The technology behind the new superyachts
from On the Water (255 articles)
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Image Gallery ( 8 images )August 15, 2005 New Zealand super maxi 'Alfa Romeo' has the potential to shatter race records around the world, predicts owner and skipper, Neville Crichton, having spent two weeks testing the new super maxi prior to the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island (20-27 August 2005). After the Whitsundays regatta, the first major record in the sights of Neville Crichton is the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race mark of 1 day 19 hours 48 minutes 02 seconds for the 628 nautical mile race in the Tasman Sea. "Given a relatively constant breeze of 15 knots with slightly sprung sheets the new boat will average 22 knots and we can sail the course in 1 day and 5 hours," he says with confidence.
The new 'Alfa Romeo', the 30-metre (98-feet) successor to the 27.5-metre (90-feet) world champion of the same name that took line honours in some 74 races in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, including the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, is the most technically advanced ocean racing yacht in the world today. She is a magnificent example of the latest concept in design, engineering, construction, rigging and sails.
Designed by the US firm of Reichel/Pugh and built of carbon fibre composite by McConaghy Boats in Sydney, Australia, 'Alfa Romeo' carries a towering 44 metre carbon fibre mast built by Southern Spars in New Zealand with the latest concept in 3DL and mylar sails designed by the Sydney loft of North Sails.
Each company has contributed to a racing yacht that can only be described as awesome in concept and a quantum leap in the already advanced technology of modern yacht design, engineering and construction. McConaghy Boats, who have now built 10 maxi yachts in carbon fibre describe the building of 'Alfa Romeo' as the biggest and most complex project they have ever undertaken.
Race performances are expected to be just as awesome with race record predictions no idle threat. Overseas in 2006 the new 'Alfa Romeo' will be an outstanding example of Australian and New Zealand boat-building techniques and workmanship.
Like her predecessor, she is registered with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland and carries the sail number NZL 80.
'Alfa Romeo' will begin her racing campaign at the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island later this month, from 20-27 August. She will then be sailed to New Zealand for some final checkout before returning to Sydney in October to begin an intensive lead-up campaign for the 2005 Rolex Challenge and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. In January she will be shipped to Europe to contest all the major offshore events in the Mediterranean and other Northern Hemisphere waters.
Owner/skipper Neville Crichton, a lifelong sailing enthusiast and, in his own right, a world class racing helmsman, commissioned Reichel/Pugh to design him a super maxi boat to the 30-metre length overall (LOA) maximum set for two of the world's great traditional races, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Rolex Fastnet Race.
"I would have liked to stay with a 90-footer but when the CYCA (Cruising Yacht Club of Australia) and the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) set their maximum LOA at 30-metres for the Hobart and the Fastnet Races we had to go up to 30-metres to be competitive," Crichton explains.
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