too far into the water under load. This also keeps the bridgedeck high to reduce wave slap.’
This adaptability is important: the expectations of racing-only clients can be met with fewer interior elements to save weight while also enjoying a turbocharged sail plan. Conversely, if a client wants to focus on cruising, the boat can still be pre-built for racing with strong spots on the coachroof for sheeting and in-hauling the genoa. This flexibility in turn helps resale value because expectations can be met for generations of future owners.
Design execution
The brief for Simonis Voogd to create a raceable cruising design between 53-55ft came with another sensible request. Catamaran performance is highly sensitive to the loaded weight and fore and aft trim – get this wrong and the boat will miss all its target speeds. So rather than create a design with a target weight defined in light ship trim, they were asked to provide a design with a target weight that people will actually be sailing it in, which turns out to be 18-20 tons. ‘This was important,’ says
Maarten Voogd, ‘because we want to keep the leeward hull from sinking
Top: the brief for Simonis Voogd called for a versatile and genuinely raceable cruising
design with a target weight that took into account a typical ocean cruising
payload while providing an upgrade path for those owners who are keen to maximise the yachtʼs performance potential with an ultra-light interior and a race-spec rig
Next came important decisions on how the features and options offered on the KC54 could fit within the weight targets. The hulls had to provide four comfortable cabins (two with en suite heads) or a three-cabin owner’s version where the spare cabin in the owner’s hull can convert to a fourth cabin when needed. Popular elements from the KC62 would also be adopted, like the large main salon with open views, and a few other design details such as having a curved traveller mounted on the coachroof rather than a straight traveller on the bridgedeck transom: this allows the traveller to be dropped without tightening the leech of the main. To give versatility on draught and performance, both centreboard and daggerboard versions would also be offered, as would the size of the carbon spar package from Marstrom. ‘Most importantly the boat also had to have clean lines and be a looker,’ says Hayward.
The first set of plans arrived in early 2019, only a few months after the initial meeting. KC62 hull number 01 was completed and launched in May 2019, shipped to the US in July, and being readied for the Annapolis Boat Show in October. Here it was decided not to formally launch the KC54 but to show plans to potential buyers and solicit feedback on details.
The initial plans specified the mast to be mounted above the bulkhead on the foredeck with all control lines leading aft in covered channels around the outside of the salon to the outboard sections of the aft cockpit. Having the mast stepped this way on the bridgedeck would be simpler to build and lighter. However, in Annapolis the KC62 showed well and people liked its large salon with 360-degree views,
its forward interior helm and forward cockpit, and they wanted to see the same features on the KC54. ‘Maarten [Voogd] was with us at the show and said it could be done with some redesign effort,’ says Hayward. ‘We’d need to add a compression post, an athwartship beam and reinforce the coachroof mullions. It would add complexity and some weight, but we’d also be able to increase the salon size, add the forward helm station and move the mast to a more preferable position further aft. Another benefit was that the increased infrastructure would also add rigidity to the boat. So it became time for another one of those central DNA decisions!’ At that time the mould for the KC54 hulls was already started, so the team had to decide quickly on the next move, and by the end of Annapolis show they decided to pull the trigger and make the design change. Within a month new plans arrived which showed the forward cockpit space to be about the same size as the KC62, seating five people. “Based on our experience with the KC62, this cockpit not only improves the sailing function, it turns out to also become a social centre on the boat and beachfront real estate. We decided to make this along with the coachroof-mounted mast and large open salon key features of all of our boats,’ says Hayward.
Key details
To make the boat accessible to a cruising couple, the team at Kinetic had to address other key details in the design phase: (1) the need for easy sail controls to raise and lower the sails; (2) make anchoring easy; (3) make docking easy; and (4) provide solid reliability and after- sales service.
Hayward says the last of these is easy to address: ‘We are fortunate to have good partners in Cay Electronics in Newport who did our systems and electrical equipment specifications, in addition to being able to offer after-sales service. The same holds true for Rigging Projects in the UK for the carbon spar and rigging, and North Sails for the sails. We are also dedicated to only using readily- available high-end parts and equipment.’
Anchoring any multihull can be a challenge, but with forward cockpit now in the KC54 design this allowed the team to manage this issue by having the anchor recessed into the forward bridgedeck and having the anchor locker immediately forward of the forward cockpit. This enables the bridle to be attached and detached whilst standing in the cockpit. ‘We had begun testing the
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