19.5m high performance cruising yacht to be built at Marten Yachts |
| Saturday, 01 June 2002 |
| This futuristic sailing machine is for an overseas client and experienced sailor whose design remit was for a fast long distance blue water cruising yacht. In particular the vessel has to be capable of being sailed by a small crew and occasionally single handed. It was this office’s experience in the short handed racing field that led to our being chosen for this commission and in particular our work as co-designers of Ellen MacArthur’s Open 60, Kingfisher.
In styling the boat the owner particularly wanted to maintain some consistency with the form of an open 60, whilst improving comfort and protection from wind and weather. Lead designer Allen Clarke has the delicate job of balancing the requirements of sea keeping, comfort and a luxurious accommodation with the ever present greed for speed. The result is a wide powerful yacht with twin wheels, separate working cockpit and a full length undercover lounge cockpit sheltered behind and under a large coach roof. The saloon area inside the coach roof sits eight for dinner with exterior views and the main accommodation is divided into two very large staterooms aft and four other berths. At the owner’s request the area forward of the mast is left empty as the intention is to cruise quickly and with the minimum of people. Stability and righting moment is high and commensurate with a transoceanic yacht designed to round Cape Horn, as the owner has already done before. Access into shallow anchorages is achieved by means of a lifting fin and bulb keel.
As well as being the yacht’s designers, Owen Clarke Design has signed a project management package in the same way as they did for the Kingfisher build. The brief is to oversee the construction of the yacht from conception to turn key delivery. Project A4139 will be the first Owen Clarke yacht to be designed entirely in 3D, with Liz Tier and Tim Sadler being responsible for the complete and detailed design of the yacht including interior, systems, keel and hydraulic mechanisms, retracting bowsprit etc. Interior styling and design is being undertaken in house in close liason with the client and eventually the builders.
Work on the design and detailed specification has been underway since October and the awarding of the build contract was the result of a great deal of detailed background work. A short list of three yards was arrived at, with five yards visited from a total of eight original candidates. Construction is due to start in September 2002 and will last approximately fifteen months. All of us at Owen Clarke Design are very excited to be working with Marten Yachts again, the builders of Kingfisher and one of the finest builders of custom (and fast) yachts in the world.
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