next puff to come along, hopefully bigger than the last one. Gybes? No problem, and more so without fear of having the heavily roached main getting caught on the backstay, again a luxury of a backstay free rig. Yes, the boat also has a symmetrical kite, and a much as I am a huge fan of symmetricals, when you have a platform that is this efficient and fast with an asso. I can see the old school (but dead sexy carbon) spin. pole as being little more than a nice fire place mantle sitting next to your 8 track player. In short I could have easily sailed this boat downhill all the way to Kelowna and felt like Ricardo Montalban in a 1976 Chrysler Cordoba along the way….the ride was so silky smooth as Ricardo would have said. However I am also an uphill fanatic and wanted to turn around and see how the new Rocket 22 handles breeze, so after a quick douse, we were on our way.
I have to admit, given the generous sail area I expected we would be aggressively de-powering the boat, however I was very surprised that this was entirely not the case. Aside from having a 750 lb lead bulb some 6’ under the boat for impressive RM (righting moment), one of the huge upsides in having a gigantic 9’8” beam is that you can achieve extremely effective crew weight transfer when all that body mass is hiking over 4’6” away from centerline. While I had earlier questioned the Rocket 22’s at the Whidbey Island Race Week for sailing with just 3 people against Melges 24’s carrying 5 people, I can now better support the mantra of three’s company and four (or more) is a crowd. The boat drives easily and one of the most pleasant attributes is the ability to tack on a dime – literally. With a non overlapping sailplan and no backstay to hang the generous main on, you can tack instantaneously and be back up to speed in no time, and more importantly about five times faster than most anything you would be racing against in a PHRF rating band. On the whole a fairly pleasing upwind boat with nice manners.
Dislikes? I had a few. You cannot help but notice the rather massive 9’ of traveler mounted at the extreme aft end of the boat. While this arrangement does help to create a stiffer overall platform, you have more traveler than five J/24’s combined. Naturally you would expect such a formidable traveler to be a key part of the program, however the traveler car controls are mounted rather awkwardly in the aft end of the center pod, given the 9’8” beam, it is a long way back in to the pod to adjust the traveler, not to mention it is fairly close to the floor and it not easily adjusted within a conventional arms reach while on the rail. The dual sided arrangement also creates some added complexity during your tacks. I think if the controls were mounted on the top of the pod with some wedged cam cleats; just aft of the extremely well located mainsheet swivel, this problem would be solved. My only other beef is a small one with the spinnaker halyard cleat; it is mounted rather awkwardly in front of the cabin entry. From a routing standpoint the halyard makes several friction adding turns to get there. From my perspective this cleat would be better mounted either directly on to the mast, or even under the deck with a fairlead keeping it close to the hatch entry.
Summary. In short The Rocket 22 is a very cool and unique boat; there is no question that it is a distinctive offering in a competitive market that offers all of the performance and features required to be a bonafide sportboat and yet also boats an uncommon amount of tweakability to keep even the most technical of sailors happy. I think what was most surprising is that the new Rocket 22 comes across as far more than simply an update on a proven design, and likewise it is also a fairly dramatic departure from the keep it simple One Design concept of either the Melges 24 or Ultimate 20. That is not to suggest that the Rocket 22 is a complex boat, rather it is a more diverse boat, capable of meeting the needs of a more varied group of sailors. I think what I like most about the new Rocket 22 is how versatile it is by modern day sportboat standards; for a more seasoned sailor this is a fun boat that will easily keep you entertained every moment you spend on the water. The ease of trailering is also an asset, more so as the Rocket is far more suited towards daysailing and racing as opposed to weekending. On the whole it is a sailor’s boat; that is to say it is a boat that should be seen and sailed to be appreciated and that is precisely what designer Gary Mull became famous for, or “really nice boats” as Mull often observed, never go out of style, and the Rocket 22 design is truly no exception.
