Designer Bill Tripp shares his thoughts about the Y9
The ‘soft minimalist’ design philosophy extends into the heads
reduce sailing to its essentials and serving all customers’ needs,’ says Dirk Zademack, managing director of YYachts ‘With a length of 29.71m, the Y9 presents – due to clever construction and transverse garage aft – the same volume as a 100ft yacht with a private owners’ apartment to offer maximum privacy, comfortable guest cabins and a large and flexible crew area. The exterior design and naval architecture was drawn by Bill Tripp while the interior is the result of styling by Norm Architects and the experience of Design Unlimited. ‘Like all YYachts models the Y9 is built
completely from carbon fibre, optimising performance and making her extremely competitive. With her length of 90ft, the yacht has an interesting rating and is for sure able to win some trophies at the St Barth’s Bucket, the Superyacht Cup or the Maxi Rolex Cup,’ Zademack says. According to Zademack, several discussions with owners were decisive for the development of the Y9: ‘Actually, customers were interested in 100ft in length. However, from this size upwards in my experience yachts become disproportionately expensive because many custom-built components have to be installed. With our expertise, we have therefore implemented the comfort of a 100ft yacht on a length of 90ft. With our new Y9 we are entering the superyacht segment,’ he explains.
Happy crew, happy owner The Y9 generates an incomparable volume due to her transversely arranged tender garage in the stern and even has a separate owner's apartment which consists of a private office, a dressing room, a bedroom and a bathroom with double washbasin including a separate shower and a separate toilet. A maximum of privacy is guaranteed, which the owner can enjoy with family or close friends. Great importance was also given to
the design of the crew area. As it is an �
When Michael Schmidt and I first talked he asked for a boat that you would immediately want to sail at first sight, that embodiesmodern beauty, simplicity performance and ease of use, along with the capability to go anywhere. Michael identified that many yachts
in the 70–100ft range are built as a one-off and there was an opportunity to present a world class yacht built in series through process engineering. We have worked with MSY to design a series of boats that are constructed from the best materials in a production process that is based on the assembly of parts already finished outside of the boat. This increases the ease of making a highly finished boat with a level of flexibility in the configuration of the spaces. The result is a high-end series built production boat that is not only appealing, but obtainable. Our thought is to also attract new
people to the sport and to tug people out of powerboats into something far more interesting. The overarching principle is to keep the boat easy to use. Thus we have designed a boat that can comfortably be sailed by a few people. Equipped with a self-tacking jib, hydraulic furling code sail and staysail, these boats can sail well in blue water in the worst conditions and have light air performance to attract the keenest of sailors. The boats have two engines, a bow and stern thruster and joystick controls, making it easy to manoeuvre both when docking and sailing. They are built with identical structures
in carbon/epoxy composite with twin rudders and fixed or telescoping keels. They cover a range of displacements with constant vertical and longitudinal centres of gravity, and bulbs and rig sizes designed and built to match the displacement and stability. The result is that the boats are well balanced between performance and luxury. The first Y9 semi-custom result,
Bella, evolved somehow from Prevail, a custom Tripp 90 built by YYachts. She is somewhat heavier because she is equipped with a hydro generation package from Oceanvolt, a large hard top bimini with 14sq m of solar panels,
and an extensive battery package. These features will allow the boat to generate fossil fuel free energy both when sailing and moored. I have no interest in designing boats
that are cluttered or slow. The flared topsides allow for great deck spaces and added stability, a win-win that leads to a better boat. The hull shape is optimised for 15 degrees of heel which is the most typical when globe-trotting. This is also a good average for café racing as well as distance racing. The boat has a high prismatic form for high- speed ocean sailing, with a large sail plan that also makes sailing in six knots of breeze a realistic pleasure, a low centre of gravity to carry the sail plan and a moderate LCB location to improve sea keeping in waves. The shape, while generally of a dinghy oriented lineage, is modified for sea-keeping and reduced slamming. The hull’s beam to depth ratio (known as BTR) is low to keep the hull shape from being a frying pan upwind in big ocean waves. The bow is finer than some for the same reason and keeping the prismatic high while doing this, and the LCB from going aft was a challenge that appealed to us. Designing a luxury yacht for extended
series production is a unique task for a naval architect and means we must design the boat so that it can have different features in keeping with a client’s needs as well as be able to sail ably in different configurations to suit the owner’s mission. With a total of five different cabin configurations, the Y9 has something for everyone interested in this size boat. The next delivery will be a raised saloon version with its own personality yet the same DNA. The latest hull shapes combine more usable volume with speed. The flared topsides allow for great deck spaces and added stability, a win-win that leads to a better boat. This balanced combination of speed, reliability and comfort is ideal for an owner seeking a world cruising boat that will be fast in the fun regattas that have ascended in the last decade, at a price point that is unbeatable in today’s market.
SEAHORSE 91
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