moment. We quickly sheeted on and the boat easily maintained speeds in the mid to high teens as we completed the harbour exit before sheeting on to go upwind. That was a cool moment and confirmed that the boat will have some very fast reaching numbers when everything is dialled in.
Dynamic stability A long upwind leg followed, changing down through the reefs and ultimately using the genoa staysail in storm jib mode to complete the delivery of Tulikettu up towards Yarmouth. We saw gusts to 30kts and with some trepidation were contemplating the most appropriate sail plan to use for the downwind leg. However, as forecast, the breeze moderated and it was an easy decision to go with the A4 and full mainsail for the return journey. We set ourselves up with a long port gybe to start with and took the necessary time to safely set up the DSS and get everyone in position. The breeze by now was around 18-20kts and the boat responded very well. Once settled we were able to comfortably average close to wind speed with a few short bursts into the low 20s, and a top speed of around 24kts. Really encouraging was how stable and easy to steer the boat was. The foil behaved exactly as predicted, trimming the bow up and adding significant righting moment. We almost felt underpowered at times, but secure in the knowledge we have more sail area to add when fully triple heading, this was not a concern. The
powered winches gave us the confidence to work the sheets aggressively without anyone leaving the rail. This will be a huge performance boost when racing offshore with reduced crew numbers. The A4 sailing was over pretty quickly
as we still wanted to check in with the masthead zero (MHO) before getting back to Gosport so we dropped the chute just off Cowes and set up the MHO for the remainder of the downwind. By now the breeze was dropping further and we were able to play around with some different angles and modes. The concept of this MHO is a little different to traditional sails for this size of boat in that it is a fairly large and flat sail – a concept normally reserved for much bigger, faster boats. With the DSS fully engaged and doing its thing, it was time for Arto (Tulikettu’s owner) to take the helm. Fair to say he was a little nervous at first. Very quickly though, the tense grimace turned into a wide smile as he easily relaxed into a smooth driving style and found the boat responsive but not too twitchy. His comments later about how much easier it was than he expected should be very encouraging for all prospective owners thinking about the Infiniti 52 as their next offshore racing platform. The final day had a very light forecast and so it proved. A great opportunity to check out the light air sails so we switched
‘Early indications suggest the boat is well balanced. It’s easy to shift gears’
to the one reef main and J1. A very quick upwind before switching to the MHO for a light air evaluation. The boat powered up very quickly and it is easy to see how this sail will be the only one we need between about 70° and 140° TWA when the wind speed is below 6kts. The ability to sheet inboard and inhaul the clew at tight angles enables some very tight sailing angles to be achieved and then at the wider angles, the big, flat MHO performs very well at keeping the boat powered up when looking to sail deep. As the breeze died away to nothing, we hoisted the spinnaker staysail as a wind seeker – just to check sheeting and confirm the ability of this sail to get the boat moving in those “flopping” conditions. All checked out and it was a very happy team that then motored back
to the dock for a late lunch. It was a hugely productive few days and although only at the very beginning of the development programme, we have seen some very encouraging signs of performance and behaviour to confirm the immense potential of this platform. The boat balances well, the DSS foil contributes as planned and the Doyle Sails inventory developed for this boat specifically performed as expected. Early days and the learning curve will be close to vertical for a few months yet but keep an eye out for Tulikettu on the racecourse soon.
www.infinitiyachts.com
q
From hull #3 onwards AC75 and Imoca 60 builder Persico is series-building the Infiniti 52 in Europe SEAHORSE 81
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