The latest flagship for this Swedish yard is built entirely in carbon. Will she still espouse Arcona values of traditional elegance? asks Toby Hodges
Arcona Yachts produces elegant performance cruisers using tried-and-tested build methods and styling. These are sailors’ yachts, richly rewarding to helm, with a quality fit-out. The yard has a niche recipe that consistently strikes a chord – even during the recent downturn that hit Swedish yards particularly hard, Arcona remained popular, especially in the UK.
So news that it is building its new flagship entirely in carbon for the first time is somewhat surprising. Is the yard abandoning its traditional roots?
“The 465 will be a true Arcona: elegant, fast and easily sailed short-handed,” says UK agent Tony Bottomley. “This boat is all about fast, safe passagemaking. Passagemaking in style!”
Bottomley adds that her light displacement of ten tonnes ensures that, even with all the equipment and systems needed for modern bluewater cruising, “she will remain a light and responsive sailing yacht”.
The Arcona 465 should certainly look a pretty picture afloat. Her looks successfully marry the sleek cruiser-racer styles of old – the timeless Swan grace, if you will – with a more modern hull shape, including a near-plumb stem and beam pushed right aft.
Designer Stefan Quiberg predicts that, as well as enhancing interior space, this width aft will create downwind stability.
Down below she is trademark Arcona, with varnished mahogany throughout, albeit a veneer covering carbon bulkheads. And below the soleboards lurks a steel cradle, used to stiffen all Arconas by taking rig and keel loads.
The asymmetric spinnaker or A-sail has helped to simplify downwind sailing, but picking the right one can be the hard bit – there’s just so much choice. Jonty Sherwill investigates the options
What should you be looking for in an A-sail for your boat when the bulk of your season’s racing is a mix of inshore racing round the cans and windward-leeward racing with the occasional offshore event thrown in?
It’s easy to assume than an A-sail – or asymmetric spinnaker – is a fairly standard ‘all-purpose’ piece of kit on a modern yacht, but these sails have come a long way since the early days of cruising chutes and flat reaching sails that were sometimes added to a conventional spinnaker inventory. Today on many racing boats A-sails have usurped the symmetrical kite as the mainstay of a downwind sail inventory.
Neil Mackley of North Sails UK has been at the leading edge of this evolution and explains why knowing the characteristics of the boat is so important: “We look at the boat’s VPP and find out the ideal angles the boat sails at in a given wind speed to determine the size and shape of sail required – it will be a quite different design for a TP52 sailing fast with apparent wind forward using flatter asymmetrics compared with a heavy-displacement Swan 60 running at 170° T.”
Although setting the right sail is important to make you fast downwind it’s clear that sailing technique and knowing your target boat speeds is also a big part of it. “An example is the J/109 which, in 8-10 knots, will be searching for VMG at 135°-140° true with a flatter-luffed A1 sail. With
a bit more pressure they will head down to 145°-150° true wind angle using a fuller A2 sail that projects the shoulders. When the wind reaches 18-19 knots it will be time to go bow up again and surf,” says Mackley.
Having established the performance profile of the boat, the sailmaker needs to know what type of offshore racing you are planning to do. Will it be an occasional JOG race, a fully crewed RORC campaign, or maybe a double-handed Fastnet Race?
It soon becomes clear that to provide good performance across the full wind range for both reaching and running just setting one A-sail will not cut it in a competitive fleet.
While a typical inventory will usually consist of three A-sails, often including a Code 0 for close reaching, it’s not uncommon to see four or even five asymmetric spinnakers being carried, particularly on the larger yachts.
Under IRC the rating ‘tax’ for these extra sails is reduced as the boat gets larger, typically two points extra per sail over 35ft LOA – but check with the Rating Office.
Code 0 a ‘given’
Peter Kay of One Sails thinks that for a mixed programme of inshore and offshore races the Code 0 is almost a given in a three-sail inventory, alongside an A2 light-medium runner plus a 0.9oz A4 that would run in almost any conditions: “If the racing is to be all inshore you might substitute an A3 reacher or a second A2 for the Code 0 depending on budget.”
A further option is the wide range of Nylon spinnaker fabrics now available. With ten weights of fabric from 0.4 to 3.0 ounces, this allows the sail designer to fine-tune designs for a specific boat’s performance profile and, just like an inventory of headsails, each A-sail will have a ‘sweet spot’ for wind speed and apparent wind angle.
Another factor to be considered is whether the boat is fitted with a bowsprit or uses a conventional spinnaker pole. The latter has the advantage of being able to go ‘pole back’ for running square, but it makes gybing more complicated, requiring the tack of the sail to be swapped to a bow tackle and then back onto the pole after each gybe, which is likely to lose you a couple of boatlengths each time.
For offshore racing with less frequent gybes that may not be such a big issue, but when racing windward-leeward courses or round the cans, where regular tactical gybes will be needed, the activity on deck will also telegraph your tactics to the fleet. “That’s in contrast to a symmetrical spinnaker boat that can float through a gybe at a moment’s notice [at least in light airs],” explains Neil Mackley.
The difference is less marked with bowsprit-equipped boats, but at the top end of the wind range the boat handling advantage swings to the asymmetric boats. Even so, the art of achieving the ‘late main gybe’ (where the kite is fully gybed before the mainsail comes across) needs to be practised to avoid what could be a costly broach.
Long legs
Mackley continues: “A-sails are really good for long legs without gybes and in point-to-point races. On a boat like the Swan 45 with a spinnaker pole our tests have shown that an A2 sail is a faster sail than the equivalent symmetrical S2 with better attached air flow and the narrower head angle which reduces roll.”
Campbell Field, professional navigator and offshore team manager, explains further: “When looking at inventories of A-sails for inshore v offshore racing, one has to consider very carefully the two modes of sailing. Inshore racing is typically VMG-oriented, with a set of trimmers or grinders who can give 100 per cent for a few hours, in moderate to flat seas. Offshore or coastal racing is more varied, much longer legs, so normally sailing a ‘hot’ VMG mode, with longer waves and swell to consider.
“As an example, for an A2 for inshore racing you would be looking for a big shouldered sail, well projected luff, with maximum area sail that requires 100 per cent trimmer and driver concentration to keep the boat in that very narrow max VMG groove.
“[By contrast] an offshore A2 has to be more versatile and forgiving, slightly smaller shoulders (but still max area), slightly straighter luff for a bigger ‘groove’ to allow the driver to sail around waves and absorb the apparent wind swinging from the boat’s acceleration and decelerations.
“This will also preserve some of your trimmers and grinders on the really long runs. A flatter shape would improve the ability to sail higher angles and increase the overlap to a reaching A3 – giving you a better chance of sailing the course you want to rather than the one dictated by the sail.”
With this advance of A-sail design a bowsprit appears to be the logical route on most boats, but how has the progression of the A-sail from a fast reaching sail to an effective deep running spinnaker been achieved?
“While early A-sails were designed the same way as symmetrical spinnakers, with shape in the radial head and a bit of shape in the middle and clews, now our design software means that every single panel has shape in it, so the sails have became smoother and easier to fly,” explains Mackley.
You might think that, with sophisticated sail design software creating predictable flying shapes, this would tend to standardise all sail designs, but it seems there is still plenty of scope for individual design philosophy. Peter Kay of One Sails says: “When running we are looking for maximum projected area so our approach is to shape the sail, particularly the upper leech, in a way that allows the sail to rotate around the forestay, out to windward and which will respond well to tweaker [downhaul] adjustment.”
The effect on your rating
An important consideration when changing things on your boat is the effect it will have on your rating. Some aspects of the A-sail revolution offer potential gains without any rating penalty, eg the Code 0, and the RORC has made sure that the IRC Rule has kept up with these fast-moving developments.
And what of those looking to change from a symmetrical spinnaker with sheets and guys? When upgrading an older boat to A-sails, one of the key decisions is whether to stick with the existing spinnaker pole, with the benefit of being able to ‘pole back’, or invest in fitting a bowsprit for slicker gybing.
While a retractable bowsprit has the advantage of less overall length in the marina it would probably be difficult to retrofit so an externally fixed bowsprit and bobstay is a more popular solution – this is a common sight now on boats of all sizes.
Key points
Assess what type of sailing will form the bulk of your season – eg offshore, inshore, round the cans or windward-leeward.
Get a polar performance chart for your boat to identify a baseline for performance.
Bowsprit or spinnaker pole? The latter will allow you to square off deeper downwind, but is more complicated in hoists and gybes.
Given a three-sail limit and a mix of inshore and offshore racing, many opt for Code 0, A2 light-medium runner and A4 runner.
Inshore programmes might substitute an A3 reacher or a second A2 for the Code 0 depending on budget.
Consider what would be the effect of a change to your rating.
The wallycento class of maxi-style 100ft racer-cruisers continues to gain momentum with the launch of its third boat, Galateia – and there are more on the drawing boards to follow.
It seems there is still an appetite for maxi-style racing, albeit in slightly more comfort than traditional maxi yachts. These first sailing pictures of the latest wallycento, Galateia, will help re-ignite interest in this 100ft, dual-role class.
Wallycentos provide elite owner-driven racing within a narrow rating range of the Wally Class competitive programme – tight racing on a super slippery yacht that can also be cruised.
This white-hulled rocketship recently splashed at Green Marine in Southampton, the same Southampton yard that launched the first wallycento Hamilton for Sir Charles Dunstone three years ago. (Now called Open Season, Hamilton was purchased and significantly modified by current owner and former CEO of Bugatti Thomas Bscher.)
Hamilton (Judel Vrolijk) and Magic Carpet3 (Reichel Pugh / Wally), the second wallycento built, were drawn by different designers and built by different yards to the wallycento box rule. Galateia is a blend of these first two – designed by Reichel Pugh but built at Green Marine.
Galateia not only resembles Magic Carpet3 with her flush decks and large social cockpit amidships, but she shares similar lines. “We developed the next generation wallycento hull shape incorporating into the design the on-the-water experience of Magic Carpet3 and the results of our latest hull study in computational fluid dynamics,” says designer Jim Pugh of Reichel Pugh.
“All areas of the design were open for development with focus on improving the underwater foil package, reducing windage and improving the yacht’s systems, weight, and function.”
Wallycentos may look every bit the maxi racing yacht at first glance. Peer closer though and you may notice the teak decks, guest cockpit, self-tacking jib track, and lack of imposing deck hardware. These are still Wallys: modern, dual-role superyachts.
Down below, Galateia has a luxurious interior with owners’ suite forward and two ensuite guest double cabins. It is planned that Galateia will head to the Caribbean for the winter season, where she is scheduled to cruise with the owners’ family and race in some super yacht regattas.
In spring 2016 Galateia will join the Wally Class in the Mediterranean. The goal of the wallycento was to create a class that offers the fastest maxi-style racing using yachts that can still be cruised.
Class of wallycento
“The wallycento formula is indisputably successful because these super yachts proved to be highly competitive, very technical, extremely fast in all conditions, and exceptionally cruiser friendly” says Wally founder Luca Bassani. Bassani confirms that they are also finalising the sales of the fourth wallycento.
Key points for the class are lightweight, planing-speed displacement, powerful sailplans and high stability. Centos have a displacement just shy of 50 tonnes, and the large percentage of that is keel ballast. As well as basic parameters like weight and dimensions, the rule specifies cruising interiors. This includes the likes of water makers, aircon and a minimum number of cabins.
Magic Carpet3 is owned and helmed by Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, the man credited with building up the French cosmetics company L’Oreal over four decades. She is his third Wally called Magic Carpet. Sir Lindsay initiated the wallycento project a few years ago with a desire for more competitive fun – the box rule was his idea.
In today’s economic climate the Wally concept makes sense. It offers a second (cruising) life or afterlife for a racing boat. “I owned a ULDB (Ultra-Light Displacement Boat) but wanted a fast boat that I could cruise on,” Sir Lindsay told me during our sail trials in autumn 2013. “I always thought it was crazy to buy a big race boat and throw it away after three years. So it had to have a second life.”
The future? The P100 evolution
Philippe Briand has created this striking new concept as an evolution of the wallycento class. Briand used CFD analysis to create a hull form with lower freeboard and slightly narrower beam than the first two Centos. The deck design looks innovative and features a ‘roller coaster wave’ form on deck helps save weight says Briand. There are three different through-deck drop hatches for flying sails plus an aft sail locker.
With her graceful lines, but muscular performance, Elfje is one of the few superyachts to be designed for a woman owner. Elaine Bunting speaks to her designer André Hoek
Photo: Cory Silken
Some say the ideal yacht is one that sails like a racer, has the accommodation of a cruiser and the looks of a classic. That’s a wry joke because at the average yacht size this is an almost impossible combination. But if money and scale weren’t an issue, what would the ideal performance cruiser look like?
Elfje is one owner’s vision of the consummate yacht. The 172ft ketch is one of the outstanding launches of last year, and has drawn admiring looks everywhere. You can see why.
Upwind, her dominant features are that powerful plumb bow, long bowsprit and deeply roached sails, shapes akin to the modern offshore racer. But at rest you see a yacht with a graceful, but unexaggerated sheerline tapering to a long overhang at the transom. If a superyacht can ever be called demure, Elfje can, right down to the shade of her hull, an unusual light grey-blue colour.
Is Elfje a muscular yacht or more of a graceful feminine form? It’s an interesting question in this case because she is one of the very few superyachts to have been designed for a woman owner.
Her identity was closely guarded until this summer when she agreed to be interviewed about Elfje by Georgie Ainslie, wife of Sir Ben, and a fellow trustee of the 1851 Trust, set up to inspire young people through sailing and the technology used in the marine industry.
Woman owner
Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, is also linked through 11th Hour Racing, a project that aims to build sustainability practices into high-performance racing projects and is in partnership with Ben Ainslie Racing.
Schmidt is an enthusiastic, long-time racer who also owns a Swan 80, Selene, and the design brief was for a comfortable long-range cruiser that would be capable of good performance in superyacht regattas. Above all, the yacht was to be elegant.
André Hoek was commissioned to design the yacht and Royal Huisman in the Netherlands to build her. The result is the pleasing combination of features that Hoek describes as “basically a bit of a masculine shape, but a very feminine look. It’s an interesting combination and when people see her at anchor, everyone says ‘Wow!’”
Hoek, a quietly spoken man with a professorial air, is one of the most influential designers of the last few decades and a master of the neo-classic form, famous for creating yachts with long overhangs, flush decks, elegant deckhouses and coachroofs that are as attractive to look at as they are comfortable to sail.
It is a style he has made his own, from such big yachts such as the 179ft ketch Adele, launched in 2005, to the range of Truly Classic designs (Sir Ben and Lady Ainslie own a Truly Classic 65). Hoek is an intensely enthusiastic proponent of the big sailing yacht movement and has built up a formidable design team in Edam.
The lead time of the project gave them an unusual opportunity to flex their muscles by studying the performance of various hull shapes. They carried out CFD analysis of five different hulls with varying volume distribution, but all with the same waterline length and displacement.
Based on the results, a 20ft model of the best hull was made and tank-tested in Marin, Netherlands. Wind tunnel testing was performed at the Wolfson Unit in Southampton.
“The tank testing data and the CFD data were very close, which was pleasing,” says Hoek. “Then from the hull shape we went back to the design, built a 3D model and optimised the righting moment, mast positions, keel fin and bulb. It took half a year in total, and it was a fascinating project.”
Research into balance
A prime objective was to arrive at a ketch rig that would be mannerly and well-balanced. “Ketches often have issues with weather helm when sheeting on the mizzen, especially when power reaching, and we wanted to predict rudder angles at the design stage,” Hoek elaborates. “Elfje has a [carbon] spade rudder and lifting keel and we did a lot of research with regard to balance.”
Trim tabs were added to the keel at design stage. André Hoek feels these should help with pointing and accelerating out of tacks. So that Elfje can access shallower anchorages, her T-keel with ‘beaver-tail’ bulb can be raised to reduce draught from 7.10m (23ft) to 4.50m (15ft).
Elfje sports a Southern Spars rig with ECsix carbon plus continuous flexible rigging. Her carbon bowsprit is a thunderous weapon, incorporating furlers for the headsail and Code 0. The engineering posed a particular stress load challenge for manufacturer Southern Spars. “We pushed for it. There was a fight, but in the end they were integrated. It gets the tacks [of the sails] lower for racing and makes it possible to go sailing with the same gear as for cruising,” says Hoek.
The bobstay fittings have been cleverly integrated into an extraordinarily fine forefoot, which is connected to a titanium reinforcement tube within the hull.
With such a strong emphasis on performance, it was important that sailhandling be fast, versatile for cruising yet efficient for racing. The demand for big hydraulic packages capable of rapid sail hoists and drops has boomed in recent years (see this month’s Supersail World) and the systems on board had to be designed so that up to 15 power-hungry hydraulic functions could be operated at once.
Intriguing technology
Beneath Elfje’s timeless lines lies some intriguing technology. Energy efficiency and sustainability were high up on the owner’s priorities, and it promoted a joint quest for a state-of-the-art hybrid power system by Royal Huisman’s R&D team and Whisper Power.
The solution chosen combines a flywheel generator from the main engine with variable speed and variable output generators backed up by a lightweight lithium-ion ‘peak shaving’ battery bank. This system is some two tonnes lighter than one with conventional generators and, as the variable-speed generators run at a lower speed of around 1,200pm, they are around ten per cent more fuel-efficient.
On deck, the idea was to create a private area for the owner with separate deckhouse and cockpit aft. The profile of deckhouses is low and modest, which complements the sweeping sheerline. Clutter is banished. There is no fixed bimini, for example, and the 19ft tender is stowed beneath a carbon hatch on the flush foredeck.
The interior of Elfje, designed by Hampshire-based Redman Whiteley Dixon, is clean-looking and light, and uses sustainable timbers such as European walnut and light oak. One of the showcase features is a circular glass-topped saloon table over an opening in the hull so that the sea and marine life can be seen beneath.
As for the name, that was chosen because Wendy Schmidt considers 11 her lucky number and the design team gave the project the Dutch word ‘elf’. That eventually mutated into ‘elfje’, after a fairy, or sprite, and a children’s poetry form. The term stuck and is epitomised by the winged emblem on the yacht’s big asymmetric spinnaker.
Is Elfje as quick as she is sleek? In her first superyacht regatta, St Barths Bucket, she tied for 1st in class. Hoek raced on board and was benchmarking her against Marie, a similar-sized ketch launched in 2010, which he also designed.
“Elfje is quick upwind, as St Barths proved, consistently much quicker than Marie, which has a skeg rudder and fixed keel. This is a better hull shape, basically. And we were sailing against yachts that have big sloop rigs and a longer waterline, we were beating them upwind and downwind. We didn’t expect that. I was very pleased. This is definitely an evolution.”
We asked a range of professional sailors who have clocked many miles in a busy season to tell us about the gear they’ve bought recently. Toby Hodges reports
Dee Caffari – Volvo and solo sailor
Photo Rick Tomlinson
Exposure Marine MOB Search Light
I have spent many days sailing offshore, often solo in the inhospitable envi ronment of the Southern Ocean, but more recently as part of Team SCA in the Volvo Ocean Race. It is a magical place, but one where mistakes are punished immediately.
Which is why I appreciated Exposure Marine’s MOB Search Light. It is lightweight, versatile and pocket-sized, yet has illumination of 1,300 lumens. It has two modes: spotlight and searchlight, with various power levels.
But the function that makes this kit something I would not go offshore without is the strobe, which is activated by a motion sensor. Simply throwing the torch in the water after a MOB triggers the strobe light, increasing the chances of recovery and survival.
Dee is the only woman to have sailed single-handed non-stop round the world in both directions. She was also a Team SCA crewmember during the last Volvo Ocean Race.
I wear my iPod Touch on my wrist while racing, linked to the instruments so that I can have all the numbers I need without always looking at the main displays. This means I can keep hiking out and facing aft when downwind to see the breeze.
I have a windward/leeward page set up with six numbers: TWS, TWD, layline times; a Solent page with depth, COG, wind and current; plus a couple of others to give specific performance numbers.
The numbers are sent from the navigation computer and I use either the Ventus app or the Idatanet app to display the data remotely, depending on which boat runs which.
I am very numeric and like the numbers to help build the picture for strategy.
Adrian Stead is a professional tactician, currently sailing with Quantum Racing in the TP52 Super Series, the mini maxi Bella Mente and RC44 Team Ceeref.
Henry Bomby – solo sailor
Zhik Ocean Smock
My smock is my top piece of kit this year. Sailing offshore often requires big and bulky foulweather gear – particularly, it seems, with smocks.
They tend to have huge wraparound hoods and face masks that are annoying when not in use, and normally are difficult to get out of and put away by yourself.
The material is heavy, making it difficult to move around in and making you feel cumbersome.
For me the Zhik Ocean Smock fixes all those problems, completely rethinking the hood’s design, deployment and stowage. And the Ocean material is the lightest yet most durable on the market.
I genuinely wouldn’t want to go offshore in a breeze without it.
Henry Bomby has competed in the solo Figaro circuit since 2012, currently under the sponsorship of Rockfish. Bomby is also one of our regular gear testers.
Rachael Sprot – adventure training skipper
Nasa PC Navtex USB
In many of the more remote places we visit it is much easier to download a GRIB file using satcomms than it is to get hold of the marine forecast over the radio. But the Maritime and Coastguard Agency clearly states that skippers should consult the official marine forecasts before putting out, and I agree.
As well as adding local knowledge to the computer-generated data, the marine forecast doesn’t pretend to be accurate to the nearest knot of wind. It gives a more realistic spectrum of conditions you might experience.
However, making out the weather forecast when it is rattled off by the Coastguard can be hard enough, let alone if that person is speaking with a Faeroese accent. So installing the Nasa PC Navtex receiver, which connects to our ship’s computer, has made life much easier.
It was relatively cheap, easy to install, whirs away in the background collecting forecasts, and after a leisurely lie-in I can plug in the computer and download the latest weather – in plain English.
Last year we went through three wet vacs. This year we are still on number one (touch wood) and that is Charles. He was pretty expensive as wet vacs go, but well worth it.
The bilges love him, he won’t complain if you ask him to deal with the engine bay and he has even been known to clear a heads blockage.
Rachael Sprot set up Rubicon 3 with co-founder Bruce Jacobs. The adventure sailing company provides training from Competent Crew to Ocean Yachtmaster while also allowing time to explore extraordinary places. Its current itinerary includes Madeira, the Azores, Morocco and next year Arctic Norway.
Alan Roberts – Figaro and dinghy sailor
Photo: Pilpre Arnaud
Sealskinz socks and beanie
There is nothing worse than cold feet. I find that even if my feet are slightly damp, I still get so cold. So having dry, warm feet was just the ticket this winter.
I went for the longest and thickest socks that Sealskinz had available. Having experienced damp feet from leaking boots, these are now one of the basic things I’d always take for cold-water sailing – I even wear them with trainers.
The thick mid-length socks cost £37 – and the Waterproof Beanie for £25 is a winner! www.sealskinz.com
Alan Roberts, 25, dinghy racer and former Merlin Rocket national champion, skippered his Beneteau Figaro Magma Structures to 9th place in the Solitaire de Figaro this year – the highest ranking of any British sailor in this solo discipline in 40 years.
James Prince – superyacht skipper
D-Splicer kit
This D-Splicer kit and scissors have made all the loops and soft shackle splicing that were needed for my new boat [the largest Truly Classic yet, 127ft Atalante] easy and fuss free.
The VoltAlert is a handy method for quickly checking live wires. Touch the pen-shaped device to a wire or outlet and it glows and beeps to let you know a voltage is present.
I don’t rely on it but it’s a good, quick reference, especially on fuse panels and breakers or shore power.
Fluke also makes a laser thermometer, which is another item I really like having on board. It uses infrared to allow you to keep a safe distance from the object. The reading is really accurate and you can check all sorts of operating temperatures with it on the engine.
It is also good for checking temperatures on the air conditioning.
Price VoltAlert £20. Thermometer from £64. www.fluke.com
Spare Air
This is a small dive bottle with a built-in regulator and mouthpiece. It has proved to be great for a quick check overboard for lines on the prop or anything dropped in shallow water. It can be prone to some user error if people don’t know how to dive, but we have had no problems otherwise.
The Discovery 58 has everything a short-handed crew might need for bluewater cruising supplied as standard. Does it fit the bill? asks Toby Hodges
Lying in the lower berth of the Pullman cabin as we beat to windward across the Channel during a cold spring night, I could appreciate the creature comforts offered by a luxury ocean cruiser such as the Discovery 58. I was snugly contained against the leecloth, with the heating pumping out.
I could feel the raked stem softly parting the head seas, the lack of pitching gained from having centralised tanks. But the most comforting thought as we traversed the shipping lanes, alive with passing container ships, was the thought of her structure.
The 10 tonnes of lead below the 58, the equivalent of having a 45ft Beneteau moulded into the keel, is joined to the hull by 17 keel bolts. There is a Kevlar wrap around the hull waterline for impact resistance, and there are four water-tight bulkheads bonded to both hull and deck.
Safe to say that during my two-hour off-watch, I slept rather soundly. And this benefit of feeling rested during a passage is a significant one for bluewater cruisers.
Heading out through the Needles – a self-tacking blade jib is ideal for short-tacking through chop. Twin headsails include a large genoa
If you were to go long-distance cruising, what would be the primary features you would look for in a yacht? I would wager that both looks and reward on the helm might play second fiddle to more practical concerns such as comfort throughout and the ability to access and service systems.
Discovery knows this. It has employed a tried and tested formula, putting practicality before fashion, since the launch of its first yacht designed for short-handed cruising in the late 1990s. So while its cruising yachts may seem a little dated, they have a popular niche following, particularly from couples going bluewater sailing.
We wanted to find out why this recipe works so well, so we sailed this first new Discovery 58 from the Solent to Jersey in late April to explore in detail the features that go into making the ideal short-handed cruising yacht.
Three years ago, the Marchwood-based company launched the Ron Holland-designed 57 (our full liveaboard test featured in the February 2013 issue). The styling, particularly the bubble-shaped coachroof, met with a mixed reaction, however. So Discovery took the feedback on board and implemented aesthetic and practical changes to that existing hull. The result is now relaunched as the 58.
Other than looks, the main differences are the versatile options the Discovery provides. Owners can now choose between either single or twin wheels – the only centre cockpit yacht I believe that has this option – and a fourth cabin instead of a technical room.
Two need space
The appeal of a Discovery yacht lies with its exhaustive specification, luxury build quality and design specifically tailored to suit a cruising couple. John and Caroline Charnley founded the company after unsuccessfully searching for a 50ft yacht to suit their long-term cruising goals. When they realised how much gear they wanted to ship aboard and the space needed to stow it properly, they settled on a 55ft design. Nearly 50 of the Discovery 55s have since been launched, plus a 67, 58 and a 50ft cat.
As the Charnleys discovered, the provision of enough stowage and tank space is a key factor for bluewater sailors. So the Discovery 58 can carry 1,300lt of fuel and 1,000lt of water for long-term cruising. Cold storage is generous, with a 300lt fridge and 170lt freezer as standard. I was also impressed with the bottle stowage below the galley sole, plus the tall, deep wardrobes in the cabins.
A deep self-draining anchor locker houses 100m of 12mm chain. Note the reel on the left for the hosepipe of the saltwater anchor wash
A sail locker is a prized cruising asset. On the Discovery 58 this is vast, yet practical – it lights up when the hatch opens and there are sensibly placed cleats for hanging up spare sheets and halyards. A gas locker and bosun’s locker are recessed below the side decks amidships. To give an idea of depth, the gas locker can house two 6kg propane bottles. Consider that there are deep quarter lockers too and you realise stowage space on deck will never be an issue.
Keep rested for best performance
The layout of the Discovery 58 is designed to promote rest and prevent exhaustion. There are just three shallow steps from saloon to cockpit, for example. And the company is aware that the constant sound of mechanical noise can be draining, so the engine room is so well insulated it can be difficult to tell when the engine or genset is running.
The Discovery is rigged to be as easy to sail from the cockpit as possible. The twin furling headsails and an in-mast furling mainsail are standard. Unusually, the owner of the test boat had opted for a slab-reefed main – which is “against the Discovery ethos of easy cruising,” says Charnley.
The choice of two different-sized headsails is arguably the most practical solution for long-distance cruising, and one offered by many yards producing this size of yacht today. The ability to swap sails, or tuck in a couple of reefs without leaving the cockpit is ideal for short-handed sailing.
What the Discovery 58 lacks in helming pleasure she makes up for in comfort. She provides a lovely soft motion, whether punching through sharp chop or parting swells. You really notice and appreciate this below decks. Above all, she makes you feel safe, the most important aspect for a couple, especially if caught out in bad weather.
During a typically cold UK spring night, where the wind cut straight through regardless of the number of layers we wore, the deep cockpit came into its own.
We spent most watches hand-steering, but the more realistic mode is a snug one: engage autopilot, sit by the companionway with sheet controls on electric remote switches, and you have good views both forward and to the plotter at the chart table below. Or there is the option to keep even warmer on watch at the raised navstation.
Details that impress
The layout below is a tried and tested one for a centre-cockpit design, with a passageway galley, owner’s stateroom aft and a walk-in engine room. The raised saloon may provide the wow factor, but I found the galley a highlight, a real pleasure to work in. It is light, spacious, yet narrow enough to brace yourself at heel. Those things you need to get at regularly are positioned at the forward end, close to the companionway, including a drinks fridge and a sweep-top bin recessed into the worksurface.
Liveaboards need to prepare three meals a day in the galley, so practical working and stowage space is essential. The Discovery 58 excels here. She has front-opening fridge-freezers that extend out to the hulls and use keel-cooled compressors. There is capacious worksurface with deep fiddles and I liked the generous sinks.
The cabins are as comfortable as her premium price would suggest, including the standard luxury mattresses, but it’s the small extra touches that impress. There are numerous plug sockets, the windows all have dual blinds (insect and blackout) and there is plenty of ventilation.
The heads include details such as heated towel rails, soap dishes, shaver sockets – there is even dedicated toilet brush stowage. These may sound like inconsequential aspects to some, but in my experience they are anything but. Having wet towels or toilet paper, or nowhere to store essentials quickly becomes frustrating, and can be a considerable annoyance when living aboard for long periods.
Behind the scenes
It is the behind-the-scenes details that Discovery incorporates, however, that that really impress. Lengths are taken to ensure longevity of the fittings. The seacocks, for example, are made from a type of Nylon that guards against corrosion. Likewise, tanks are polyethylene and marine-grade tinned cabling is used for all circuitry.
One benefit of a centre cockpit is a walk-in engine room. Machinery is rubber-mounted and insulation so good you can barely hear the engine running
Changing the working tanks over can be a fiddle on many yachts. The 58 has a locker beside the steps to the forward cabins that contains a very neat manifold switchover. It is easy to access and, along with breakers, battery switches and aircon pumps, is clearly labelled.
Other details I appreciated are the saltwater anchor wash hose, automatic bilge pumps in the sail locker and the rubber-mounted floorboards for sound insulation.
Full spec
Most yards offer the bare minimum of equipment to keep the base price low. But the danger with buying a boat with scant specs is that she may never be fitted out properly. It could become a job that’s put off until that elusive day.
But Discovery takes the opposite approach. The 58 comes with everything you could possibly need and all to a premium standard.
Another benefit of this thorough approach is that each item has been properly thought through from the design stage, avoiding the headache of where to try to fit optional extras. The walk-in engine room has a 5kW Northern Lights generator neatly installed. And the path for each duct leading from the standard Eberspacher heater is as carefully considered as the rest of the plumbing runs.
Discovery yachts come ready to sail, so the full specification includes navigation instruments (both chartplotter and radar), electric winches and traveller. But there is little point in having such comprehensive kit and stowage space if it is impossible to access it for servicing.
John Charnley explained that he had instigated a 15:10 rule at Discovery Yachts. This means that, according to his requirements, it should take only 15 seconds to access every major piece of equipment and ten minutes to remove it (engine excluded).
Two people sailing bluewater
The Discovery is an exceedingly well-finished and comfortable yacht. And as the founder John Charnley says: “Everything aboard is designed to support two people sailing bluewater.” And this model benefits from the feedback of over 50 owners out there doing just that.
Stowage is bountiful throughout and the quality of the joiner work exemplary. The yard offers a flexible, semi-custom build – the owner of the test boat wanted to visit the yard every month and specified a year-long handover.
The concept may look and feel a little dated now – the big heavy cruiser that needs a Force 4 to get her moving – but the security the Discovery 58 provides from her build and level of standard fit out, help you sleep well at night. Whether this level of comfort is enough to make up for the lack of reward on the helm is arguable.
But if a yacht can be rated on how well rested it delivers its crew, the Discovery is hard to beat.
Sailing performance
During our photoshoot in the western Solent, we sailed upwind under self-tacking jib and offwind with full genoa, both accompanied by a reefed main. Despite the ideal conditions – a sunny, Force 5 south-westerly – it was not overly enjoyable on the helm, as there is little feedback from the lengthy geared steering linkage.
It was difficult to get the yacht into a groove and too easy to wander off course if you didn’t have an eye on the wind gauge, compass or, later, a star.
I sailed the twin wheel set-up on the original 57, and initially thought I would prefer to have that royal box-style set-up in the wings, rather than helm from down in the centre circle.
You certainly get a better view forward with twin wheels, but on passage, it felt secure to be more central when helming.
Downwind performance is the USP of the new breed of 40-footers and the Carkeek-designed Rebellion is no exception. Matthew Sheahan goes aboard
Photos: Paul Wyeth
Ask any owner of the new breed of grand-prix 40-footers about their boats and they will start by describing the downwind performance.
It’s hardly surprising. The new generation of lightweight, amply canvassed carbon machines have sail area:displacement ratios to make your toes tingle and their ballooning polar curves for downwind angles can trigger a shot of adrenalin just at the thought.
Stewart Whitehead is one of the latest to join the fleet. He took delivery of his Carkeek 40 MkII Rebellion in spring this year and, when I ask him about how he is getting on, his response is typical.
“We’ve certainly learned that the A4 is not the right sail in a breeze,” he says, recounting one of the windy days in the RYS Bicentenary regatta. “In 30 knots downwind, an A5 or A6 would have been better as it would have allowed me to heat her up a little bit more and steer her over the waves. As it was, we were piling through them and, with the tiller being quite far forward in the boat, I was submerged for a lot of the time. But hey, it was a superb fun.”
Rebellion is the second of the Carkeek 40 MkIIs to have been built by Dubai-based Premier Composites Technology (PCT). Designed by Shaun Carkeek, she’s a development of the US-based boats, Spookie and Decision, first-generation Carkeek 40s.
Boat for the modern era
With her plumb bow, beamy lines aft, radiused chine and a deck layout so clear and uncluttered it leaves you wondering whether she has been finished, the C40MkII is a boat of the modern era. She, like others in her class, takes many of her cues from developments that have trickled down from the TP52 and mini-maxi fleets where control line systems and deck layouts have been refined extensively in recent years.
She has a shallow cockpit, a fixed bowsprit, a towering two-spreader carbon rig with ECsix carbon rigging and a large square-top mainsail – in essence, a full-on racing package. Below decks she has a complex array of under deck control lines and hydraulics including the sophisticated spinnaker take down system.
Rebellion,GBR 8449,Carkeek 40,Class one,
Yet one thing that stands out over many others is the quality of her build, which is superb. And while this isn’t unusual for boats from PCT, it is yet another reminder of how high they have set the bar.
The bar has also been raised for Whitehead himself who, as an owner-driver, acknowledges the big step up from his previous boat, Rebel, the Farr 45 he owned for eight years and raced in what was then a competitive, Solent-based one-design fleet.
“Wheel steering is easier and it was an option on Rebellion, but as a former dinghy sailor I knew I’d have more feel with a tiller and wanted to make the step up to this kind of a boat. Threading your way around ten other crew and the chocks during tacks and gybes takes some practice though.”
He clearly enjoyed the nip and tuck of busy mark roundings in the closely matched 45s and yet his choice of the Carkeek 40 was not based on taking a punt on the next successful one-design.
Hopes of a level rating class
He moved to Rebellion to join a growing fleet of 40-footers from various designers and builders from which it is hoped a level rating class will develop. And as he describes how he and his crew have been working the boat up to speed, it becomes clear that owners like Whitehead are seeing the appeal of level-rating boats that can be tweaked and customised, while still retaining the ability to engage in close boat-on-boat racing.
Several configurations are available for the Carkeek 40 MkII, from a pre-preg carbon/epoxy/Nomex construction for the Grand Prix Custom spec to an infused E Glass/epoxy/foam sandwich construction costing around US$151,000 less for a boat that is skewed more towards IRC racing.
Whitehead’s starting point was to ensure that his boat could be competitive under a number of rating systems.
“I’ve been looking for two years to make the next step,” he explains. “And I’m glad that it took this time because the fleet has changed with the new breed. The boat was originally designed around the HPR rule and, while configuring it for IRC racing was an option at the early stage, I wanted a planing boat, so it didn’t make sense to then deliberately make it heavy.
“My original long-term plan was to race the boat at a variety of events at home and abroad, not just under IRC – another reason for not wanting to make the boat heavy.”
But while he still intends to take Rebellion to other events at some stage in the future, his current plans are to stick with the Solent fleet to help it build and this means a slight refocusing on IRC.
Refocusing on IRC
This, he says could mean adding a little weight to the bulb, but has already meant having his sails remeasured and the boat weighed. In addition, he’s looking at fitting a new rudder that is around 12 per cent bigger, although this is aimed more at providing greater control when the breeze starts to exceed 22-25 knots.
For his sail wardrobe, it has been the offshore races that have been the most revealing. “Our initial sail wardrobe included an A1.5, A2, A4, masthead [Code] 0 and fractional 0, and then I ordered an A6 for the Fastnet,” says Whitehead. “But during our offshore races this year we found we were using the fractional and masthead 0s a great deal of the time. Some call them luxury sails, but we think they’re essential offshore, especially the fractional 0 which is good in a breeze at 65° true with the genoa staysail set inside. Even if we have to put a reef in the mainsail it’s still a great combination.”
But when I ask him about the boat’s potential strengths against her competition, the conversation turns downwind once again: “We’re a lighter boat than some of the others so our gains should be downwind.”
You can’t blame him, or any of the owners; it’s what the new breed is all about. It only takes one ride to be hooked.
The one-pedestal grinding system aboard is mounted well aft, but just in front of the mainsheet traveller. Note how far forward the tiller steering is. “In a breeze there’s no one in front,” says owner-driver Stewart Whitehead
Self-gybing hobble – a simple strop running across the boat frees up the primary sheet winch downwind and allows the jib to gybe automatically. Height is set with the loose, adjustable splice
Simple shockcord system keeps the mainsheet traveller line from jamming under the car when eased to leeward
Clear evidence as to how many lines run under the deck – there are none to be seen on top
Looking aft through the immaculately finished carbon shell. The trampoline keeps the kite off the cabin sole ready for the next hoist
Moulded foredeck hatch for spinnaker launch/recovery. Radiused edge means no roller is required below decks. Hatch also has a pneumatic seal pumped in the cockpit
A-sail take down drum is driven by a pedestal on deck. The webbing strop running underneath ensures the line stays close to the drum, even when slack
The simple ideas are the best. And for the first time in the DAME’s history (Design Awards METS), the award went to two products – one of which, Spinlock’s Lume-On could be one of the most affordable and most far-reaching marine safety products in recent times
The concept behind the Lume-On is such a simple one in fact that I’m sure other manufacturers will have sighed a collective ‘Doh’ when it was announced at METS in late November.
Spinlock’s Lume-On is not a conventional lifejacket light – rather, an addition to a typical lifejacket light. Where integrated lights provide a sharp, single beam, the Lume-On illuminates the whole of the lifejacket bladder.
It works rather like the lights you may have seen incorporated into blow-up balloons recently. The compact LEDs stick to the underbelly of each bladder, which uses the large fluorescent surface like a diffuser to maximise the visibility of the flashing light.
“What we found in our testing is that it gives you much better area to focus in on,” said Spinlock’s Sales and Marketing Manager James Hall. He explained how it can make a casualty easier to spot when bobbing up and down in waves due to the greater illuminated mass. And, as the helmsman closes in on the casualty, this added illumination make sit easier to safely approach for recovery.
“It is also very reassuring for the casualty,” says Hall, who compared its calming effect to that of a sprayhood.
Spinlock’s Lume-On has two water-sensing pins – so it is easy to check if it’s working simply by licking a finger and connecting the terminals. Once activated by water it can provide up to two hours of intense flashing light and eight hours light in total.
The Lume-On adds no extra weight and has a smooth profile so will not chafe the bladder. It is attached using the same adhesive as retro-reflective tape on lifejackets. It now comes as standard on Spinlock’s 5D Deckvest, but is also very simple to retrofit.
And, perhaps most importantly, the Lume-On is sensibly priced – at £15 a pair, it is the sort of safety item one almost can’t afford not to fit.
Toby Hodges is excited by the prospect of this new 54-footer from Nautor, the smallest cruising Swan in ten years
Nautor’s Swan has announced an exciting new model for 2016, its smallest cruising Swan in nearly ten years – since the Swan 46 and 53 in 2005, in fact. And rumour has it there might be something smaller and sportier to come – more on that next month.
This news comes at an unexpected time, with Swan in the midst of producing some of its largest yachts yet – four 115-footers are currently in build. Are we seeing the return to the mid-size fast cruiser shapes that forged the Finnish company’s long-standing reputation?
A bluewater cruiser from Swan is particularly exciting. The term may bandied about a bit these days, but there are certainly clues with this Swan 54 to suggest that Nautor is targeting an ocean cruising client base and not simply pushing another performance cruiser into an already crowded market.
Stowage on deck looks excellent and includes a cockpit locker, lazarette and that particularly valuable commodity for long-distance sailors, a sail locker. The cockpit locker is actually a utility cabin, which can house a generator and washing machine, or be used as a workshop or converted to a berth if desired.
Down below there is a double cabin amidships and a U-shaped galley beside the companionway, a practical arrangement at sea. Tank volume is at the moderate rather than impressive end of the scale for this size yacht – 495lt of fuel and 684lt of water.
Just right for ocean sailing
German Frers has given the 54 a modest shape, which might look a little dated compared with some of her competition, but should suit ocean sailing. The raked stem, fin keel and sloping transom, for example, are features we might have seen in a Frers Swan from the 1980s, but their attributes are just as relevant today. The stem should help softly part waves, while the transom cleverly folds out to produce a 2.5m bathing platform – which will be appreciated in warm anchorages.
A vee-shaped hull below the waterline is a tried and tested design to ensure as comfortable a motion as possible to weather. Interestingly, Nautor’s Swan is providing the option for a shallow keel of just 1.4m combined with twin rudders.
Gone is the super lightweight carbon construction seen on recent Swans. The 54’s hull will be built in single-skin glassfibre reinforced with vinylester laminate.
Frers has given the 54 a generous sail plan, including a large foretriangle, but one that is promised to be easy to handle. The four winches on the coamings close to the aft helms are all powered, with clutches to enable multiple tasks. Jib tracks are mounted on the coachroof, promoting close pointing ability and clear side decks. The mainsheet is also mounted on the coachroof instead of in the cockpit, to create space for a sizeable bimini.
Swan says the interior will be both bright and refined, with plenty of natural light and a natural oak finish. The galley looks particularly generous in size, and provides the option of up to three fridges. Two of the double cabins are to port, and the owner’s cabin forward, linking to one of two heads.
The first 54 is scheduled to launch in July 2016 and has been sold to a British couple.
Designer Mark Mills explains the details behind the latest and arguably most aggressive wallycento to join this 100ft box-ruled racer-cruiser class
Wow!
Judging by these first three renderings, this latest wallycento will be the ultimate and most current dual-purpose superyacht afloat when she launches in 2017. wallycento #4 combines Mark Mills’ eye for a super-slippery race hull, with the ultra-minimalist style Wally is famed for.
Wally says that this fourth wallycento, now under construction at the Persico Marine yard in Italy, is for a passionate racing yachtsman. She will join the growing fleet of centos, which now includes Magic Carpet Cubed, Open Season and Galateia, the latest cento that launched from Green Marine in October.
The wallycento class is designed to be the ultimate racer-cruiser. The 100ft carbon fibre racing yachts have powerful, planning hulls, and weigh just 50T despite incorporating fully fitted-out cruising accommodation for six guests plus crew.
“Cruising in comfort at the speed of the fastest maxi racer and racing at the highest level of competition is the dream of every passionate yachtsman,” says Wally President and founder Luca Bassani.
This fourth wallycento is designed by Mark Mills of Mills Design, based in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. The black topsides contrasting with such a scrupulously clean deck looks formidable, and we particularly like the ‘afterburner’ treatment given to the bulwark ends aft!
“We suggested Mark to the client because I was impressed by the performance of the Maxi72 Alegre,” Bassani explained. “Since the first meetings, we shared with him the same vision of the innovations that can be applied to this type of yachts like the cutting-edge deck layout that combines our flush-deck with bulwark introduced in 2006 with Esense, with the ramp deck of Alegre, perfectly reflecting the Wally DNA of improved functionality”.
“Asked by the client to produce the most refined high performance solution to the box-ruled wallycento racer-cruiser, we assembled a team of specialists with the most open minds to review the options and create something special,” said Mark Mills.
“Significant progress has been made in a number of areas, one of the first targeted for improvement was optimisation of the layout with the structure to reduce structural weight, improve hull stiffness, and centralise the significant machinery weights to reduce pitching inertias.”
“The hull shape exhibits a combination of low drag in lighter conditions and increased stability in more wind that makes her more versatile than previous generations,” Mills explains.
“Deck development is another significant thread, combining the simple sleek aesthetic that Wally agreed with the client with a functional race-able layout encouraging quicker easier manoeuvres. Drawing on the ramp deck first seen on Alegre, this geometry was developed firstly to fit over the interior accommodation mandated by the wallycento rule in the most efficient way possible, while providing an easier deck on which to operate.”
The wallycento #4 is currently under construction at Persico Marine yard, Italy, with the delivery scheduled for June 2017, in time for the second part of the Wally Class racing season.
André Hoek’s latest design perfectly combines form and function. Toby Hodges sails Atalante, the Truly Classic 127 that is turning quite a few heads
It was a certain kind of look. It happened as we sailed back towards Antibes over azure waters, carried along under a cutter rig in idyllic afternoon conditions. We pointed up a little to pass a small Beneteau to windward.
It was an ungentlemanly manoeuvre, one that would result in dealing the said Beneteau a hefty dose of bad air. But we assumed her skipper wouldn’t mind – he seemed to keep a purposefully high line, presumably to catch a closer look at the striking blue hull of this fast-approaching vessel.
We were aboard Atalante, the new flagship of the Hoek-designed Truly Classic range. This family of modern classics, 35 of which have launched over 25 years, now spans 50-127ft. This latest and largest member is a real head-turner.
As the fortunate person to be on the wheel at the time of the Beneteau fly-by, I raised a friendly, yet apologetic hand. Despite the impolite move on our behalf it was met by a distinctly warm response from the cockpit of the Oceanis – it was that look. The man on the wheel smiled a knowing smile; one that translated in any tongue as ‘nice boat, mate’.
That, compressed into a split-second gesture, is what the Truly Classic range is all about. The lines are intrinsically admirable. This is what a real yacht should look like.
Photo Rick Tomlinson
It’s a timeless look, which Atalante carries off with aplomb. She also benefits from significant presence, with her deckhouses and capping rails in glistening teak brightwork and mirror-polished stainless steel fittings, superyacht symbols of luxury. But it is the lines we are drawn to, which hark back to classic yachts of the 1930s.
And the Truly Classic certainly hooked Britain’s foremost sailor. I recall an interview with Sir Ben Ainslie years ago when he was asked what his dream yacht would be. “A Truly Classic,” he replied. How nice it must be, I thought, to have such a clear vision of your ideal boat. And it goes to show what a bit of hard graft, a few medals and a knighthood can do – Sir Ben is now the proud owner of a Truly Classic 65 called Rita.
Trial sail
Piet van der Weide from Hoek Brokerage was aboard with us on our trial sail of Atalante and described how Sir Ben knew exactly what he was after when he sold him the boat. “Ah, but he shouldn’t have gone for in-mast furling,” Atalante’s skipper, James Prince, remarked. Readers may recall the stir it caused in the press when Sir Ben and Lady Ainslie were pictured on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson after being ‘rescued’ from their yacht. Their in-mast furling mainsail had reportedly malfunctioned.
I looked up at the 164ft (50m), four-spreader carbon rig above us. Atalante is almost twice the size of Sir Ben’s Rita, yet she has a fully battened stackpack mainsail that nestles neatly into a Park-Avenue boom. This is about the largest size of yacht where this reefing method is still a practical option with minimal crew, but it indicates a yacht that is designed to be as rewarding to sail as she is to look at.
Photo Rick Tomlinson
For example, the sizeable single wheel is situated right aft. An aft wheel means minimal cable linkage to the carbon rudder, rewarding the helmsman with a direct feel, plus the sight of around 115ft of pristine deck ahead.
The owner of Atalante was very clear about her specifications, as she succeeds his Truly Classic 90 of the same name. He wanted a larger, faster yacht with more comfortable accommodation, but he didn’t want to lose any sailing pleasure when scaling up, skipper James Prince explained.
Classic looks, modern performance
The fact that Atalante handles and accelerates so well was a pleasant surprise. Take the wheel and you really do still feel connected to the sailing. I had an hour of helming her, during which time we matched the 9-11 knots of breeze close reaching. She felt fantastic.
I’ve helmed a number of big yachts on which the sensation is lost through complicated hydraulic linkage. Atalante, however, is a treat. You can sense the slight pressure increases. Turn the grand wheel slightly into a lift and the spoon bow responds gracefully.
“The big worry with moving up 35ft was that there would be a disconnection from the sailing,” said Prince. “But we don’t have that at all. She feels really similar on the wheel, but the difference is in her greater speed. She will match light winds – so we can do 9 knots in 9 knots, not 7 in 9 as per the old boat [TC90].”
Atalante’s designer André Hoek explained how they did a lot of optimisation work. “The owner enjoys the superyacht regattas, hence she has carbon rigging, carbon mast, 3Di sails and a nice keel with thin chord and relatively deep draught,” he said.
Attention was focused on performance and weight distribution. The anchor chain is led aft to a deep locker halfway along the foredeck to get weight aft. The Reckmann furlers are recessed into the deck to maximise the luff length of the foresails. And the staysail can be removed completely, including the foil, and substituted for a blade jib for racing. An ECsix carbon inner stay can be connected and tightened using a ram. The main differences on deck from the old Atalante are that the captive winch for the mainsheet is now below decks rather than in the boom, the standing rigging is ECsix, not metal rod, and halyard and reef locks are used inside the mast.
Sailing systems on Atalante are all led to the aft keyhole-shaped cockpit. This makes it a busy, yet compact area to sail her from. The big wheel means you can steer from the coamings either side. From here the telltales are not visible, but there is a clear view forward over the low deckhouses.
Three giant Lewmar winches each side control the sheets and running backstays. These are in polished stainless steel to match the custom binnacle, each with remote foot pedal controls – the primaries are size 122 four-speed. “Lewmar did a fantastic job on the winches,” Prince enthused. “The ability to backwind them is such a pleasure as you can take half the load off really smoothly and safely.”
Engineered to last
If there is one area that shines, it is the engineering. “This is the project we are most proud of,” Claasen’s sales director Joachim Kieft told me – quite something from the spokesperson of a yard that built the J Class Lionheart.
Photo Cory Silken
“I’m 100 per cent convinced that this is the best boat yet for corrosion resistance,” he said. He explained how Claasen put a Delrin flange under every metal bolt, the stanchions are bedded into glassfibre insulators and chainplates are set into epoxy. “Different materials should not connect at all. The difference will be apparent in four years’ time. Atalante is designed for lifetime use.”
They went to great lengths to ensure the engine room is well set-up for maintenance. The full-beam compartment lies below the deckhouse and includes an air-conditioned control room, accessed via the day heads. The engine room also has an emergency access, where a fuel hose is neatly mounted for refilling the diesel-powered Williams jet RIB.
“This boat sails worldwide so a basic engineer or electrician should be able to fix problems,” said Kieft. For instance, the Scania engine was chosen for its manufacturer’s global support and because the engine reputedly has the best torque to rpm figures. A 30kWh lithium-ion battery bank allows silent sailing for up to eight hours.
Photo Rick Tomlinson
“The systems in particular need to be user-friendly,” Kieft said. “The only thing our clients can’t buy with money is time.” Atalante’s skipper James Prince praised the yard’s engineering: “Their mechanical, electrical and hydraulic installations are awesome.”
Claasen Shipyards owns the aluminium fabricators Bloemsma, where many superyacht hulls are built, including four J Class hulls so far. “We have built 30 Hoeks now, so we are Hoek specialists,” Kieft said.
As the first in a new series, the Truly Classic 127 has a flexible design, a customisable foundation for future owners. She is available as a sloop or ketch, with fixed or lifting keel, and with twin wheels forward of the deckhouse or a single wheel like Atalante. And the saloon can be situated either aft or forward, switching with the guest cabins. I appreciated the unusual layout on Atalante, whereby the aft owner’s cabin is linked to both the aft navigation wheelhouse and a full-beam lower saloon – perfect for privacy.
“The big difference we have found to the old boat is the privacy gained from having the galley and crew mess separated forward,” said Prince, highlighting how this privacy works both ways. The TC127 still sleeps the same number of guests, but offers more comfort for all aboard.
This new Assisted Sail Trim (AST) program, developed by Harken and Jeanneau, uses sensor-driven reversible or captive winches to allow a yacht’s sails to be trimmed, tacked or even furled automatically, writes Toby Hodges
Is the new Assisted Sail Trim (AST) program from Jeanneau and Harken sailing’s equivalent to Google’s driverless car? In essence, the system means all sail handling can be controlled from a single screen at the helm station.
The AST computer compiles data from onboard electronics, including wind, compass and gyro information from the autopilot to command the winches. It can trim the boat automatically, according to wind direction or course heading.
Who’s it for?
The advantages of AST are easy, safe sailing, when cruising short-handed on large yachts.
“The big question we had to address was who are we looking to help?” says Jeanneau’s sailboat product director Erik Stromberg. He explains that there are complicated winch systems already aboard most 50ft plus yachts, but these can’t speak to each other. So the technology was already in place to cater for the current trend of people sailing bigger boats with fewer crew aboard.
“The electronics have moved to the cockpit, the winches from the coachroof aft – large yachts are becoming easier for one person to handle. AST is a logical step: it’s following that market trend.”
AST was developed with Harken over a three-year period aboard a Sun Odyssey 519 and is designed for use initially on the 50ft plus range. “A couple will sail a 64, while you may have eight people aboard a 34-footer,” Stromberg reasons. This system will cost the same whatever the size of boat, however – €15,000 on top of the electric winches that would typically be standard on a 50-footer. So it makes more economic sense on larger yachts.
Jeanneau believes that the take up of AST will be similar to its Dock n Go joystick motoring system, an option chosen by 20 per cent of owners of 45ft plus yachts.
AST started with Harken’s idea for a fully automated boat. The fact that Harken and Jeanneau used a proper prototype testbed for their live testing – before anyone outside the development team knew of its existence – is impressive, and shows how seriously the project is being taken.
The automated yacht
Stromberg explains that the biggest challenge was getting the hardware and electronics to talk to each other. Incorporating sensors on the winches to make sure they run at the correct speed was key.
Full production units are now at the assembly stage and Jeanneau has the exclusive use of AST with Harken for the first year. “There are many extra features that will be easy to add in,” says Stromberg. “But we chose to communicate it our end with a limited number of functions that are most useful to the customer.”
AST is operated via a dedicated industrial screen. There is nothing to stop the system moving to multifunction displays, but it’s a choice Jeanneau avoided as it feels these are already too cluttered. A Sail Management package is available that can raise and furl the sails. Load sensors will detect jams and ease halyards.
There is a manual mode, which allows the operator to tune and trim, or open up the automated functions. But Jeanneau stresses that you still have to trim the sails properly first, as the computer learns from this. “We didn’t want to link it to the autopilot for Auto Tack – you have to push a button to do it, so you have to be at the helm, in control.”
And even those who elect to have an AST system on board needn’t necessarily activate the system. “You can still own a Ferrari with cruise control, without being a poor driver,” says Stromberg.
So it is now possible for a computer not only to steer and dock your yacht, but to set, trim and tack the sails too. No doubt it will prove as controversial as it is intriguing. €15,000 (£11,016) www.jeanneau.com
Auto tack
The helmsman engages the function and turns the wheel through the tack, while AST releases one winch and trims the new working one to the same trim angle as on the previous tack. It is not linked to the autopilot, so the helmsman remains in control
Auto Trim
Auto Trim is comparable to the cruise control function in a car. It is particularly useful for long-distance sailing – as either the boat’s heading or the wind direction changes, the sheets can adjust themselves automatically
“This boat is all about bringing younger people into multihull sailing,” says the builder, so it’s a fun boat at an affordable price, writes Toby Hodges
For those seeking some sporty multihull action at an affordable price, this contemporary 20-footer, the Corsair Pulse 600, is designed to be light and fun, easy to rig and speedy to sail.
Corsair maintains it takes just 20 minutes to prepare a Pulse to sail. The floats fold out quickly afloat or ashore, the main furls around the boom, and she weighs just 450kg. This means her trailer weight is below 750kg, so she is light enough to be towed by most normal cars.
“The whole concept/brief of the boat was born out of an ageing population of multihull sailors and a lack of younger sailors coming through,” declares Mike Rees, general manager of Corsair Marine International. “At the top end of the multihull scene, you have the most amazing Formula 1 boats, but there is little at the lower end that offers enough performance at an affordable price while still being able to have fun with a young family.
“This boat is all about bringing younger people into multihull sailing, doing it with uncomplicated sailing systems and having some serious fun.”
The Pulse can be sailed solo, but has a cockpit large enough to accommodate up to four people. The standard boat is built with a carbon ringframe, carbon-reinforced rudder and daggerboard, plus a rotating wingmast. It’s available in four colours.
Five Pulses were already on their way to the UK this summer, and one will be exhibited alongside the Corsair Cruze 970 at the Southampton Boat Show in September.
Corsair is doing innovative work to keep the price down. The boats are designed to fit maximum numbers into a container for shipping. They are sent on galvanised cradles, Rees explains, which can then be used as a road trailer cradle or beach trolley.
How are sailors using their iPad or tablet on board? Matthew Sheahan talks to cruising sailors, racers and industry professionals
Photo: Tor Johnson
As iPads and other tablets become a part of the arsenal of electronics on board, their versatility, from slave displays and back-up navigation to streaming movies and storing photos, makes them invaluable for a great many sailors. And as apps proliferate and prices of tablets have fallen, the scope is widening. In this feature we look at the best ways of making a tablet or iPad on board work for you at sea.
Low-cost, portable navigation is one of the prime reasons to own a tablet. One of the most popular navigation apps is Navionics’ chart plotting app. Originally produced for the iPad, this app has been instrumental in convincing us there is another, simpler and often more convenient way to use electronics at sea – hardly surprising when you consider the wide coverage and quality of charts available, often for under £30 a region.
There are other vector and raster chart alternatives – for a full review of these, see our online guidehere.
But where is the tablet revolution going? How are people using them and which are the most popular apps? To find out we talked to a selection of people, from bluewater cruisers to offshore solo racers and industry professionals, to get an idea of how tablets are being used afloat.
This is not a comprehensive study of all the apps and tablets available, but a snapshot of the marine scene today gleaned from the experience of those out on the water.
Although Apple still have the greatest range of apps in the wider world ashore, the market for marine software and the way you might use it is starting to change so we also look at which tablet to choose.
A world cruising tool
Behan Gifford and her family are cruising round the world, and use their iPads for all kinds of purposes. ‘For navigation we use iNavx (with Navionics charts). This isn’t our primary navigation system; we rely first on OpenCPN, with CM93 charts, running on a computer down below. But iNavx is more than just a nice back-up.
‘Sometimes we’d rather have eyes on the charts from the cockpit, instead of ducking below decks. Other times we’ll find discrepancies in the charts: having two sources is handy; one is not consistently better than the other.
‘For example, we routinely had very, very different-looking interpretations of the same area in Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. Google Earth was sometimes too fuzzy in those areas to be a useful supplement.
‘iNavx connects to the NMEA 2000 network on board, the better to display AIS data and uses our ship’s GPS and weather station data. Google Earth has been extremely valuable for us for atoll navigation this year, and often had more useful navigation data than what was on our charts.
Scoping out an anchorage
‘For real-time navigation I prefer to overlay it in OpenCPN, but the app is still useful to scope out anchorage or snorkelling spots or watch our live progress through an atoll pass.
‘We don’t have OvitalMap yet, but this is top of my list of apps to try, thanks to a tip from Tucker of Convivia. Tucker sets up a route in iNavx – you could use anything that exports a GPX file – exports the .gpx to OvitalMap, then asks the app to grab every satellite image along that route at a specified range of zoom level. The app then caches these sat images so you can refer to them offline later.
‘This is huge. The process to get Google Earth views into KAP files we can overlay on OpenCPN is ridiculously time-consuming. It requires a solid (and affordable) internet connection for an extended time. OvitalMap is a game changer, because it takes those hours (or days) of effort and turns it into a push-button activity. I see “inadequately surveyed” or even just “unsurveyed” on a number of spots in our African destinations coming up, so this will be a big help.
‘We use our laptop for weather info far more than we use our iPad, because the PC connects to our offshore communications tools (HF and Iridium GO!) and because it offers more user control to analyse and interpret information.
‘But sometimes a tablet is handy and for some people a tablet is their onboard computer. You’ll more often find us using PredictWind’s Offshore program on our laptop for serious weather watch or route planning.
‘A tip from Tucker on Convivia is WeatherTrack, which uses your route data and then helps you anticipate conditions forecast for your timing along the planned path. He finds it so useful for reading GRIBs that he goes through the hassle of getting his (HF-delivered) GRIBs to the iPad. We effectively get the same information with the routeing functionality in PredictWind via our Iridium GO! device.
‘In addition, we get information about current, which is a major factor in any significant ocean passage and has been invaluable for passages like those we’ve had across the Indian Ocean this year.
‘Other popular weather watch tools used by cruising mates such as Kim on Britican include PocketGrib, which reads GRIB files you can have sent through saildocs – something we’d probably do on PC, but devices are nice.
LivingEarth, which can be found at earth.nullschool.net, takes the prize for visually stunning display of weather information, but those gorgeous graphics come at a data cost, so we haven’t used it.
Behan Gifford and her husband, Jamie, along with their three children, have been cruising their Stevens 47 Totem since 2008. Since first using a tablet on board in mid 2012, the family has found them invaluable for a range of tasks.
In her blog www.sailingtotem.com she describes some of the most useful apps based on their own experience and those of more than 30 other sailors
Apps across the Atlantic
Daria and Alex Blackwell use apps on a Samsung smartphone instead of a tablet and comment: ‘The first, and most important use is as back-up for navigation (I have the Navionics app) and for route planning.
The Navionics app has the same data in it as the full chart plotter. It is brilliant. We use it for pocket navigation around Clew Bay in the west of Ireland and it’s great, even for regions as remote as ours. Integral GPS makes it more powerful than our first chart plotters ever were.
‘I also have Google Earth and can check satellite images when necessary – like searching for dinghy landing sites. Most of this, of course, works only in sight of a mobile transmitting tower.
‘I also use it a lot for tides and weather. I have Passage Weather, Meteo Consult Marine, Navtex, Marine Weather and WindGuru loaded, and I have UK Tides and Tides Near Me.
I also have Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder, which are time-delayed, but give me back-up AIS readings, which include ID of coastal lighthouse stations; in Ireland they all have AIS transponders now.
‘I tried apps like Drag Queen, but I hate to leave the device on all night and our new anchors work so well we no longer worry as much. I’ve just installed Star Walk and Sky View, which are great fun.
‘I haven’t done Celestial yet as we have no reason to use the sextant these days. I would buy it if we were to sail off across oceans again. Google Maps is great for finding things on shore, iTranslate and Google Translate are useful when sailing into foreign waters.
‘I use Secchi Disk and Merlin Bird ID to help with citizen science projects. See & ID Dolphins and Whales from NOAA is good, as is Fish Planet for identifying the catch of the day.’
Daria Blackwell and her husband Alex have cruised their Bowman 57 ketch Aleria around and across the Atlantic and are based in Westport, Ireland.
Blackwell is the PR officer for the Ocean Cruising Club and was appointed chairman of the digital communications and publicity and PR sub-committees in 2014. She doesn’t have an iPad, but uses a Samsung Android smartphone, which she says is big enough to see a great deal of detail.
Which tablet?
Yachting World contributor Henry Bomby considers the alternatives to the iPad
In the past five years the iPad and other tablet devices have had a huge impact on both cruising and racing sailors. For me the most exciting changes are coming with the announcement of the iPad Pro and products such as the Windows Surface tablet.
Apple is behind the game on this one, but I suspect it won’t be long until the power of Apple makes a product that sells better than the Windows device.
The two devices are essentially full-blown computers in tablet form. Everything you can do on a desktop is at your disposal on a handheld touchscreen device.
Why is that important to us sailors?
At the moment we use tablets as either a standalone chart plotter, using apps and tools that are not very powerful when you compare them with dedicated programs such as Adrena, Expedition or MaxSea, or we use tablets to repeat a standalone computer down below running these types of programs in the dry and connected to all the instruments.
So is splashing out on an iPad for your boat really worth it, especially as cheaper Android devices are readily available with seemingly the same functionality? You can buy a Hudl2, for example, from Tesco for £99, the same price as a Lifeproof waterproof case for the iPad Air 2.
In the past, I would have recommended that the iPad was the only way to go. It had the most and best apps for sailing and the budget tablets didn’t offer the processing speed and power. But I believe that is changing now.
Pros of the Hudl
The Hudl2 has an 8.3in full HD screen which is great for charting programs. And with a resolution of 1920×1200 it actually has a higher pixel per inch (273ppi) than the iPad Air 2, although admittedly on a smaller screen.
The Hudl2 doesn’t have the same processing power as the latest iPad or iPad Air 2; however, offering 2GB of RAM and a 1.8GHz processor, it has more power than an iPad 2, which is what I currently use and I definitely don’t feel
I need to upgrade for speed. So no problems there.
The Hudl2 also comes with GPS built in, which can be enabled by downloading its own GPS Status software. This is an advantage over the iPad where you have to purchase the cellular version to use the GPS ‘offshore’ or out of 3G range. With Bluetooth GPS devices costing close to £100 anyway, cheap Android devices seem to be the way to go.
I think if my tablet broke tomorrow, I wouldn’t be splashing out on an iPad again. The Android store has all the apps you need now and while the integrity of waterproof cases is the biggest potential weakness, the Hudl2, for example, is designed as a cheap tablet for kids with a case that is splash- and shockproof.
It would be great if a company like Lifeproof made a case for the Hudl2, but at the moment you would have to make do with one of the less convenient waterproof bag-type devices from companies such as Overboard.
Your tablet as a repeater
Marine IT expert Gavin Painter on apps to link to your computer
Although apps are a popular way of running programs on a tablet, on board wi-fi routers and communication apps are now creating a link between the boat’s instruments, and/or a computer down below. This means your tablet can be used as a repeater or slave drive which opens up a range of new possibilities.
“When the big electronics manufacturers such as Raymarine, Garmin and B&G revealed their apps to create a link between their instruments and your tablet, the market for marine apps changed overnight,” says Gavin Painter. “Being able to stream instrument data off the boat’s electronic network to drive applications onto a tablet not only means that you may require fewer instrument repeaters, but also often the quality of your data is better.”
Painter, whose company IT@C specialises in supplying and installing systems aboard bluewater cruisers, sees the advantage to sailors, however, as being even more fundamental.
“The GPS fix alone is likely to be better using the boat’s GPS rather than one in the tablet. The battery life of the tablet will then be better plus it then isn’t necessary to have a cellular-enabled tablet, bringing the price right down.”
But even if you don’t have instruments with wi-fi capability, it is still possible to beam the data wirelessly through the boat using an NMEA to wi-fi adaptor. This takes in the data from your instrument bus on one side and broadcasts it over wi-fi on the other.
Interestingly, despite being one of the biggest-selling navigational apps it is only recently that Navionics has enabled its app to receive wireless NMEA data, albeit just GPS and depth. But this provides an affordable (£99) solution for those simply looking to get the boat’s GPS data onto a cheap, non-cellular enabled tablet using Digital Yacht’s Sonar Server.
The device was developed to provide data for Navionics SonarCharts ‘Live’ technology which helps to redraw the sea bed.
This it still does, but with the added benefit of providing a basic wireless data service.
For a unit that provides a more complete data stream, as well as allowing some areas to be driven from the tablet, look at Digital Yacht’s WLN10HS (£300).
But for some, linking an iPad to the onboard computer or laptop running Windows applications is the issue, rather than connecting to the boat’s instrument system. In this case, a simple free app such as Remote Desktop – RDP Lite, or Splashtop could be the answer. Installing these apps allows the iPad to run as a wi-fi-driven slave screen to the computer below decks.
“Even on big bluewater cruisers we are now seeing owners deciding to go for a tablet rather than big repeater displays,” says Painter, “for the ease with which it can now display information.”
Racing focus
Their main focus may be solo racing, but these two Artemis Challenge skippers have spent many hours trawling through the best apps and weather services available to find out which provides the most effective service whether you are racing or cruising.
Alan Roberts
For weather I use Wind Guru quite a lot for a very basic idea and I also use XC Weather, but mainly I’ll take a GRIB file using a program called Squid. That is a really cool program and is free to download.
For the average sailor it is useful because you can do your routeing in it and you can superimpose competing models – it is really worth getting and I highly recommend it. You can integrate it with Google Earth, so you can look at shorelines and other key features.
For my navigation software I use AdrenaFirst and, as a back-up on my iPad, I have Navionics. They are a very different. The iPad is really a back-up and doesn’t allow me to get AIS, but the charts are quite clear and Navionics works well as a second opinion, but my primary reference is to Adrena.
There are a lot of apps out there – I use the North Sails Scan App, which allows you to take pictures looking up the sail and you can record, for a given sail, sail section or camber, what happens to the sail in different settings and what you are achieving in terms of trim. It also allows you to log the hours you use for a sail and so on.
But with all these things I usually end up making my own programs that suit my own layout and what I am trying to achieve. Primarily I use the boat computer all the time, but with the iPad I run a screen-sharing capability on board using a local network. So I relay to the iPad, which is great when I am sitting at the helm where I can look at it.
Sam Matson
For navigation, alongside Adrena, I use the MaxSea TimeZero package which is very similar to Adrena – a few of the French Figaro sailors actually use it as primary source on the boat.
I’ve got it on my iPad as well, which provides me with another chart base. It has all the raster navigational charts (direct copies of an existing paper chart) for MaxSea and all the CMAP charts for Adrena and it is always useful to compare the two.
It is certainly a handy app to have on your iPad. It is quite expensive, but it is another back-up source and different from the Adrena information I am getting. You can never have too much information.
The best thing I put on my boat this year is something called a Weatherinfobox, also known as the WIBE. That provides me with synoptic data and downloads charts to my computer. That’s really handy – it gives me all the Navtex information and the synoptic charts. It works off long wave frequency, so it’s the equivalent of having a long wave radio on the boat. I think fishermen use it offshore.
MaxSea Time Zero
With weather sites, it really depends where you are sailing and what is best for that area. When I go to a new area I will spend a couple of days searching online, just looking for the best weather sites for that area.
I use an iPad and I have an option to link that to my screen down below. The coolest thing at the moment – which some Figaro boats are using – is to run a wireless transmission of all your NMEA data. It takes all the instrument data, feeds it into a wireless router which can then be picked up on a smartphone or an iPad and it will act as another display on the boat.
So for people who have limited displays or a limited number of displays, by fitting a wireless transmitter and then downloading the right app – whether Raymarine, nke or B&G – the instrument data can appear on your iPad or smartphone. It can be any data the boat is picking up – GPS data, wind data, boat speed, etc.
26 ways to use a tablet afloat
Summary of our experts’ choices. Not all are apps; some are programs run on a computer or instruments that can be viewed on a tablet
NAVIGATION
iNavx Versatile app for reading raster and vector charts. Can overlay GRIB files. £39.99
Navionics Market leader navigation app, easy to use routes and quick. From £15
Open CPN A full-featured chart plotter and navigator application. £7.74
Ovital Map Cross-platform map browser supporting offline views of Google Map, satellite map and terrain map. Free
Squid PC software to download and view GRIB files. Free
AdrenaFirst Cruising navigation software for PC. €465.85 (£338) ex VAT
MaxSea TimeZero Entry-level version of one of the best-established navigation software packages for PC. £397
WEATHER
PredictWind Combines sophisticated wind/weather prediction technology with local topography maps for hi-res forecast. £19/yr
WeatherTrack Weather app for iPad. $9.99
PocketGrib Weather data app including wind, precipitation, pressure, temperature, waves, etc, from GRIB files. £4.49
Google Earth Widely used by cruisers. Free
Meteo Consult Independent supplier of weather forecasts for Apple products. Free
NavtexMarine Weather Android app for weather info. Free
Navtex Pad As above for iPad. £2,29
Wind Guru Wind, wave and weather data. Free, but subscribe for better resolution
XC Weather Formerly an app, now a mobile service online www.xcweather.com. Free
GENERAL
Marine Traffic & Vessel Finder AIS Live vessel-tracking service. Free
Crosbie Lorimer takes a looks at Comanche, the 100ft super-maxi yacht that created such a stir at the last Rolex Sydney Hobart Race
Comanche races in the Rolex Sydney Hobart. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex
“The design office were told specifically by me that if this boat wasn’t the worst rated boat in history they have failed,” Dr Jim Clark said about his new raceboat. Not exactly the sort of remark you might expect, perhaps, but Clark, founder of software company Netscape, is well known for his singular approach to his many sailing ventures.
For Clark, owner of the 295ft three-masted schooner Athena and the replica J Class Hanuman, the goal for his brand new 100ft super-maxi Comanche is first and foremost to break records.
At her first major outing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2014, she caused something of a stir, although she was pipped for line honours in the 650-mile offshore classic by the well-sorted and immaculately sailed Wild Oats XI.
Not surprising that Clark should look to his regular skipper Ken Read and the French design team collaboration of Verdier Design/VPLP to create his new master-blaster. Despite a punishing one-year timeline for the build team, project managers Tim Hacket and Brandon Linton worked with boat captain Casey Smith – all three were involved in Read’s previous Volvo campaign – to see the new boat launched on time from the Hodgdon Yard in Maine in late 2014, given an impressive first run in heavy airs and then put on a ship to Sydney.
Under sail, first impressions of Comanche inevitably draw comparisons with IMOCA 60s and the globe-circling multihulls in which the design team excels. With massive beam at the stern, long reverse sheer, the mast well aft of 50 per cent of the boat length, towering narrow mainsail and a long boom overhanging the stern, everything is built for speed when the wind is abaft the beam.
In anything above eight knots of true wind Comanche starts to move out of displacement mode and at 25° of heel she has the same wetted surface as the 100ft supermaxi Wild Oats XI – the more remarkable when you consider that you could fit two of Wild Oats’s sterns into Comanche’s.
Helming Comanche requires a different mindset, according to Read: “You sail the boat a bit like a multihull in a way, it’s so wide you rock it up on its ‘leeward hull’.”
So beamy is Comanche that she was given the nickname the Aircraft Carrier
The photos below show exactly what this remarkable yacht looks like on deck and below.
Specifications
LOA 30.50m/100ft 0in
Beam 7.80m/25ft 6in
Draught 6.50m/21ft 4in
Mast height 46.00m/150ft 0in
Displacement 31,000kg/68,343lb
Mainsail 410m2/4,413ft2
Downwind sail area 1,022m2/11,000ft2
Upwind sail area 350m2/3,767ft2
Largest spinnaker 1,100m2/11,840ft2
IRC Rating 1.958
Designed by Verdier Design/VPLP
Built by Hodgdon Yachts, Maine, USA and Owner’s build team
Mast/boom Southern Spars
Sails North Sails
Hydraulics Cariboni
Foils Re Fraschini
WinchSystem Harken with Jon Williams
Rigging ECsix
STERN Comanche’s beamy stern swiftly earned her the tag The Aircraft Carrier. Her optimum heel angle is anything over 20°, while at 25° she has the same wetted surface as Wild Oats XI. The fitting of an escape hatch and the liferaft stowage in her stern are a direct result of lessons learned from the capsize of Rambler in the 2011 Rolex Fastnet
MAST As with the IMOCA 60s, the mast is positioned well back in the boat; sited directly above the canting keel, the mast is deck-stepped on a triangulated mast post integrated into the same frame as the keelbox. Static loads on the mast base are in the order of 75 tonnes, increasing to 150 tonnes under sail
DEFLECTORS The 150ft (46m) four- spreader rig features two running backstays and three deflectors, precluding the need for checkstays for mast bend control, and also reducing windage and weight aloft. Mast height was limited to be able to pass under Sydney Harbour Bridge
COCKPIT AND WINCHES Sail handling is by grinder-powered Harken winches with customised drive shafts, grinder pedestals and gearboxes to cater for the substantial torque. The winch pedestals are placed inboard to permit stacking of up to four sails in the cockpit
WHEEL POSITION The steering pedestals can be moved to a position at the forward end of the cockpit (ringed), just behind a detachable hard dodger over the companionways, affording the helmsmen and crew maximum protection if required for long passages
DEFLECTOR RAMS The three deflectors controlling mast bend are trimmed by three hydraulic rams that work interactively. Although cheat sheets have been developed for basic settings, the crew is still exploring setting refinements for these
CANTING KEEL The canting keel is controlled by a 350kg titanium ram built by Cariboni. The keel can be swung 35° either side of centre and moved through the full arc in about 25 seconds. A secondary slave cylinder can be used to swing the keel if the primary ram fails
WATER BALLAST Manifolds, pipes and valves controlling water ballast are located behind the navstation bulkhead. Water ballast comprises 6.5 tonnes per side in three tanks on each flank. All pipework is built in carbon fibre
COMPASS The cheapest fitting on the boat is a card compass that would look more at home on a Laser. Though the helmsmen and trimmers use the digital read-outs, the rules require a card compass to be fitted, so the team went looking for the simplest and lightest
NAVIGATION STATION is located immediately behind the companionway bulkhead, also being the point from which all the boat’s electrics are controlled. The carbon fibre chart table can be tacked and the bench seat is long enough to allow the navigator to sleep or rest here if required
TACKING HEADS There are two concessions to ‘luxury’ aboard Comanche, one being a carbon fibre tray for six coffee cups and the other a carbon heads that can be tacked! No privacy for the latter, of course
Sharing the same hull as the popular J/111, this new boat is designed specifically for short-handed sailing. Matthew Sheahan tries her out
This year’s double-handed class trophy for the Rolex Fastnet Race went to Kelvin Rawlings and Stuart Childerley aboard the J/105 Jester. Neither had raced short-handed before this season, yet both said afterwards that this was one of the most memorable and satisfying races they had ever done.
And they weren’t alone. Throughout the fleet, whether they had won silverware or not, there were plenty of other sailors echoing the same thoughts; short-handed sailing is on a roll.
Rawlings and Childerley’s J/105 is a boat that is still considered to be one of the best for the job, despite the fact that the design is now well over 20 years old. This in itself is interesting given that J Boats in general have long had a reputation for being good to sail short-handed, thanks largely to the perceived simplicity of the asymmetric spinnaker, and yet have only now launched a boat specifically aimed at this type of sailing.
Several production builders such as Jeanneau and JPK have been tapping into the enthusiasm for short-handing with models such as the Sun Fast 3200 and 3600 as well as the JPK 1010 and 1080. But finally J Boats has joined in with the J/11S.
If this boat looks familiar it is because she is based on the J/111, a boat that has proved herself successful and potent in fully crewed racing. This new 36-footer shares the same hull, deck and, to a large extent, cockpit layout of the J/111, but that’s where the similarities end.
Tweaked for short-handing
The J/11S has been tweaked to make her an easier boat to sail short-handed and more competitive. As a result she has twin rudders connected to a single tiller, a slightly shorter rig and a smaller jib. To contribute towards the lack of bodies on the rail she has more internal ballast. She also has an alloy mast and boom.
The changes and tweaks have helped to bring her IRC handicap down from 1.096 to 1.050, a reduction that gets her under the upper rating limit for the Transquadra race, a popular transatlantic race for single and double-handed amateur sailors over 40. But J Boats believes that there is another key area in which the new model can score.
A slightly smaller jib than aboard the J/111 makes this boat that bit easier to handle and gets the IRC rating down
Unlike the beamy and angular Jeanneaus and JPKs, the J/11S is a more modest hull shape and as a result her builder believes she will prove to be a better all-rounder. Even from just an arbitrary glance, the J appears to have less wetted surface area aft, suggesting she will be less sticky in the light.
She’s a very seductive boat to sail, especially short-handed. Because she’s a more modest affair with a narrower beam than the other two she’s easy to get to grips with and without the wheel steering fitted in the J/111 she has a more open cockpit, which is easier to move about in.
Stretching forward to reach the jib sheets or pulling up a halyard is easy, nothing is too far out of reach and with the autopilot controls positioned close to the tiller it’s easy to press the ‘auto’ button and nip forward if you have to.
Not that you will want to let the autopilot steer for very long. She’s a lovely boat to sail and makes you wonder why wheel steering is so popular on most of the J Boat range. Why numb a great feel?
Balanced on the helm
She’s so light and responsive under sail you would be hard pressed to tell that she has twin rudders, she’s that balanced on the helm. Even when tacking and gybing she feels nimble. It’s only when you’re manoeuvring under engine that you start to feel her wider turning circle and the lack of prop wash on the rudder at low speeds. But these characteristics would be easy to live with when taken in the context of a boat that is a great deal of fun to sail.
She is, as you would expect, solidly built with few frills, just a simple, practical layout above and below decks.
But there is one amusing irony. Among the many reasons for J Boats’ continued success in Europe has been its asymmetric spinnaker configuration. Not only did this open up the possibilities for extended downhill sleighrides for club sailors, but the ease with which the kite could be handled, especially through gybes, made life easier for the crew.
Little wonder then that as the amateur short-handed scene started to gather pace, many saw J Boats as providing the perfect platform for both inshore and offshore double-handed racing.
And yet many of those who have been sailing two-up for some time and may have started with asymmetrics, believe that symmetric kites are easier to handle for a short-handed crew. They argue that, although they may be a little trickier through the gybe in some conditions, the ability to square back the pole provides a much bigger range of downwind angles to steer, which in turn increases the range of one sail, while also making it easier to keep the helm well balanced.
Some even argue that an end-for-end pole gybe on a kite that is flying all the way through the manoeuvre is easier, more stable and less risky than gybing an asymmetric. Hoists and drops are easier and less prone to a trawl with a symmetric kite, especially if you are recovering using the ‘letter box’ drop technique where the kite is gathered between the mainsail foot and the boom.
Symmetric kite and conventional pole
None of which has been lost on J Boats, master of asymmetric racer-cruisers, which had blanked off the retractable bowsprit moulding on the first J/11S in favour of a symmetric kite and conventional pole.
While I can see the logic, our test sail, performed two-up, suggested that we had a little more work to do on timing and technique! But whichever configuration you prefer, having the facility for both is a key advantage for this boat.
Below decks she’s a very straightforward affair with a pair of settee berths either side of the saloon table, a small galley to port and a dedicated navigation station to starboard. Further aft under the cockpit side decks are a pair of berths and the forecabin plays host to the heads and a sail locker. All of which reminds you how much space you have aboard a 36-footer when you take five people out of the equation.
The bottom line is that this is a boat that feels the right size for a short-handed crew – so much so that it seems a shame to spoil the side deck with bodies. At roughly the same length as the J/105 she also feels like a natural successor to the 680 built.
All she has to do now is head out there and prove it.
A return to a symmetric spinnaker pole may surprise some people, but the short-handed gurus claim that symmetric kites are easier and safer than asymmetrics
Not a standard fitting, but bound to be popular, this is the short fixed bowsprit for the Code 0. Note the slot for the bow roller and anchor chain
As you might expect, all controls are led aft, but the size and ergonomics of the cockpit mean there are no special arrangements. She just fits
When the World Match Racing Tour chose a high-speed cat as its next one-design racer, it seemed likely to fly out of reach of ordinary sailors.
But no, Matthew Sheahan finds her easy to sail
Photo: Robert Hajduk - ShutterSail.com
America’s Cup foiling cats look spectacular and turn plenty of heads, but the rate at which the demands of the new technology have been accelerating is leaving many of us trailing behind, unable to keep up with the skills required to master the new trend.
The Cup cats are not the only ones trailblazing a foiling future. Among the new breed of foiling machines, the A-Class cat, the Flying Phantom and Nacra F20 are examples of a new style of high-speed, high-octane, foilborne racing.
So when the World Match Racing Tour announced that it was switching from a range of conservative monohull keelboats, to a high-performance 32ft catamaran, some may have thought that even the cerebral sport of match racing would now be out of reach for anyone other than a talented cat sailor with no fear of heights.
These new cats were surely too big, too complex and, with the crew seated on the hiking wings and flying high enough above the water’s surface to bring on a bout of vertigo, this was surely just another example of the professional world scorching off into the distance.
But, as I discovered at first hand, you’d be wrong. The new M32 one-design cat is indeed quick, easily capable of 22 knots downwind. Even in the hands of an extra medium-sized, lunch-loving, dyed-in-the-wool monohull sailor, she was far easier than I had expected at hitting and sustaining high speeds while flying a hull downwind.
I was hooked
Within an hour aboard and 20 minutes on the helm I had settled down and was hooked. I had got used to flying above the water at heights you only normally experience on a flybridge motor cruiser as the cat heeled. I had got used to double figure speeds – although it didn’t stop me breaking into a grin each time – and I was now concentrating on trying to refine my technique to sail smoothly upwind in the gusty conditions, hitting the right numbers and keeping the windward hull flying.
A couple of hours later and the penny had fully dropped, leaving me wondering why I hadn’t noticed how radically different this boat is from when I had first seen her at the Düsseldorf boat show two years ago.
What I should have seen then was that this is a deceptively simple boat. For upwind work she has no jib, just a high aspect ratio, fully battened, soft, square-topped mainsail. She has no dolphin striker or stays, just a simple bowsprit for the furling Code 0, which is flown on the downwind legs.
She has a mainsheet running inside the boom to exit just abaft the gooseneck on the rotating aerofoil-section mast where it is then led out to the windward hull and trimmed by the forwardmost member of the four-strong crew. The mainsheet traveller is a curved affair with a simple line that comes from the centreline to control how far to leeward the car goes.
There are no complicated multi-purchase blocks and tackles either side – these can create unwanted friction to leeward as you try to haul the car up the track.
Other than the Code 0 sheet there are no ropes trailing across the trampoline. Even the curved daggerboards, which are designed to provide sufficient lift to keep the bows up – especially during a bear away or in a big gust at speed – are raised and lowered simply by pulling the handle on the top of the board, a technique that has worked fine in a Mirror dinghy for decades and works perfectly well here too.
Easily trailed
Designed by Göran Marström and Kåre Ljung, the M32 is a performance cat for enthusiastic amateur sailors that is also capable of being easily trailed. The fact that she weighs only 500kg all-up gives an indication of how light her component parts are and hence how easily she can be towed and rigged from the trailer by just two people in four hours with no specialist equipment. In addition, although she is 32ft LOA, she can be launched off the beach by hand just as you would with a dinghy cat.
The class is intended to be a strict one-design and has already set up and run a number of class regattas in North America and Scandinavia, with plans for an event in Bermuda. The intention is to develop this further for those who have the desire and the pockets to play on the international circuit. Given how easily the boat can be moved, this should prove to be good value.
But perhaps the most interesting new development for this boat and indeed the class, is that the World Match Racing Tour has adopted her in favour of the variety of monohulls that it currently uses/charters for its globe-trotting series.
It has been a long haul to convince the monohull sailing world that multis can be used for match racing. So when the America’s Cup made the leap and turned to multihulls, sailing’s ultimate match race broke a link with a long-established, successful and well regarded path to the world’s oldest international sporting trophy.
The World Match Racing Tour has frequently been the proving ground for match racing skippers and crew. Feeding into this, many national match racing circuits around the world provide one of the early stepping stones into this semi-professional world.
Re-establishing a link to the America’s Cup
When the Cup turned to cats, it was difficult to see how the WMT could continue to provide a pathway. This had a knock-on effect and threatened to polarise match racing. But now the link is re-established and, with the Olympic Nacra 17s proving popular, exciting and challenging for the next generation, it is easier to see where being a multihull expert might lead.
But simple and easy to handle though she is, the M32 is not going to start turning up in your local dinghy park. Her size and a price tag of US$245,000 ex VAT ex works (but including sails and cradle, etc) will see to that. But we will start to see better off teams and individuals buying their own boats either as training boats for the WMT or for the fleet racing regattas organised by the class association.
And if this potent cat isn’t enticing enough, perhaps the $1million prize money for the winner of the WMT will do the trick.
If a tubby, chicken-livered Technical Editor can get hooked on this boat in an hour, I suspect there could be a queue developing soon.
Curved daggerboards provide additional lift at speed, but the M32 does not foil. Boards are raised and lowered by hand, without control lines
The racks increase the total beam to 8.35m (27ft 5in), but are easy to get onto and surprisingly comfortable and secure when you’re there
The rotating aerofoil-section carbon mast has one set of spreaders with diamonds that are tensioned by a single nut under the mast
The simple single-line traveller system makes it easy to haul the mainsheet car up the track without friction from the leeward side
A simple, shallow crew cockpit makes it easy to brace yourself when using the non-self-tailing winch for the Code 0 sheet. There’s little else to put on it!
The daggerboards have simple rope handles to raise or lower them, keeping weight down
Specifications
LOA 9.68m/31ft 9in
Beam 5.54m/18ft 2in
incl racks/side wings 8.35m/27ft 5in
Sail area: Mainsail 52m2/560ft2
Gennaker 61m2/657ft2
Weight 510kg/1,124lb
Mast height 16.8m/55ft 1in
Designed by Göran Marström/Kåre Ljung
Built by Aston Harald Composite AB
Price US$214,000 (£138,590) ex sails, ex works, ex tax
The ‘Raymarine Quantum Wireless Chirp’ was launched at the London Boatshow on 8 January – a radome claimed to be the lightest and most efficient radar in its class. Multiple benefits are claimed, but the weight-saving potential alone makes this an impressive advancement for sailors.
Chirp technology is used increasingly by marine manufacturers in echosounders to increase target resolution when fishfinding. The same benefits are applied to marine radar with the launch of the Raymarine Quantum, the industry’s first compact recreational radome with Chirp pulse compression technology.
What does that mean?
The Raymarine Quantum uses pulse compression to produce sharper, more defined images by sending out variable frequencies simultaneously.
Yes but why is this radar particularly interesting to sailors?
Aside from optimum target resolution, the potential weight-saving benefits aloft are appealing. The 18in Quantum weighs around 50 per cent less than traditional magnetron radars.
The reduction in size of the innards – the new solid-state circuit board (top right) compared to the old metallic part
At its world launch of Quantum, Raymarine showed the new solid-state circuit board and compared it to the metallic innards of a magnetron radar (pictured above). This comparison helps bypass the marketing hype to make the reduction in size and weight tangible. The Quantum radome weighs just 5.6kg – around 2kg lighter than the competition – practical weight-saving when mast-mounted.
In essence, although there is still a spinning part inside the radome (the circuit board), it is the information produced to send out the radar pulse that has changed. The promised range is another benefit of this technology – up to 24nm, but also down to just 18ft away. “It has much better close range resolution but without the worry of big bang echoes,” Raymarine’s Head of Corporate Marketing Fiona Pankhurst told me.
Integrated wifi allows Raymarine’s Quantum to network directly to multifunction displays, and simplifies installation by eliminating the need for additional radar cabling. It also benefits from safe emissions and minimal warm-up time as per Broadband types. Pankhurst says the benefit over these radars is that their Chirp model won’t suffer any interference from magnetron radar echoes.
The physical size of the radome is still very similar to past models, hence its installation footprint remains the same. And at £1,495 inc VAT, there is no cost increase over past models.
These AIS MOB devices can alert your yacht, and others close by, to a man overboard. Pip Hare tests a selection of the latest models and considers the search and rescue options
In a safety briefing for the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race, a French search and rescue pilot told us just how hard it is for a spotter plane to see a person in the water.
He pointed his finger at the audience of sailors and very firmly told us that we were the best chance our co-skipper had of being recovered after falling over the side and that we must ensure our counterparts were wearing the correct safety equipment when on deck. He also stressed how important it was that we both had tested and were aware of how to use our AIS locator devices.
With the prevalence of these devices increasing and many sailors now making a choice between an AIS location device and a PLB, I gathered together seven AIS MOB devices and compared their key features to understand what each one could offer, how they perform and how AIS fits into the search and rescue safety package.
Who’s it for?
It is generally accepted that for those sailing alone a more traditional personal PLB EPIRB, which operates on 406MHz, remains your best chance of being found in an MOB situation. For the majority, however, who sail on a crewed yacht an AIS device, such as the ones we tested, allows both the mothership and nearby vessels to identify your exact location using an AIS set or chartplotter.
The first of its kind, produced in 2011, this was originally aimed at divers hence is waterproof to 60m. It has an integral antenna housed in the waterproof casing, which illuminates when the device is activated.
These are the same units produced by the two Oriola brands. They are small, and offer automatic in-lifejacket activation. These are the current brand leaders in personal AIS devices.
This water-activated unit is designed to fit inside a lifejacket. It has an antenna housed in plastic tubing that fits around the collar of the lifejacket and does not need deploying prior to activation.
Despite being the smallest of all current models on the market, the RescueMe MOB1 also incorporates a DSC function. The device is designed to fit inside a lifejacket.
This is a new device produced in Taiwan that is due to be launched in January at the London Boat Show. It offers automatic activation and has bright LED lights in the housing, which flash the SOS message when the unit is activated.
The easyONE is an entirely water-activated device that floats with its antenna facing up. It could be either kept in a pocket or tucked inside a lifejacket with no fitting or arming required.
This is the largest, heaviest and most expensive of all of the devices tested; the easyRESCUEpro can double as a liferaft SART, and incorporates a GMDSS-approved DSC alerting function.
The easyRESCUEpro does stand apart from the rest at £557, but this is down to its extra DSC functionality and ability to double up as a liferaft SART with extended battery transmission time.
£557
Fitting
All the devices fit inside a lifejacket, although some not quite as unobtrusively as others. Fitting options varied across the range, including belt loops, pouches or oral inflation tube clips.
All the oral inflation tube clips were firm and easy to fit, with the exception of the Wamblee, which uses an angular stainless steel bracket that I found fiddly. If choosing the Wamblee I feel the belt loop option is better; it comes with both.
The units with clips or belt loops can also be fitted inside a lifejacket to a suitable strop. Not all lifejackets will have these. Ocean Safety now includes a strop as standard in its Kru Sport Pro jackets, but it would be a good idea to look inside your lifejacket or talk to a service agent before taking up this option.
A small design feature that made a big difference was the addition of teeth on the McMurdo and Kannad belt clip. The teeth gripped the webbing strop firmly and kept the unit exactly in place even during automatic inflation. The clip without teeth on the AMEC unit, however, slid off the side of the bladder during activation.
The two Weatherdock and the McMurdo S10 devices are larger and can be tucked inside a lifejacket cover with the lanyard attached. They all fitted, but left bulky profiles and I definitely felt the weight of the easyRESCUEpro.
Belt loops and pouches enable a wearer to attach the devices outside the lifejacket. If attached at the waist or hip, however, they would be fully submerged if you fell in the water and unable to transmit. Units correctly fitted inside the lifejackets are already in the ideal position for transmission as soon as the jackets are inflated.
Not all the devices floated. Although the Kannad and McMurdo come with a floating pouch, this can only be used when the AIS device is dormant. Once transmitting, the GPS area must be kept clear so it cannot be put back in the pouch. The easyONE floats upright with the antenna pointing at the sky. This means that, however you carry it, it will always float to the surface and transmit. The AMEC floats, but not antenna up.
Automatic activation
There are two ways for devices to activate automatically: one is with water contact and the other is via a pull-string when the lifejacket itself goes off. For the test results I have labelled devices as partially automatic if they require arming to ensure activation.
The pull-to-activate mechanisms rely on a lanyard attached from device to lifejacket, which when put under tension by the bladder inflating, will pull away, releasing the antenna and activating the device.
Kannad, McMurdo, AMEC and Ocean Signal all use this system of activation. They recommend set up by an approved lifejacket service agent. Trial and error enabled me to find the right lanyard length; across the board the jackets needed to be firmly under pressure to get the devices to activate.
When jumping into the water wearing an auto-inflate lifejacket the results for the Kannad/McMurdo were impressive; by the time I had resurfaced, my lifejacket was inflated and the locator device was resting on top of the bladder, antenna pointing at the sky and LEDs flashing. The AMEC auto-activated well, but I had to reposition it to the top of the lifejacket bladder once in the water.
Water-activated devices rely on immersion to make an electrical connection across two contact points. The WamBlee and AMEC need arming to ensure automatic activation and both the Weatherdock units are fully automatic without arming.
The easyONE has a neat system using a dissolvable salt tablet to deploy the antenna. When tested in my sink, the force of the antenna escaping scattered bits of salt tablet half way across the room. It’s clever, but I wouldn’t recommend having it near your face during activation.
Those of us who get regularly very wet when sailing might shy away from water-activated units. I am sure if accidentally activated inside your lifejacket there is little chance a signal would escape, however repeated activation may affect battery life.
The only device that cannot be automatically activated is the McMurdo S10.
A surprising range
I made several tests on the range of each device and in different circumstances and found little notable difference between units. Within the harbour, devices set off at water level were not detected at a range of half a mile from a receiving aerial at mast height. Along a cliff line this range was up to a mile, and over a sandy headland the signal was lost at two miles.
On open water the results for all sets were astoundingly good. I tested up to three-and-a-half miles with the AIS devices in the water and the receiving aerial at just over 14m high. On all occasions all sets continued to produce strong and regular updated information to the receiving AIS plotter at intervals of less than one minute.
Watching from my man overboard position with the devices at water level, the yacht with the receiver was no longer visible from two miles away.
I had expected to see some variance in the performance across the devices in this area, however all sets performed well enough to save your life. These tests were picked up by other passing vessels and also showed up on the marine traffic website.
A range of fast-paced, sleek and modern-looking boats from Hudson Yacht & Marine based in south-west China will include cats from 55ft to 115ft, reports Elaine Bunting
HH Catamarans is a name you may not have heard of (yet), but behind this new brand is one of the largest-scale investments and boldest thinking in some years. The plans are ambitious, with a range of big, fast, luxurious catamarans up to superyacht scale.
The company is Hudson Yacht & Marine, based in south-west China, which sees its main market in Europe and the US, hence its appearance in Annapolis.
At the new facility in Xiamen, an island city lying between Hong Kong and Shanghai, the first is being built of what is to be a range of catamarans from 55ft to 115ft: the HH55, HH66, HH77, HH88 and HH115.
Rendering of the HH88
Four HH66s have been sold and are already in production. The first is due to launch in February for an Asian owner, and tooling for the HH55 is underway.
If the appearance of these resembles the Gunboat range more than the average production cruising cat, that is hardly surprising: the designs are the work of Morrelli & Melvin, the design team responsible for 18 Gunboats, and whose expertise in performance multihulls over the years spans A Class and Nacra catamarans to the late Steve Fossett’s PlayStation and, more recently, BMW Oracle Racing.
All will be fast-paced, sleek and modern-looking boats aimed at fast passagemaking and comfortable open plan ‘indoor/outdoor’ living. The HH55 and HH66 are styled as ‘a light and strong raceboat in disguise’. The HH66 is in composite construction, primarily aimed at cruising but, according to Morrelli & Melvin, “able to kick it up a notch”. So it is ultra light, and has C-shape daggerboards and T-foil rudders.
The HH55 is available in two configurations: forward cockpit and centre steering or dual aft steering and either in full-on performance-mode carbon composite construction or a less costly epoxy/E-Glass alternative. It, too, features C-shape daggerboards and T-foil rudders.
NZ builder brought in
Besides commissioning Morrelli & Melvin for the designs, owner Hudson Wang brought in New Zealand boatbuilder Paul Hakes four years ago. Hakes, a well known racing boat builder very experienced in building in pre-preg carbon, admits that he was “quite taken aback” by the scale of the company’s commitment to building boats – to date it has spent US$50m on building
a boatyard. In that time Hakes has built several of the Judel Vrojlik-designed HH42, the best known example of which is Richard Matthews’s Oystercatcher XXX.
Hudson sees yacht manufacture as part of a serial manufacturing operation. The company’s products are wide-ranging. It produces around 20 per cent of baseball bats bought in the US, makes aircraft escape slides, barbecues and coolers, and employs some 4,000 people, of which 400 are in the boatyard. Its history in boats goes back to building J/80s and RIBs.
Tooling for the HH55 is also well underway. Paul Hakes tells us that the yard has finished a new fit-out hall and now has capability to have four or five HH66s and five to six HH55s in build at a time.
Preliminary drawings for the HH88 have been done and sufficient structural detail to allow price estimates. Designer Gino Morrelli says that the company is in talks with two potential owners.
Morrelli emphasises that the range could also go beyond the 115-footer currently planned. “We think the yard has capability to go to 150ft and they’ve built their new building to get that out the door, as that is where we think we will be in five to six years.”
Each of these boats can be highly customised, and renderings show very modern interiors. The zingy hull colours illustrated emphasise the message that Hudson is aiming to appeal to owners not hidebound by tradition, and perhaps migrating from motorboats.
The fact that the business has put its weight so strongly behind multihull production is yet another indication of growing interest in this area of sailing. “As far as the sailing market is concerned, the share of multihulls is growing, and bigger boats are coming out [of the downturn] faster than smaller boats,” says Morrelli.
