Tucked away in the new hull oven at Fibre Mechanics, a Bill Tripp designed 88ft shoal draft cruising yacht is fast taking shape.
The challenge set by the Client was to design and build a high performance cruising yacht with a maximum draft of 2m. The phrase ‘Shoal Draft Performance Yacht’ is full of contradictions…. the performance of any sailing yacht depends on its sail-carrying ability, and that largely depends on a low centre of gravity. So designing and building a yacht of this size with such a shallow draft is a serious challenge for any yacht designer. The responsibility for making it work of course rests with the builder, and in particular depends on the builder’s ability to save weight in every aspect of construction.
To turn their concept a reality, Bill Tripp and his Client chose Fibre Mechanics because of the yard’s uncompromising attitude towards saving weight. To fulfil the design brief the hull and structure will be full pre-preg carbon with Corecell and Nomex core; and to maximise her potential the yacht will feature a carbon composite keel and a water ballast transfer system. Fibre Mechanics have taken the spirit of the design to the next level with a series of measures to lower the structural centre of gravity and increase the weight of the lead bulb. The build team are drawing on all their experience of building racing yachts such as the Wally Cento ‘Galateia’ and the offshore raceboat ‘Rán 8’ to build a very special cruising yacht. We look forward to reporting on the detail of this project as construction progresses.
