Meet Bob Maccini. This Rhode Islander has been sailing since 1988, mostly in slower, classic craft. Over the past two years, he’s become a devotee of the VX One Design and he blames his son Ian for that.
“About seven years ago, I purchased and renovated a Herreshoff S boat,” he explains. “It was built in 1929. These boats are lovely, but my son, who’s now 21 and has a passion for sailing, thought the S boat was boring. I knew I’d have to find a boat that would excite him, particularly if I wanted us to sail together.”
It turns out that Ian was interning at Bennett Yachting that summer – the company behind the VX One. “He was excited about the boat,” says Maccini of his son, “so we went for a test sail and we were totally hooked. For us, it’s the great upwind performance you get, and the fact that the boat basically flew downwind. We hit speeds up to 15 knots that day.”
Maccini says that before that test sail, he’d never done any true dinghy sailing other than learning to sail a Sunfish in high school. Right away, he knew he’d have a steep learning curve. “I’ve learned a lot over the last two years and I love the faster-paced action of the VX One.”
One thing he’s come to appreciate about the boat, he says, is sailing higher angles than you might anticipate with the kite up. “That took some getting used to,” he says.
These days, the Herreshoff S boat is still part of the Maccini family fleet, but it’s getting used less and less. The Maccinis stay active in the summer participating in the VX One summer series in Newport. In the winter, Bob takes the boat to Sarasota and races in several events down there. And, for heavier air regattas, Maccini says that his wife occasionally joins the crew and they sail as a threesome. “It turns out,” he adds, “that the VX One is also a family boat due to its ease of handling and its general layout.”
For CRW, Maccini plans to sail with Jim Myers, owner of Intensity Sails. He says he’s looking forward to sailing in Charleston’s “beautiful venue. It’s a great town and a well organized regatta.” Combine that with an exciting boat in a competitive class and what’s not to like?
