Opening some very big doors
Judel-Vrolijk, Baltic Yachts, Gurit Engineering, Design Unlimited... what
did you expect? Pink Gin VI is currently the largest all-carbon sloop in the world. Unusually clever in the engineering and mighty pretty to boot
BALTIC 55 PINK GIN Baltic Yachts and Gurit have enjoyed a long and productive relationship, collabo- rating closely for 30 years to produce an impressive portfolio of Baltic superyachts that in recent years have included award- winning yachts like Nilaya, Visione, WinWin and Hetairos, all of which are all-carbon with an accompanying high level of performance and technology. One such name that has now appeared
on the transoms of three yachts out of Baltic’s Jakobstad yard is Pink Gin. Their owner, Prof Hans Georg Näder, is the president of Otto Bock Holding, the
52 SEAHORSE
world’s largest orthopaedic technology company. It is little wonder that the man behind the company that has revolu- tionised the world of prosthetics with inno- vative technology should want to do the same with the superyacht industry, through his passion for sailing and enthusiasm for raising the bar in technology and design. Pink Gin VI does this spectacularly. At 53.9m she is now the largest carbon
fibre sloop in the world, but that is certainly not the vessel’s raison d’être. The increase in size from Pink Gin V’s 152ft enabled Näder, working closely with naval architects Judel-Vrolijk and stylists Design Unlimited, to explore new technical opportunities – which is where the bold idea of incorporating balcony doors into the topsides of a sailing yacht was born. Until now such features were the preserve of the motor yacht world where global loads are a lesser consideration. However, more and more mega-yacht features such as this trickle into sailing yachts, meaning that it seems with every new design the engineering challenges to make these dreams a reality become greater. The viability of this project was not only
dependent on whether the doors could be successfully incorporated into the design, but also on the ability to gain class
approval; this boat would not have gone ahead had this not been possible. To this end Gurit worked closely with Germanis- cher Lloyd (now DNV-GL) in the early stages of the programme to agree an analysis philosophy and design concept that could evolve into an acceptable end solution. This productive co-operation continued through the life of the project to ensure class compliance for the entire structure. To achieve a high level of global stiffness
as well as tight, even shut-lines, it was clear that such large topside doors would have to be structural, in other words rigidly con- nected to the surrounding topsides and contributing to the global strength when sailing. After all, the forward door, which acts as a balcony to the owner’s cabin and erodes 75 per cent of the local freeboard, is positioned between the mast with a maxi- mum working compression of over 300 tonnes and the forestay with a maximum working tension of 60 tonnes. At the same time, though, the behaviour
of the boat with the doors open was also critical, since not only must the vessel retain a level of residual strength in the event of a system or hardware failure, but also the doors’ operation must not be compromised by local deformation of the doorframes. With so many considerations
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