...is no overstatement when it comes to awaiting the arrival in Europe for sea trials of the first DSS-equipped – unarguably dramatic and beautiful – Infiniti 52 which was recently completed at Composite Builders in Michigan

The first Infiniti 52 is about to sea trial in the UK before heading south through Biscay in November as part of its training programme and its first race in January 2022, the RORC Trans-Atlantic Race. Joint developer of the DSS patent and founder of Infiniti Yachts, Gordon Kay talks us through the gestation of the genredefining project.

The boat will have to be trucked from Composite Builders in Holland, Michigan to Baltimore and then shipped to Southampton, where the team at Racetec Rigging will carry out the final fit-out and commissioning in conjunction with Infiniti Yachts.

There is always a level of trepidation when the light appears at the end of the tunnel; the possibility that it is an oncoming train is never far from one’s thoughts. Fortunately, emerging from the tunnel is a build that, in spite of an awkward global situation regarding supply chains, has hit all the targets it set out to achieve. It took a little longer, cost a little more and redefined and refined itself but it has so far nailed all the goals we set for ourselves at the outset.

So, what did we learn? Avoiding the social lessons and impact of Covid, and focusing on the technical we can be clear on a few things. First, the development of a 3D model incorporating all the structural elements and systems in the boat is an enormous undertaking. Every cable, every penetration, every fastening (378 in case you are wondering and all titanium) every element of the boat is part of the model which was tirelessly managed by Mark Saunders. Herding all the cats and ensuring that the builder could reliably trust in all the information supplied was key. The closeness of the as-built boat to the model is impressive to say the least and makes working with the suppliers and partners far more straightforward.

NZ Rigging shipped the first three Infiniti 52 rigs together to avoid the problems of an erratic shipping world, the idea being that it was better that one rig was late than three. Unwrapping them and then stepping the first rig was a combination present of Christmas and birthday; the rigs are impeccably detailed and finished with smart thinking from top to bottom. They were exactly to target weight and VCG and the commitment shown by Richard “Bart” Bearda, flying from New Zealand to do the rig assembly and stepping was just the reason we chose NZ Rigging as a partner for this project. Not everyone will be aware just how hard it is to fly in and out of New Zealand, with the minimum problem being two weeks in a hotel room when returning home, assuming that is you can even get a slot to be allowed in….to your own country. The detailing of the rig, and how NZ Rigging worked to ensure the interface with the boat was executed, made the process as painless as possible.

Of course, progress never stops. We are conducting a complete structural review of the boat, looking for improvements that can be taken into boat three onwards. This is a yacht that, thanks to having not only DSS foils but water ballast as well, is going to give the crews plenty to think about while figuring out how to get the best out of it in different conditions. The ability to shift gears and sail in different modes is far greater when ballast and righting moment are not set in stone. The feedback loop we have with our clients, the information and data gathered from the actual sailing and comparing the real loads with the design loads allows us to constantly refine the yacht and optimise with every iteration. This is all part of the learning process. One thing we have learned over the past 20 years of developing foiling and foil-assisted yachts is that you never stop learning and that applies to the crews and the design team alike.

So we learn all the time, during the build, when commissioning and with every mile passing under the keel. Making sense of what we learn is of course a challenge in itself, from the simplest issue in the supply chain to understanding a performance characteristic or sweet spot that we had not anticipated. That is the true pleasure of this process, seeing the plans, dreams and ideas come to fruition and then being able to refine and develop and never assume the job is done. Sharing the developments with the owners and their teams and the collective buy-in where teams see progress, continually allowing them to set their bar higher and higher is extremely rewarding.

Above: as hull number one is slid out of the build shed to be rigged with the help of a crane, the construction of hulls two and three continues inside.
Below: the three rigs delivered by NZ Rigging are impeccably detailed and finished with smart thinking from top to bottom.

Setting up to build in the USA has been positive, with a can-do attitude in almost every respect. Shipping remains the biggest problem, with rigs and engines being the most affected; the irony of being told the preferred engine did not meet US emission standards unless exported did not quite offset the three-month delay in arrival. Planning was just that, planning. Very few deadlines were able to be met, the chant of Covid used as a catch-all whenever something didn’t quite make the truck. Notable exceptions were the beautiful Harken Air winches from Italy and the works of art from Isotop in France. Carbon wheels you wish you could hang on your wall and a foil and foil case that defined the knife through butter comparison as a gentle push slid the foil through the boat after installation. The loops and rigging details from Offshore Rigging that look like exotic jewelry and the 3D printed Titanium pig-nose likewise is a work of art and 3D printing a quite extraordinarily cool way of making complex parts such as these. With a bowsprit longer than a TP52, made to look even longer by the reversed bow, the Infiniti 52 certainly has eye catching features beyond the carbon DSS foil, painted in bright orange for the first yacht.

In the end, for all the work, the energy, sacrifice and commitment, the true test will be the launching, the first time the sails harness the wind and all the planning and thinking comes to fruition. It is this moment that makes all the other moments worthwhile and for the team at Composite Builders, working hard on boats two and three, this is going to be an experience missed or so they thought. Taking the carrot approach rather than the stick and with so many keen sailors in the build team at Composite, they have been offered a bonus for on time completion of a trip to Florida and a day of sailing on the Infiniti 52. In the depths of winter in Michigan, that is going to be some incentive! There is no doubt the team at Composite Builders has grown in every respect during the build of the first Infiniti 52. We had Covid cases, masks and other challenges but the doors never shut and progress may have slowed but it never stopped. As a group they can be extremely proud of the way in which they handled the challenges presented, both technical and some more mundane, like working in a pandemic environment.

All the systems, clever ideas and smart thinking seem to be coming together as planned and sometimes better than planned.

Waypoint Racing has done an immaculate installation, dovetailing with the Diverse team in the UK and integrating the systems in an efficient and experienced manner. There is no doubt this is a team effort with a significant cast of suppliers and partners all of whom pull together to make this design come to life. Without exception the extra mile is walked again and again and the passion for the project is infectious. Seeing a new design concept with innovative ideas but based on a significant body of work really does bring out the best energy in people. The way in which everyone brings their A-game and wants the best result is both inspiring and humbling.

There is no question that deciding to make the first race for the yacht the RORC Transatlantic raised the bar in how we approached the final detailing. There would be no “warm up” and the first passage would be across Biscay in winter, so a true test of all the planning, design and endeavour that brought us to this place in time. That is when the adventure begins and the learning starts all over again.

Click here for more information on Infiniti Yachts »

No longer does the use of bio-resins and fibre in composite manufacturing mean increased production costs because of the need for much more delicate material handling

Bio-based resins have come a very long way in the last few years. No longer niche products, they are now among the best-selling resin systems on the market. The companies that pioneered these far less toxic and more sustainable, next-generation materials – like Sicomin, the marketleading supplier of liquid epoxy – are now reaping the rewards of their R&D, with massive uptake in major market sectors like automotive, construction and renewable energy, along with some innovative boatbuilders.

A turning point was reached a few years back when Sicomin, a French company with deep roots in highperformance yacht racing, launched a complete range of bio-epoxies whose performance is not just equivalent to the leading petrochemical-based resins on the market, but significantly better – and that’s not merely a manufacturer’s claim, it’s backed up with full DNV GL type approval. Another major milestone was passed this summer when Couach Naval Shipyard became the first to vacuuminfuse a superyacht hull, deck and superstructure in bio-based epoxy. Couach, which builds highperformance military vessels as well as yachts, is renowned for its very high engineering standards.

The 26-metre (86ft), 52-tonne Couach Fly 86/2600 is one of the largest and highest-value structures infused in bio-based epoxy to date, and by far the largest yacht. Sicomin supplied the resin – InfuGreen 810, part of the GreenPoxy range with 38% of its carbon content derived from plant-based sources – and worked closely with Couach to ensure the success of this pioneering application. Sicomin’s GreenPoxy 33 hand laminating bioresins are also used in the Fly 86/2600 for secondary bonding in the yacht’s final assembly.

‘They started with a few square metres on an infusion table and then ramped up to a small-scale hull section of about 20sqm to validate all the parameters, building confidence in the process, the infusion time, what to use in terms of pipe size, pipe distance and reinforcement,’ says Sicomin MD Marc Denjean. ‘You need to clear many small parameters but then when you shoot there is almost no reason for failing. You know it’s going to work, it is a very reliable process.’ The test panels passed quality control and then the entire hull was infused in a single shot.

InfuGreen 810 is ideal for infusing large structures. ‘It’s low viscosity, which is very important for carbon fibre, but not too low – if the resin flows too fast it creates quality defects like porosity,’ Denjean says. ‘Even more important are the wetting properties of the resin itself, and it’s very much better than standard. Mechanical and thermal properties are about the same but with a better flow you get better mechanical properties in the structure. We focus on performance and processability, the bio content is just the cherry on the cake.’ Even so, GreenPoxy has the highest bio content in the market, up to just more than 50 per cent, depending on the product used.

A key innovation in Sicomin’s epoxy infusion process is the use of a transparent primer instead of the usual opaque gelcoat. It’s a gamechanger, Denjean explains, because avoidance of dry spots is even more critical to the strength of a vacuuminfused hull than achieving low porosity. ‘You can see right through the primer and the fibres so it’s easy to identify even the smallest dry spot,’ he says. ‘You can do a complete hull check with 100 per cent certainty.’ Couach is now using the Sicomin clear primer as standard.

The end result from the owner’s point of view is a triple win: a lighter, stiffer and more durable yacht; higher top speed, faster acceleration and longer range; better fuel economy and a smaller eco footprint. A stiffer hull needs less internal structure, which frees up more interior volume, and epoxy is completely immune to osmosis. It does, of course, cost more than polyester but the price of hull materials is a tiny percentage of the overall cost of a yacht – as Denjean points out, the difference is a lot less than the typical value of the wine that’s cellared on board.

Sustainability has given shipyards a customer-driven incentive to upgrade from polyester to epoxy, and Sicomin has invested heavily in lifecycle assessment (LCA), making it easier for a shipyard to manage its own environmental footprint. ‘Until last year nobody asked us for that document,’ Denjean says. ‘But now for some of our customers, like Mer Concept and CDK, providing LCA data for clients is becoming a key part of their build process.’

Click here for more information on Sicomin »

The creation of Maxi Swan as a standalone entity promises to both stimulate and shake up the top end of performance sailing all the way across the board... and in ways yet to be imagined

A lot has happened at the Nautor shipyard in the last 12 months and some major milestones have been achieved. They’ve established Maxi Swan as a separate entity in its own right, announced two new models – the 88 and 108 – to expand the range, and sold the first units of each. They’ve also built and launched the first of their new flagship model, the 120, started construction of their first diesel-electric hybrid, and launched the ClubSwan 125, which promptly claimed monohull line honours in the Fastnet Race on its first outing and set a new course record. Meanwhile, the construction of the first ClubSwan80 continues… and that’s just the highlights of the maxi division.

The strategy that’s been driving these projects was set some time ago and many of them have been steadily under way for three, four or even five years but it’s fitting that the leaders of the Italo-Finnish shipyard waited until 2021, when many longterm goals were coming to fruition, to announce the dawn of a new Maxi Swan era.

‘What I mean by new era is that we now have a business that is dedicated to this size of yacht, studying and fulfilling the needs of owners on a continuous basis,’ Nautor Group chief executive Giovanni Pomati explains. ‘The outcome is that we have a wider range with four boats between 88 and 120ft. So we can match different hull sizes, different crew sizes, different degrees of self-sufficiency, and respond to changing regulations.’

Pomati himself is part of this new era, having joined Nautor in 2018 from a board-level role at Pirelli. ‘It’s also a new era because the design of the boats has evolved,’ he says. ‘We have focused on hull shapes, on decks and coachroofs. I knew we could do something more with industrial design to make better use of the deck.’

The new generation of Maxi Swans might look similar to the last one at first glance – this is evolution, not revolution and Nautor has been careful to keep all changes within the scope of Swan’s well-defined DNA – but a huge amount of work has gone into refining and updating the brand not just in terms of sailing qualities but also aesthetics, general arrangements and the yachts’ intended use.

Their performance numbers might be broadly similar to the previous generation but modern Maxi Swans are designed to sail upwind at a shallower angle of heel and a lot of CFD modelling has been done to optimise motion comfort. Swans have never been prone to slamming in rough seas but a major focus for the new designs is to ensure a remarkably smooth and comfortable ride, even by the marque’s own high standards.

Noise reduction – always important for cruising yachts with carbon hulls and rigs – has been another key focus. Pomati says several of Nautor’s repeat customers have expressed astonishment at just how quiet the sailing, hotel and mechanical systems of their new Maxi Swans have proven to be.

In a departure from Nautor’s previous strategy, all four of the current Maxi Swan models have essentially been designed to the same brief. They’re all cruisers first and foremost. The success of the ClubSwan racing division has allowed Maxi Swan to put less emphasis on the racing function of its yachts. They’ll still be competitive in regattas and a full suite of performanceenhancing features can be specified (witness the full carbon construction, square-top main and Southern Spars rig of the first Swan 98, for example), but the deck plan is no longer constrained by the requirements of a full racing crew. The result is that they’re more comfortable and versatile, focused on pure enjoyment under sail and especially at anchor, where each deck plan has three separate, well-defined zones with different functions.

Another big change is not easy to see – because they’re got it right. The streamlined coachroof profiles and sweet lines of the current Maxi Swans belie the increased volume inside their hulls. That’s largely down to the involvement of Lucio Micheletti, a Milanese artist and car designer of Zagato, BMW, Aston Martin, Mitsubishi and Audi Style Centre just to name a few, who has turned his attention to boats. A chance meeting with Pomati (who knows him from the automotive industry) led to Micheletti’s appointment as Swan’s exterior designer. It’s a challenging brief that requires him to preserve the brand’s Scandinavian design DNA while giving it an Italian accent, working closely with Swan’s longstanding naval architect Germán Frers. ‘Germán has the final word,’ Pomati says, but by all accounts the veteran naval architect embraced this new partnership with alacrity.

‘It’s quite common in the powerboat world to use different designers for the hull and superstructure,’ Pomati says. And indeed there is a broad and deliberate convergence under way between the designs and layouts of motor yachts and sailing yachts in the superyacht sector, with the former becoming more seaworthy and efficient, the latter more spacious and luxurious. This is obvious when you step inside one of the new Maxi Swans, which have far more light and space inside than one expects in a sailing yacht.

Another key figure in Nautor’s new era is Misa Poggi, probably best known for designing Loro Piana boutiques around the world. Like Micheletti she was briefed to respect and preserve Swan’s Nordic design values, Pomati explains, while creating a warmer interior design scheme that appeals to a new generation of buyers from all over the world. ‘She studied the last 20 years of Swan interiors to develop the new interiors,’ he says. The first model with a Poggi-designed interior was the Swan 48 and then came the 98, launched last year.

Above: the first Swan 88 is due for delivery in 2024. Itʼs a major milestone model in several ways: Swanʼs first dieselelectric hybrid, a hull with a lot more form stability and a full beach club in the stern.
Below: The new Swan 108 with naval architecture also by Germán Frers, has a full-bodied hull with lots of form stability. The Micheletti designed deck plan places more emphasis on cruising while preserving the marqueʼs strong racing heritage

Also significant is that Nautor no longer offers a choice of three different coachroof options for Maxi Swans. These are still very much semi-custom builds, but instead of the old flush deck (FD), semi-raised (S) or raised saloon (RS) model variants, the shipyard has focused on perfecting one cabin top and deck plan for each model, with increased emphasis on structural engineering to allow far more flexibility for altering the yachts’ general arrangements. It’s a smart move in a market where many buyers now appoint their own interior designer to work alongside the shipyard.

‘The 120 is the first Swan with a completely custom GA and interior,’ Pomati says. ‘And it’s the first one with two flights of steps and a beach club in the stern. Not just a platform for boarding and a tender garage, it’s also a place to have dinner.’ The first 120, launched in August, is a full carbon build using external and internal skins of Gurit Sprint epoxy prepreg carbon fibre and M-grade Corecell foam.

The new Swan 88 is another important milestone model. Designed and sized to avoid most of the complications of IMO Tier III compliance, it’s optimised for low operating costs with one eye on the charter market and it’s the first Swan with the option of diesel-electric hybrid propulsion, which includes hydrogeneration under sail.

The 88’s hull is notably beamy with significantly more form stability than a last-generation Swan and carries its full beam almost all the way aft. The rudders have moved forward to enlarge the beach club area and the mast has moved aft to enlarge the foretriangle, giving a more balanced sail plan. A lot more emphasis than usual was placed on CFD analysis for this model, Pomati confirms, ‘and we studied the possibility of a fully glazed coachroof but we decided to remain more traditional.’ The first Swan 88 is due for delivery in 2024.

The most recent model to be announced is the Swan 108, which completes the range and points to the future. The first of these has already been sold. A key focus of development was the GA in general and the crew’s quarters in particular. ‘The crew’s mess has become an important issue for boats that are used for charter,’ Pomati says. ‘If you have a heavy charter season then you need a good crew area on board.’ The role of the galley has also changed: ‘In the past it was kept completely away from the saloon and guests. Now it is a hybrid area which the family can access, for example to have breakfast.’

Other changes in the 108 include the separation of TV lounge and dining areas, the addition of a day heads for guests, double island berths in all guest cabins, and a further refinement of the impressive automatic bimini and sprayhood, first seen on the Swan 115 Solleone, which pop out of almost invisible bays in the coachroof to shade and shelter the passenger cockpit. ‘We are also seeing more and more demand from customers who want to be able to work from their boats,’ Pomati says. ‘They want to use their boat more often and to spend more time on board.’

Click here for more information on Nautor Swan »

Even if you are using a hybrid mix of new and existing hardware there is no longer any reason why your data should not be delivered immediately on demand

No one puts up with slow data connections in the home or office, why do so on board your yacht? In our modern era information flow is expected to be fast and readily available, so the team at A+T has taken the lead in launching Ethernetbased instrument systems.

‘The largest proportion of performance instrument systems installed from the 1990s to about 2007 used a serial bus called B&G Fastnet,’ says Hugh Agnew of A+T Instruments. ‘While fast enough for practical purposes it does have capacity limitations for the very largest systems and suffers in that any device on the network going down or a wiring fault pulls the whole display system down with it. This is often difficult to troubleshoot on a large yacht. It is also tied to a 12V supply which is not ideal.’

Many yachts are still using Fastnet and one of A+T’s specialities is helping diagnose problems and providing new compatible displays to upgrade these systems.

Main picture: the new ClubSwan 125 Skorpios broke the Fastnet monohull course record with an A+T Ethernet system running 18 displays off an ATP2 processor.
Below: A+T makes two waterproof switches for Ethernet connections: a slimline model for mast brackets and a second transparent version for easier diagnostics

‘From the mid-2000s, another fourwire serial bus (also from the 1980s, the same era as Fastnet) called CANbus had been widely introduced with a format known as N2k (NMEA2000),’ explains Agnew. ‘Although faster than its predecessor, there is substantial network traffic overhead. It too is 12V and again suffers from one faulty device or wiring issue pulling everything down. CANbus was originally designed for rationalising wiring looms for vehicles and has the further drawbacks for larger yachts that cable lengths and wiring architecture are limited.’

As experts in improving system performance, A+T have been developing a full instrument and autopilot system based on Ethernet rather than Fastnet or CANbus connections between all displays, processors and sensors. Ethernet offers very high speed (an order of magnitude faster), cable runs of up to 100m in length and no restrictions on system architecture.

And even if longer cable lengths are needed in a system, fibre optic cable can be used or repeaters or switches inserted. Most importantly, each connection is completely isolated so a damaged wire, switch or device will not generally kill the whole system. Moreover, power can be provided locally where needed and 24v is normally recommended on A+T systems, a voltage compatible with most large yacht systems.

The heart of the A+T Ethernet system is the use of the ATP2 processor platform. The ATP2 is based on the well-proven architecture of its brother, the ATP1, which is now widely fitted on superyachts and raceboats. All sensors and displays are connected with remote Ethernet modules. Twenty-four volt or 12v power is injected as needed and due to the isolating qualities of Ethernet, need not be from the same source. A+T is producing two rugged switches for connection: the slimline switch is designed for connecting displays in mast brackets where space is at a premium and a robust waterproof connection is essential due to its full exposure to hosing seawater. Clear plastic covers on the general ruggedised switch helps with diagnostics should problems arise.

An example of a large performance yacht taking advantage of the A+T Ethernet system is the new ClubSwan 125 Skorpios, which has 18 displays running on an ATP processor, also integrated into a Faro processor. Bruno Zirilli, navigator on Skorpios, was the architect of this system and was very pleased with this on their recent record-breaking Rolex Fastnet Race win, setting a new monohull course record.

Autopilots too
The same Ethernet-based approach is also used in the autopilot that A+T is launching at METS 2021. A drive control unit is ideally located in the steering area and connected to the same “brain’” as above with a single Ethernet cable. This control unit has interfaces to drive the full range of proportional valves, rams and pumps found on large yachts. As with all A+T products, connections are also available to use legacy Fastnet-based displays for retrofit and to link to CANbus plotters and sensors.

Apart from A+T’s established high quality engineering, the outstanding feature of this autopilot is that it has a web interface for setting up and troubleshooting. This means the end of “poke and hope” as the full performance of the pilot can be watched internally and logged to send back to A+T engineers if needed.

An added benefit to a reliable Ethernet connection in autopilots is safety: should there be a MOB incident, reliability in the connections to get back to the site of the incident is crucial.

‘All yacht instrument connectivity will soon go to Ethernet, it has to,’ says Agnew. “We’re just taking the lead step in this evolutionary process.’

Click here for more information on A+T Instruments »