Critical mass
The entry of Hudson Yacht Group’s HH66s into this winter’s Caribbean racing circuit illustrates interesting aspects of their design: despite significant differences in interior layout, accommodation, deck plan, rig plan and even sail sizes and inventory, this Morelli & Melvin- designed luxury cat can still deliver both speed and comfort. This is testament to the design’s flexibility to accommodate unique features, plus the ability of Hudson Yacht Group to imagine, design and build to the tastes of each owner and meet their vision of luxury high- speed offshore sailing.
One of the premier events in the Caribbean season is the annual Les Voiles de St Barth Regatta, which attracts some of the most luxurious performance monohulls and multihulls to enjoy a nicely balanced week of sailing and sunning: the perfect milieu for the HH66. Winds are typically a mix of fresh 20kt+ trade winds and near-drifting, and seas vary from oceanic breakers to flat as a mill pond. So versatility in performance is important. Equally important this season was the dedication shown by the three HH66 owners and all other participants at Les Voiles. After the devastating storms that hit the region in September 2017 the rebuilding efforts at St Barths and all the northern islands were very much boosted by the yachtsmen’s
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loyalty – and their business. Dave Welch, owner of HH66 #05
Flash, said, ‘We love the location. Looking forward to participating in Les Voiles as it has a fantastic collection of incredible boats and people. As a newcomer to the group, I look forward to getting the most out of Flashand to meeting the community.’
Flash will be joined by hull #03
Nala, owned by Jim Vos, who also competed in the BVI Spring Regatta two weeks earlier, and by the first HH66, R-Six, owned by Robert Szustkowski, winner of the 2016 Multihull Cup in Mallorca and 2017 Antigua Sailing Week. He has the most sailing miles of any current HH66 afloat (R-Six completed her third Atlantic crossing in March). Just as the St Barths Bucket Regatta, held a month earlier, and several other regattas in the Caribbean and the Med form the basis of the active superyacht scene among monohulls, there is also growth in this new category of luxury performance cats being attracted to a new circuit of events. This is due in part to the organisational efforts of the Offshore Multihull Association (OMA). Owners in the OMA share the same passion for having performance and comfort in their big cats, both in day races and offshore. The OMA schedule has many participating events in the
With the fast HH66 cat the Hudson Yacht Group have gone full stretch to demonstrate the obvious confidence they have in their own laminating skills by delivering what is a very large and substantial yacht in an entirely clear coat finish, with only UV inhibitors between the craftsman- ship and the customer…
The growing – fortunate – band of big cat owners are really getting it together. Witness the ‘sporty’ and successful racing debut this winter in the Caribbean of the first few super cool all-carbon HH66 cats built by Hudson Yacht Group
Caribbean, the US, the Med and, in 2019, the Transatlantic Race. Recognising that these big cats are all different in weight, sail area, length and other parameters, and that existing rating rules for cats may not accurately capture the complex performance curves produced by these boats throughout their conditions, OMA have developed the Multi Rule, with help from offshore big cat veteran Larry Rosenfeld. Starting from a base of a few basic measurements and specifications, the Multi Rule uses performance data gathered from each boat during racing to develop a polar performance model that is used to score the race along the Performance Curve Scoring (PCS) concept.
In the PCS method the racecourse is modelled by its length and wind angles and, using the elapsed time of each boat and its set of polar performance data, a theoretical windspeed is determined. The boat that has completed the modelled course in the least time relative to their polar performance potential will therefore have highest ‘implied wind’ and win the race. The only inputs needed from race managers for this accurate and objective method are wind direction and elapsed time around the course.
As long as the performance data from each boat is gathered, and
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