Royal Huisman in the Netherlands continues to make its mark on the superyacht world by building some of the most ambitious private vessels afloat. The shipyard just announced a contract to construct Project 411, which is a 264-foot sailing yacht with the code name Noir. The yacht will be a Malcolm McKeon design with what will reportedly be the world’s tallest sloop rig, at 305 feet high.

McKeon is known for contemporary styling, having also worked on the 195-foot sailing yacht Sarissa that Royal Huisman delivered in 2023. Noir will have a reverse bow, a flybridge, foldout platforms, and what Royal Huisman calls “large areas of glass.” The deck gear and all the windows will be black, according to the shipyard.

The owner’s specifications call for space to bring along a 45-foot tender, allowing the owner and guests to explore coastlines and to transport provisions from shore without having to reposition the yacht closer to any harbor.

Royal Huisman says construction of Noir will be entirely aluminum, with electric-drive auxiliary power. The mast, boom and integrated sailing system will all be from Rondal.

According to the shipyard, Noir will be among the world’s 10 largest sailing yachts, with her air draft exceeding the current tallest rig by about 14 feet.

“We are very pleased to be building again at Royal Huisman,” McKeon stated in a press release, adding that having built the award-winning Sarissa there, “ we are well acquainted with the shipyard’s engineering skills, innovations and the level of craftsmanship.”

Less information is being revealed about plans for the interior layout and décor aboard Noir, but GCA Architects of Barcelona, Spain, is involved in the design. That firm is also known for a contemporary approach, having worked on Spain’s first “smart” building and the world’s first platinum-certified LEED structure.

Designer Josep [KK1] Juanpere Miret, in the same press release, said the interior aboard Noir will complement the contemporary exterior styling, and will mix woods, natural materials and textures for a relaxed yet luxurious atmosphere.

In other big-sail Royal Huisman news: The 265-foot Sea Eagle, launched in 2020, just joined the charter fleet at Y.CO. It’s headed to the South Pacific this summer, with itineraries possible to book in French Polynesia and Fiji. The yacht then will have charter availability in New Zealand during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The crew includes two scuba instructors for making the most of the underwater sights.

Take the next step: click over to royalhuisman.com for the new build, or to y.co for charter.

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On the blacktop of a boatyard adjacent to the bustling harbor of Anacortes, Washington, a warhorse of a 1970s-era racing yacht is stripped down and propped up, and is clearly in the throes of a keel-to-masthead reincarnation. The boat’s name is Improbable, which is fitting, because that also described the chances I’d run into an old sailing friend named Bruce Schwab when I arrived in the Pacific Northwest last summer to hop on a cruising boat headed north. Improbable is Schwab’s boat and the object of his current labor of love, and the entire story borders on the unlikely and implausible—which is why it’s pretty cool.

Schwab, a self-confessed “certified boat bum and sailing nut,” is also an accomplished sailor who has twice raced alone around the world and was the first American to successfully compete in the nonstop Vendée Globe in 2004-05. These days, he runs a business fitting out systems for onboard energy management and charging. It’s called OceanPlanet Energy, and it’s in Maine—which is why it was, well, improbable when I ran into him at a taco joint in Anacortes. After he invited me to come look at his latest project, the tale got stranger still; Improbable was a big reason he fell hard for the sport.

Designed by Gary Mull, the lean 42-footer was built of cold-molded kauri, a New Zealand wood renowned for its lightweight and superior strength. Schwab’s dad bought the boat in 1976, when Schwab was 16 years old, and he spent his teenage years campaigning the boat with his family and friends. Mull was a highly respected naval architect based out of California’s Bay Area, where he had almost a cult following among the local sailors. And Improbable, created and built to excel in long, downwind races like the ones to Hawaii, did extremely well in the old IOR measurement rule, which was the premier rating system of the day. It all laid the groundwork for Schwab’s long and successful career as a professional rigger and sailor.

Read More from Herb McCormick: Cruising Haida Gwaii

Improbable remained in the family all that time, but, when Schwab inherited the boat several years ago, it had largely fallen into a state of disrepair. As he sailed the boat from Northern California to Anacortes, where he had some local connections, the idea was to find it a new home. “I’ve done six races to Hawaii, four trans-Atlantic races, the ’round-the-world stuff, and I was thinking I’ve done enough sailing,” he said. “I thought I was over it. But on that trip north, it all flashed back. I remembered how much I liked the boat. And I wanted to know how it would feel if it was modernized. I have a vision for what it could be. And I just can’t let it go.”

So, he’s bringing Improbable back to fighting trim. He found an excellent carbon-fiber mast from a Farr 40, and he reckons there are some good used sails from that class that will also work well on this project. He’s completely reconfiguring the boat’s rudder, which, he says with a laugh, is a project he started when he was a teenager. The entire deck layout will be transformed with the latest and best go-fast hardware. Lithium batteries and solar panels will completely transform the systems technology. He’s doing it all slowly but surely, making regular commutes from the East Coast to the West Coast, as time allows.

Today, almost five decades after first stepping aboard the boat, Schwab is preparing, once again, to hoist sail, set the kite and haul the mail. Hawaii beckons. Perhaps a new generation will feel the thrill, pass the torch. Improbable? With this boat, it’s safe to say, probably not.  

The post The Family Sailboat appeared first on Yachting.

Forty years ago this past September, in the waters of Rhode Island Sound just off the coastal city of Newport, a crew of Aussies shocked the sailing world. The 12 Metre Australia II defeated the American boat Liberty to win the 1983 America’s Cup and bring the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year defense of the Auld Mug to a conclusion. It’s safe to say the Cup, and my hometown of Newport, have never been the same.

I spent a lot of time on the sound that summer taking in the action, so when I signed up to volunteer on a marshal boat for the latest edition of the 12 Metre World Championship regatta in August, I found myself on the very same waters, which turned into a pretty nostalgic voyage down a nautical memory lane. But the graceful Twelve I couldn’t take my eyes off wasn’t the winner of the Modern Division, Challenge XII, or even the victor of the Traditional/Vintage Division, Columbia. Nope, I was more or less transfixed on the runner-up to Challenge XII, a striking-blue yacht called Freedom. Of all the entries in the 10-boat fleet, to me, Freedom was easily the most historic and memorable.

Three years before the Australians absconded with the Cup, in 1980, with the estimable Dennis Conner in command, Freedom won the contest in dominant fashion, and it seemed like the New York Yacht Club’s winning streak would go on forever. It was designed by the legendary naval architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens, which had drawn the lines of every Cup winner but one since 1936. Conner was back on the helm in the losing effort in ’83, but he would find redemption, winning the Cup back for the United States in Western Australia in 1987. But for S&S, Freedom marked the end of an illustrious era. The firm would never again create a Cup winner.

For the 12 Metre Worlds, ironically enough, the navigator aboard Freedom was a lanky old Aussie mate of mine called Grant Simmer, who’d served in the same capacity aboard Australia II for his country’s winning effort way back when. With the exception of the gray hair, he looked exactly the same.

This time, however, Simmer couldn’t work his magic. Unlike the America’s Cup, where boats compete in one-on-one match racing, the World Championship event is fleet racing, with everyone out on the track at the same time. It’s a different game. And Challenge XII had a ringer of its own: the president of North Sails, Ken Read, also a longtime America’s Cup veteran. As far as I was concerned, Freedom was easily the prettiest of all the Modern yachts. When push came to shove, though, it was no longer the fastest.

Today’s America’s Cup competition, conducted on closed-course race tracks in skittish foiling catamarans—about as far removed as possible from a stately 12 Metre racing in the open ocean—bears little resemblance to what the event looked like in the early 1980s. And Newport has undergone a radical makeover as well. The shipyards where the Cup boats used to reside between races have been replaced by condos and hotels, and the only real remaining trace of the America’s Cup is the boulevard of the same name. It’s a reminder that the only true constant in life is change.

But for a few afternoons last August, I could shut my eyes for a moment of reminiscence and open them up to see what I can only describe as a fleeting image of a bygone time. Freedom may be a footnote in the history of yacht racing, but the big, beautiful blue boat still looks powerful and fantastic all the same.

The post Reminiscing “Freedom”: a 12 Metre Classic appeared first on Yachting.

“This yacht is going to turn some heads wherever she is, but particularly at the Bucket.”

So says Jim Pugh, co-founder of Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design in San Diego, one of the driving forces behind the 154-foot Nilaya that Royal Huisman built in the Netherlands. The yacht was delivered to its owners in June. It spent the summer in the Mediterranean “tuning up for racing,” according to the shipyard, and has now crossed the Atlantic. Nilaya arrived in Antigua in December—with about three months to prepare for the March 2024 St. Barths Bucket Regatta.

The fast Atlantic crossing, according to Royal Huisman, “gave her owner and pro race team captain Bouwe Bekking and skipper Romke Loopik plenty of all-conditions experience at the helm.” There are already 10,000 nautical miles under the yacht’s keel.

The owner says his previous yacht, a 112-foot Baltic, won many regattas during the 12 years he owned it, but for this Nilaya, he instructed the yard and designers to create “a fast yacht that can win in a superyacht regatta.”

To that end, Royal Huisman says it built Nilaya using European Space Agency methodology. Nilaya is an aluminum-carbon hybrid designed with finite element analysis to direct the right material, or combination of materials, and the right thicknesses of those materials to handle the exact stresses in every part of the hull and deck.

For its part, Reichel/Pugh analyzed 10 years of historical wave data from the Eastern Caribbean and Greece, ultimately testing 12 models before developing the final hull shape.

Royal Huisman’s sister company Rondal was brought in for carbon-fiber expertise. As just one example of Rondal’s contributions, it supplied a runner arrangement that reportedly saves 2,646 pounds of weight, keeping the yacht lighter for racing.

Racing pedigree aside, this yacht also has plenty of luxurious creature comforts, with Italian studio Nauta Design collaborating on the project ( Nilaya is the largest sailing yacht Nauta has completed). And yet, even with the interior, light weight for racing was top of mind. Some of the bulkheads and door frames are carbon. Instead of heavy insulation to reduce noise and vibration, Royal Huisman developed composite panels made of cork, foam, honeycomb and other materials.

According to Royal Huisman, Nilaya is “arguably the most advanced sailing yacht” the shipyard has ever delivered.

“Royal Huisman was not afraid to invest in research to explore and develop all manner of innovative weight-saving possibilities,” said the owners’ project manager, Nigel Ingram of MCM Newport. “They really chased the details.”

And now, we all shall see if Nilaya leaves other yachts chasing its transom on the regatta circuit.

How long did it take to create Nilaya? Three years, including one year of preparation and two years under construction.

Take the next step: go to royalhuisman.com

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You never forget your best day of sailing. Mine came in the waning miles of the 2005 Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, screeching down the Molokai Channel under spinnaker toward Diamond Head in 30 knots of pumping trade-wind breeze, hanging onto the tiller for dear, lovely life while surfing at 14 knots aboard a Cal 40 called Dancing Bear. The sun was searing, the wind was howling, and the deep, blue Pacific Ocean was all the more striking set against the stunning backdrop of the green volcanic islands.

This remembrance, however, is not about me. Instead, it honors the legendary Cal 40, a William Lapworth design originally launched in Southern California in 1963 that has provided scores of fellow offshore sailors with rides they’ll always hold dear. Though I do recall my first thoughts to a fellow shipmate soon after crossing the finish line: “God, I love a boat that’s better than I am.”

All this came back to me last summer, when I joined Dancing Bear’s owner and skipper, accomplished Pacific Northwest sailor Mark Schrader, for a cruise northward from Anacortes, Washington, and up the coast of Vancouver Island. It’s a far different venue and excursion than the Transpac, but one that made me appreciate the Cal 40 in a new light. This is one versatile vessel.

From the outset, the Cal 40 was considered a radical, ultra-light design, displacing just 15,000 pounds with 6,000 pounds of ballast and a flat, canoe-shaped hull that was ideal for prolonged downwind surfs. What really separated it from other boats of its era—hulls with long overhangs and deep, full keels from prominent East Coast yacht designers like Sparkman & Stephens—was the fin keel and detached spade rudder, greatly reducing the boat’s wetted surface. A similar appendage was employed in the winning America’s Cup 12-Metre Intrepid, but that was four years later.

Read Next: An Ocean Sailor Tries Freshwater Racing

The Cal 40’s production run lasted eight years and produced 108 boats, which are still highly sought-after. There’s no question that the boat has reached cult status and that it remains highly competitive. Indeed, the overall winner of the 108-boat fleet in the 2022 Newport Bermuda Race and the recipient of the coveted St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy was Sally and Stan Honey’s Cal 40, Illusion.

Yes, the Honeys are world-class sailors—Stan is a renowned professional offshore racer and navigator, and Sally is a two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year—and they recruited an all-star crew after Illusion had undergone a full refit. Still, Illusion was almost 60 years old. The Honeys purchased the boat in 1988 and spent the ensuing decades racing and cruising it. They decided to campaign it one final time in 2022. Their victorious attempt, covering the 635-nautical-mile voyage in 87 hours, included a textbook crossing of the Gulf Stream and a top-speed burst of 22 knots, both of which were winning highlights.

My own trip last summer on Dancing Bear was a decidedly more mellow affair, but we also scored our own personal highlights. For me, one of those was taking the helm on a cold, funky overnight passage from the coast of British Columbia across the Hecate Strait to the archipelago known as Haida Gwaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands. The sensation of driving a solid craft offshore, nestled deep in the cockpit on a tiller-steered boat, is rare and wonderful. In the wind and waves, everything balanced and in harmony, I fell in love with the Cal 40 all over again.

The post Revisiting the Classic Cal 40 appeared first on Yachting.

Contest Yachts has collaborated with Bentley Home to create a 67CS, whose interior is inspired by the look of Bentley Motors.

The Bentley team brought its experience from working with vehicles such as the Continental GT and the Bentayga. Contest Yachts combined those talents with its own interior designers, Wetzels Brown Partners, to create the interior aboard this custom 67CS.

“Prototyping methods such as 3D printing were harnessed to confirm the feasibility of individual components, extending to a full mock-up of items prior to fit-out, such as the bar and vanity unit created from scratch to the customer’s taste, to ensure the exacting finishes and demanding quality standards were met,” according to Contest Yachts.

Bentley’s diamond-quilted leather hides were book-matched across the yacht’s interior, with detailing that included the type of hand cross-stitching used to produce the Bentley steering wheel.

Contest Yachts CEO Arjen Conijn says it’s possible the builder could add a dedicated line of Bentley-featured yachts: “We hold so many of the same beliefs and ambitions; it totally makes sense bringing our two fantastic ranges of prestigious luxury yachts and autos together.”

Where is Contest Yachts located? In the Netherlands. The brand builds semicustom sailing cruisers for coastal, offshore and bluewater use.

Take the next step: go to contestyachts.com

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Back in the day, when I first started covering round-the-world races like the Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe for yachting magazines and newspapers, the most engrossing stories came from the Southern Ocean legs: the mystical, sometimes mythical waters spinning around the southern extremes of the planet. Known by the legendary nicknames of the bands of latitude they encompass—the roaring forties, furious fifties and screaming sixties—these locations tantalized me with tales of huge seas, big breeze and derring-do. I became personally obsessed with sailing there myself, a goal that was realized about 20 years ago when I joined an expedition to sail from Australia to Antarctica across the wild southern sea. It was a pretty epic trip, and, though we got seriously hammered down and back, I’ve always relished the experience. That said, I’ve never felt a huge need to return.

But I still love following the exploits of those sailors who test themselves in those grand, crazy conditions—which is why I was especially excited for the third leg of the current edition of The Ocean Race, the new title for the round-the-world contest formerly known as the Whitbread and then the Volvo. The roughly 14,000-nautical-mile voyage from Cape Town, South Africa, to Itajaí, Brazil, leaving to port the trio of great southern capes—South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin and the formidable Cape Horn off the tip of South America—was expected to take more than a month and represented the longest distance in the event’s combined 50-year history. For the four boats in the race, the expectations of a wild and woolly trip were sky-high. And they were realized.

In the end, there was also an unlikely, come-from-behind winner after five full weeks at sea: German skipper Boris Herrmann’s well-tested foiling 60-footer, Team Malizia.

For Herrmann and his four-person crew, it was a rocky beginning; Team Malizia lost a sail almost at the outset and then soon discovered a nearly foot-long crack near the top of its 90-foot spar. The team considered returning to Cape Town for a repair, but, after co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper was sent aloft to inspect the damage, they instead decided to fix the spar underway. In the meantime, however, on the strength of a record-breaking 24-hour run of 595.26 nautical miles, Team Holcim-PRB stretched out to a nearly 600 nm lead. The chase was on.

One of the most remarkable aspects of following this edition of The Ocean Race is the amazing video footage coming from the racecourse (each boat has a crewmember who supplies the stories and images). The drone shots, especially, in huge seas and with the boats in full foiling mode, are wildly impressive.

And as they sailed into calmer conditions, with the rest of the fleet bringing fresh breeze from astern, Team Holcim-PRB’s lead slowly began to evaporate. By the time the boats approached Cape Horn, Team Malizia had established a tenuous but impressive 30 nm lead.

The leaders clawed their way up the coast of South America to Brazil—almost always in sight of each other—but there was one last obstacle: a 60-knot gale on the leg’s penultimate night at sea. Team Holcim-PRB suffered rig damage in an accidental crash jibe, which gave Team Malizia an 80 nm advantage on the last day of racing to seal the victory.

Back in my cozy armchair, like many fans, I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, I cherished my own time in the Southern Ocean. This time, I was happy to take it all in from the bleachers.

The post Southern Discomfort: The Ocean Race appeared first on Yachting.

Grand Soleil Yachts says its new flagship model—the Grand Soleil 72 Long Cruise version—is on track for its premiere in September at the Cannes Yachting Festival.

The model was announced last year, in addition to a Performance version of the Grand Soleil 72. The yacht is a collaboration with Cantiere del Pardo; Franco Corazza, the project manager for the entire Grand Soleil range over 60 feet; Matteo Polli; Marco Lostuzzi; and Nauta Design.

According to Grand Soleil Yachts, the distinguishing feature of the Grand Soleil 72 Long Cruise is its deckhouse, which has a window offering 270-degree views (it’s raised and widened compared to the Performance version). In the cockpit, the companionway and ladder are moved to the side to allow for more seating. And the dinette is raised, allowing broader views of the outdoors.

Similar to the Performance version, the Grand Soleil 72 Long Cruise has its owner’s stateroom forward. The galley layout, however, is different. On the new model, it can be positioned forward or aft, and the guest staterooms and crew cabins can be rearranged.

What else is in build at Grand Soleil Yachts? Two hulls of the Performance version of the Grand Soleil 72, as well as the Grand Soleil 65 that is also scheduled to debut at the Cannes Yachting Festival this autumn.

Take the next step: go to grandsoleil.net

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The iconic, 288-foot Perini Navi Maltese Falcon has completed a six-month refit at the Lusben refit yard in Italy. Some 80 people joined the yacht’s crew on the project.

The refit included repainting the yacht’s hull in its distinctive “Perini blue” color. Maintenance was done on the main engines and propellers, and the mast-handling system was overhauled.

New generators were installed to increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. For similarly eco-friendly reasons, main-engine mufflers were changed out—also helping to reduce noise.

Work also was done on the rig, and teak decking was replaced. Interiors were refurbished, and lighting was replaced with LED technology for energy savings.

“It was challenging project for all of us, not least because the sheer size of this sailing yacht required us to design and build a special system to accommodate the vessel in dry dock,”

Gianni Paladino, Lusben’s commercial director, stated in a press release. “We worked in synergy with the various teams involved in the refit work and with the customer, satisfying their wishes and at the same time suggesting improvements with a view to increasing efficiency and energy savings.”

Where is the Maltese Falcon headed next? Back “to the sea in all her splendor, regaling her guests with new and unforgettable experiences,” according to Capt. Pierfrancesco Cafaro.

Take the next step: go to lusben.com

The post The ‘Maltese Falcon’s’ Refit Is Complete appeared first on Yachting.

Wally has launched the wally101 Full Custom, a yacht inspired by the Wallycento box-rule design.  

“Following Baron D, Nahita and the Wally 144 Full Custom of the last few years, this is the 48th full-carbon sailing superyacht built by Wally, continuing the company’s remarkable contribution to the advancement of sailing design and technology,” Stefano de Vivo, Wally managing director, stated in a press release. “Launching a fully custom 101-footer is a great milestone for us, which demonstrates once again the ability of Wally and Ferretti Group to always place themselves at the forefront, even in the competitive market of sailing superyachts.”

According to the builder, the yacht displaces 55 tons, almost 15 percent less than similar-size yachts. Carbon-fiber technology, including a high-tech sandwich composite with pre-preg carbon fiber, helps to keep weight down.

Naval architecture is by judel/vrolijk & co., with exterior and interior design by Wally and Studio Santa Maria Magnolfi.

Features include the Wally Enhanced Hydraulic System, which has multiple hydraulic pumps to speed up sail handling.

How fast will the wally101 Full Custom go? According to Wally, under sail, the boat can “easily reach high performance.” Under power with the 425-horsepower engine, top speed is reportedly 11.5 knots.

Take the next step: go to wally.com

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