Design
Radical gestation
Baltic Yachts’ most complex, sophisticated and ambitious superyacht launched to date just keeps on improving with every outing
They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating. After several years in development the most eagerly awaited superyacht of 2019, the 142ft Canova, was launched late in the season by Baltic Yachts with the minimum of fuss.
Unlike the launch of a brand new racing yacht where you launch, step the mast, fit some sails and go straight into sea trials in a matter of hours or days, the coming together of this extraordinarily complex yacht takes a long time to complete. Baltic Yachts excels at balancing the desire to get sailing against the need to ensure all systems work safely and effectively, while respecting the boundaries that were pushed in the design offices. The Finnish summer weather was less than ideal for a team looking for testing conditions to push the yacht to the aforementioned boundaries. Nonetheless, in between the summer vacations of suppliers and balancing the wishes of all the interested parties, some meaningful sailing was somehow managed and boxes ticked. Leaving from Finland in autumn presents a challenge if you wish to get somewhere warmer. As owners of yachts built in this region will attest, a high level of due diligence is required before leaving.
The key areas of interest, beyond 62 SEAHORSE
the groundbreaking hydrogeneration system and other innovative house systems, were of course the operation and effectiveness of the Dynamic Stability System (DSS) foil, the Rondal/Carbo-Link rig with its double deflector setup and the sail inventory, particularly the quadrilateral headsail.
Working with Infiniti Yachts on the refinement of the rig, foil and sail development enabled Baltic Yachts to tap into almost 20 years of experience in this critical symbiosis. When foils are added to the mix it is important to ensure other areas of the yacht that are directly affected by the foil, particularly the rig and sails, are developed in parallel. By making a dummy DSS foil, Baltic Yachts ensured they were ahead of the game for the installation of what was by their own admission the most complex moveable appendage ever fitted to one of their yachts. The installation was completed in a couple of hours and signed off after a day of sea trials. It is testament to the team led by Roland Kasslin that something so complicated was considered at the conclusion of sea trials to have been the “easiest” of all the technical features of the yacht. The “simple” rope-driven system exceeded its
Above: Baltic Yachts’ 142ft sloop Canova is probably the most
complex and sophisticated superyacht ever built with a wide range of ground- breaking
systems and cutting-edge technologies onboard. Its stand-out feature is the largest DSS foil ever built, which exceeded even its inventor’s expectations in sea trials. Sailing at 15kts on a beam reach, the DSS foil reduced the yacht’s angle of heel from 30° to 18° in 20 seconds
targets when deployed under load and proved to be completely silent. Being located under the owner’s bed, this was non-negotiable. We tested the DSS foil
deployment with increasing load, the final sign-off test being with a heel angle of 30°, making 15kts at a true wind angle of 90°with a full main and J1. Without adjusting any sails or controls other than the deployment of the DSS foil, the heel angle was reduced to 18°in the 20 seconds it took to deploy the foil and the speed remained the same. For a superyacht of this ilk the DSS foil is designed to start working at a boatspeed of around 17-18kts. The DSS foil’s performance exceeded our expectations. In early trials sailing upwind in 20-24kts of breeze and without using the trim tab on the keel, which would further improve performance, the difference when using DSS was a VMG increase of 0.25kt, a heel reduction of 30 per cent and a pitch reduction of 42 per cent. To put these numbers into context, it would take an extra 33,000kg in the keel bulb – the total displacement weight of an IOR maxi – to achieve the same heel reduction. The 42 per cent reduction in pitching is even more incredible. As the company engaged to run the
EVA-STINA KJELLMAN
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