A foiling, racing Catamaran was placed in front of Goldilocks in the boatyard for some modifications and maintenance.
http://dnaperformancesailing.com/ is the website. It looks gorgeous. Today they launched it. The big task was installing the new main foils, which, as I understand were redesigned. They were a good 4-5m long so the crane picked up the boat (4 tons) while the crew manhandled them into place. A mis-move on the crane operators part and I heard a couple yells and an unnerving “crack”, but it seemed to be OK. It doesn’t look like they’ve done it very many times, but it was not too bad a show. This is the third boat/prototype. Apparently it is bound for a Megayacht in the Caribbean to be a rich-man’s toy, carried on deck. Soon all the megayachts will have to have one!
I was told they got either 27 or 37 knots of boat speed with 14 knots of wind out here on the Markermeer!! Either is pretty impressive.
Very cool looking boat, heavy on the carbon fiber and synthetic rigging. Not a boat I’d like to take across the Atlantic, except the trip would be so short I might not mind the spartan, racing accommodations! Apparently one of these has done a transatlantic already, and it was fast. What a gorgeous and expensive toy!
