4 ASIA-PACIFIC NEWS


Generous offer by Fareast Yachts


I


n exciting news for the worldwide disabled sailing community, the S\V14 organisation is proud to announce that Fareast Yachts


will produce the specially-designed S\V14 boat at its production base in China and, in a remarkably generous offer, will supply the first 1,000 S\V14’s at a subsidised price of US$3,000 for the base boat ex- works Shanghai. Fareast Yachts has also agreed to keep this price fixed until the end of 2019, after which the price correction will be no more than the material cost and capped at the official inflation rate as published for the People’s Republic of China. “This is an unprecedented


development none of us saw coming,” said Alex Simonis, who was in Shanghai to sign the agreement on behalf of the S\V14 organisation with Demolar Du, CEO of Fareast Yachts. “We started discussions with


Fareast Yachts in December, 2017, with a follow-up meeting in January at the Düsseldorf Boat Show. It turned out that both Simonis Voogd Design and the owners of Fareast Yachts shared the same vision that


this project was our opportunity to give something back to sailing in a way that could make a difference to many disabled sailors. The fact that our two companies have been successfully working together for nearly a decade helped, but it is still beyond remarkable that we are all driven by the same passion to make the S\V14 a success despite our cultural backgrounds being so different,” added Simonis. The S\V 14 is a truly unique


project. Initiated by Thailand-based Marine Surveyor Peter Jacops with a desire to make sailing more


affordable and accessible for people with disabilities, the S\V14 has become a global collaboration with multi-award-winning Naval Architectural and Yacht Design studio Simonis Voogd Design (The Netherlands/South Africa) designing the boat, valuable oversight from respected disabled sailor Russell Vollmer and production soon to start at Fareast Yachts. This Chinese company is best-known as the largest Optimist builder in the world and more recently for its success in the sportsboat market, producing a range of boats from 19-37 ft, with


Demolar Du and Alex Simonis signing the SV\14 Manufacturing Agreement at the offices of Fareast Yachts in Shanghai.


the 28R being an officially approved World Sailing Class. Fareast Yachts have started the


CNC milling of the moulds for the S\V14 out of aluminium. Although expensive, it allows the boats to be built to an extremely high level of accuracy. The S\V14 will be a fully vacuum-infused construction in GRP/ Foam Core. The weight will be the same as the original wooden version to allow both models to be used competitively in regattas. By making the first 1,000 S\V14’s


Left to right: Maarten Voogd, Simonis Voogd Design; Demolar Du, Fareast Yachts; Alex Simonis, Simonis Voogd Design; and Lu Weifeng of Fareast Yachts.


MAY 2018 • MARINA INDUSTRY SOUTH-EAST ASIA & PACIFIC


available at a cost that lies below the raw material cost for the wooden version, the aim is to kick-start the class by introducing as many people with disabilities as possible to sailing, with the ultimate goal of seeing participation grow to a number that sailing can take its rightful place once again in the Paralympics. More information about the S\


V14 is available on its website: www. sv14.org


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