the design team alike.
minimum problem being two weeks in a hotel room when returning home, assuming that is you can even get a slot to be allowed in….to your own country. The detailing of the rig, and how NZ Rigging worked to ensure the interface with the boat was executed, made the process as painless as possible.
Of course, progress never stops. We are conducting a complete structural review of the boat, looking for improvements that can be taken into boat three onwards. This is a yacht that, thanks to having not only DSS foils but water ballast as well, is going to give the crews plenty to think about while figuring out how to get the best out of it in different conditions. The ability to shift gears and sail in different modes is far greater when ballast and righting moment are not set in stone. The feedback loop we have with our clients, the information and data gathered from the actual sailing and comparing the real loads with the design loads allows us to constantly refine the yacht and optimise with every iteration. This is all part of the learning process. One thing we have learned over the past 20 years of developing foiling and foil-assisted yachts is that you never stop learning and that applies to the crews and
Top: as hull number one is slid out of the build shed to be rigged with the help of a crane, the construction of hulls two and three continues inside. Above: the three rigs delivered by NZ Rigging are impecca- bly detailed and finished with smart thinking from top to bottom
So we learn all the time, during the build, when commissioning and with every mile passing under the keel. Making sense of what we learn is of course a challenge in itself, from the simplest issue in the supply chain to understanding a performance characteristic or sweet spot that we had not anticipated. That is the true pleasure of this process, seeing the plans, dreams and ideas come to fruition and then being able to refine and develop and never assume the job is done. Sharing the developments with the owners and their teams and the collective buy-in where teams see progress, continually allowing them to set their bar higher and higher is extremely rewarding.
Setting up to build in the USA has been positive, with a can-do attitude in almost every respect. Shipping remains the biggest problem, with rigs and engines being the most affected; the irony of being told the preferred engine did not meet US emission standards unless exported did not quite offset the three-month delay in arrival. Planning was just that, planning. Very few deadlines were able to be met, the chant of Covid used as a catch-all whenever something didn’t quite make the truck. Notable exceptions were the beautiful Harken Air winches from Italy and the works of art from Isotop in France. Carbon wheels you wish you could hang on your wall and a foil and foil case that defined the knife through butter comparison as a gentle push slid the foil through the boat after installation. The loops and rigging details from Offshore Rigging that look like exotic jewelry and the 3D printed Titanium pig-nose likewise is a work of art and 3D printing a quite extraordinarily cool way of making complex parts such as these. With a bowsprit longer than a TP52,
made to look even longer by the reversed bow, the Infiniti 52 certainly has eye catching features beyond the carbon DSS foil, painted in bright orange for the first yacht. In the end, for all the work, the energy, sacrifice and commitment, the true test will be the launching, the first time the sails harness the wind and all the planning and thinking comes to fruition. It is this moment that makes all the other moments worthwhile and for the team at Composite Builders, working hard on boats two and three, this is going to be an experience missed or so they thought. Taking the carrot approach rather than the stick and with so many keen sailors in the build team at Composite, they have been offered a bonus for on time completion of a trip to Florida and a day of sailing on the Infiniti 52. In the depths of winter in Michigan, that is going to be some incentive! There is no doubt the team at Composite Builders has grown in every respect during the build of the first Infiniti 52. We had Covid cases, masks and other challenges but the doors never shut and progress may have slowed but it never stopped. As a group they can be extremely proud of the way in which they handled the challenges presented, both technical and some more mundane, like working in a pandemic environment.
All the systems, clever ideas and smart thinking seem to be coming together as planned and sometimes better than planned.
Waypoint Racing has done an immaculate installation, dovetailing with the Diverse team in the UK and integrating the systems in an efficient and experienced manner. There is no doubt this is a team effort with a significant cast of suppliers and partners all of whom pull together to make this design come to life. Without exception the extra mile is walked again and again and the passion for the project is infectious. Seeing a new design concept with innovative ideas but based on a significant body of work really does bring out the best energy in people. The way in which everyone brings their A-game and wants the best result is both inspiring and humbling. There is no question that deciding to make the first race for the yacht the RORC Transatlantic raised the bar in how we approached the final detailing. There would be no “warm up” and the first passage would be across Biscay in winter, so a true test of all the planning, design and endeavour that brought us to this place in time. That is when the adventure begins and the learning starts all over again.
www.infinitiyachts.com
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