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Royal Huisman turns hull of world's largest sloop

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M5 (ex Mirabella V) restyled by Pendennis Shipyard

M5 's stern was remodeled at the  pendennis shipyard in falmouth, uk and completed her sail trials successful..

M5 was originally built in 2004 as Mirabella V . Until she is still the largest sloop with over 75 meters (length of the hull) and an almost 90 meters long mast.

Designed and manufactured by Carbo-Link with OYS making the fittings, the 34 new carbon fiber stays, and titanium fittings with built-in dynamic fiber optics have decreased the weight of the rig by 18 tons. The sail trials not only established the M5 ‘s potential speed but tested the new system and balance of the yacht under sail for the first time. During several hours on the water with challenging sea conditions, the remodeled boat performed well, reaching 17.7 knots in 18-23 knots of wind.

The project, due to be completed over the next month, has seen a collaboration between Pendennis and the original designer Ron Holland , to achieve the Owners idea of extending the stern by 3m which has created a new sleeker profile providing an impressive aft deck area. During the refit, Pendennis has completed extensive engineering works and the interiors have been redesigned by UK company Redman Whiteley Dixon .

M5 carries now a water plane on aft deck

Stepping the huge mast

Close to the wind when she was MIRABELLA V

Main Specifications of Sailing Yacht M5

SHARING IS CARING - THANK YOU!

R77 with multiple rotating twin wingmast by mathis rühl, blue sapphire // ferrari franchi design, atalante // claasen shipyards (truly classic 128), project lotus // royal huisman, wally rocket 51 – one design sailing yacht, wally 101 full custom, 55m salt by lujac desautel – crystalline lounge on sea, flax 27 – exclusive daysailer made of natural fiber composite.

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First Look: Royal Huisman unveils new images of 81-meter SEA EAGLE II

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By Nina Done   31 March 2023

Royal Huisman has released a collection of stunning new images of the elegant 81m (266ft) sailing yacht SEA EAGLE II , currently the largest aluminum sailing yacht in the world, following her global voyage covering over 45,000 nautical miles. 

Showcasing never seen before images since her low-key delivery under the shadow of the pandemic in 2020, pictures reveal her dramatic lines, plumb bow and majestic Panamax rig under power, courtesy of Dykstra Naval Architects and Mark Whitely Design. 

Her vast rigging encompasses three mainsails that can be hoisted simultaneously for ultra-efficient post-lunch getaways, while her aluminum hull ensures a lightness, acceleration, strength and fuel efficiency, giving her the edge over other heavy, sail-assisted yachts. 

As well as being an aesthetically alluring yacht, one with real presence on the water, this is a yacht that regularly sails at double-digit speeds and takes a matter of minutes to go from anchored to sailing.

Commissioned by an experienced owner, the brief was clear: to create an extremely comfortable and spacious sailing yacht with good sea keeping and exceptional amenities for both guests and crew, alongside the important functional aspects of performance, reliability and power under sail.

Supersized sailing yachts like this are no longer an impossible dream, Royal Huisman’s CEO Jan Timmerman points out: “Continual innovation, accumulated expertise and rigorous self-challenge have come together through our highly skilled and dedicated team to produce Athena, SEA EAGLE II and, currently in-build, the world’s largest sloop, the 85 m (280ft) New World Sloop aka Project 410."

Available for charter

Now on the yacht charter market, guests can experience the elegance and sophistication of this contemporary yacht for themselves. From her beautiful outdoor cinema to her multiple al fresco dining areas, there is an abundance of space onboard where guests can kick back, relax and socialize in style. 

Accommodating up to 12 guests across six elegantly appointed cabins, the yacht is versatile for a variety of charter party configurations. She is also capable of carrying up to 14 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed private yacht charter experience.

If you'd like to learn more about chartering sailing yacht SEA EAGLE II, please get in touch with your chosen yacht charter broker . 

Alternatively, feel free to compare and contrast the entire fleet of sailing yachts available for charter .

Featured Royal Huisman yachts available for charter

90m Royal Huisman 2004 / 2024

57m Royal Huisman 2010 / 2021

52m Royal Huisman 2007 / 2017

47m Royal Huisman 1998 / 2023

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• Royal Huisman
• SEA EAGLE II
• all-aluminum
• Sailing Yacht

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By SuperyachtNews 23 Sep 2020

The world’s largest sloop

The apex 850 concept has been developed in partnership with royal huisman and malcolm mckeon….

APEX 850 is the newest concept from Royal Huisman in partnership with designer Malcolm McKeon. At 85m long and with a 107m mast, if built, APEX 850 would become the largest sloop in existence. Notably, great care has been taken to focus on performance, as well as aesthetics, which is rare for a sailing yacht of this size.

“It will be the largest sloop in the world with a 107m mast. [She has] a minimalist superstructure and floor to ceiling glass in the owner’s accommodation to give you that ultimate experience of connection to the outside world, which on a boat of this size has never been done before,” explains McKeon. “There has been a lot of emphasis on the performance of this boat, which is not something that is normally on a boat of this size and displacement…the boat will actually handle and feel like a much smaller boat.”

Unlike many large concepts, APEX 850 has not been designed as a merely aesthetic concept, she has actually been fully resolved in terms of design, naval architecture and engineering, all bar the specific styling requirements of a particular individual, making her a viable option for potential buyers. Furthermore, according to Royal Huisman, if commissioned APEX 850 would have an extremely attractive delivery date for a project of its size and complexity.

“Two of the world’s ten largest sailing yachts, Athena and Sea Eagle II, are Royal Huisman builds and APEX 850 would make a fitting third, easily becoming the largest member of the circle. Every Royal Huisman yacht benefits from research, innovations and challenges our previous builds, ensuring this would be the finest yet,” comments Jan Timmerman, CEO of Royal Huisman.

On deck, an all-glass minimalistic superstructure is central and houses a 200sqm single-level social space. In fact, minimalism is clearly the project’s entire design ethos and thus many of its aesthetics stylings are designed not only to support that minimalism but also to enhance it. According to McKeon, continuous glass sides provide virtually see-through exterior panels, while also acting as a principal structural component.

There is an al fresco dining area between the helm and the full-beam superstructure doors and the main saloon has 360-degree views. Two eight-metre tenders are held beneath the flush deck, along with their deployment crane, and without winches, furlers, mooring cleats, anchor gear of other deck equipment insight, all of which are sited or retracted below deck.

APEX 850 has accommodation for 12 guests across five suites. The owner’s apartment is positioned aft and occupies some 250sqm of space, as well as opening up directly onto the beach club, which doubles as a cinema room. This aft space can be reserved for exclusive use by the owner or be shared with guests.

The four guest suites, each 30sqm, have versatile twin or double configurations and additional Pullman berths. The APEX 850 has accommodation for a crew of 14. Other amenities include a wine cave, a large guest lobby, dedicated diving storage and access to the side swim platforms for the midships lazarette.

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Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design

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• MaineBoats Blog

World's largest sloop sails the Maine coast

Thursday, september 13th 2018.

A sailboat reputed to be the largest single-masted yacht in the world was spotted recently cruising along the Maine coast, making stops in Portland and off Camden, where it was too big to fit into the harbor.

The 277-foot boat was designed by Ron Holland and built in 2004 in England at the Vosper Thornycroft yard for Joseph Vittoria, the former chairman and CEO of the Avis Rental Car Company. He named it Mirabella V (it has since beeen renamed M5) and chartered it out for $420,000 a week, according to an interview Vittoria gave to the Greenwich (Ct) Times in 2010.

Vittoria sold the boat in 2012, and according to the website Superyacht Fan, the new owner was Texas-based oil and gas billionaire Rodney Lewis.

M5’s mast is almost 300 feet tall and the boat has a beam of over 49 feet. The boat has a lifting keel and draws 33.5 feet with it down and 12.5 feet with it up. The sail area is a whopping 25,670 square feet with just the main and a working jib. Vittoria told the Greenwich Times that the boat was capable of sailing at 20 knots in a stiff breeze, but other reports place the top speed at 12 knots. According to BoatInternational.com, M5 is the largest single-masted sailing yacht in the world.

The vessel has a master suite and six additional cabins, and requires a crew of more than a dozen. It has room to carry Lasers, jet skis, and a 29-foot tender to carry passengers to and from the shore.

When M5 anchored off Camden, its mast could be seen towering over Curtis Island. Schooners sailing past looked like small rowboats in comparison to the massive yacht. According to the marine tracking app MarinTraffic.com, the vessel sailed to Portland from Newport, Rhode Island, to Boothbay and then to Camden.

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Top 10 largest sailing yachts in the world

The list of the top ten largest sailing yachts in the world is not easily disrupted. In fact, it had remained unchanged since the launch of the 106.7-metre Oceanco Black Pearl in 2018, which swiped the top spot from Lürssen 's 93-metre Eos . For four years, Black Pearl remained the largest yacht in the world until early in 2023 when Oceanco sent a new flagship down the slipway, the mighty 127-metre Koru . Read on to discover our official list of the largest sailing yachts in the world. 

1. Koru | 127m

Leading this list is a new entry: Oceanco 's record-breaking 127-metre sailing yacht Koru . Commissioned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Koru has been the subject of much speculation for years but was revealed in all its glory in 2021. Not only is she the largest sailing yacht in the world, she is also the largest superyacht ever to be built in the Netherlands. Her name, Koru, is the Māori word meaning "new beginnings" and she is accompanied by a 75-metre support vessel named Abeona . She was delivered in 2023 and is over 20 metres longer than the former title-holder Black Pearl.

• Builder: Oceanco
• Country of build: Netherlands
• Delivery year: 2023
• Length Overall: 125.82 m
• Beam: 16.95 m
• Gross Tonnage 3493 t

More about this yacht

More stories, 2. black pearl | 106.7m.

Instantly recognisable with her black sails and Dynarig set-up, Black Pearl is the second-largest sailing yacht in the world. Delivered during the same year as 142.81-metre Sailing Yacht A (officially designated as a sail-assisted motor yacht), Black Pearl spent five years in development at Dutch yard Oceanco . Dykstra Naval Architects , Ken Freivokh , Nuvolari Lenard , BMT Nigel Gee and Gerard P Villate all contributed their expertise to this monumental project, which looks set to turn heads the world over for decades to come. She is often compared to Maltese Falcon , the first Dynarig superyacht, but boasts a number of technological advancements. She flies 25 per cent more sail area with hinging spars that fold down to allow her to pass through the Panama Canal, but it is what lies beneath that really counts. Two variable pitch propellers harness kinetic energy while she is under sail, which can run the hotel or recharge the batteries, allowing her to cross oceans without expending a drop of fuel. 

• Delivery year: 2018
• Length Overall: 106.7 m
• Gross Tonnage 2700 t

3. Eos | 92.93m

Eos was built in Germany under a cloak of secrecy for her American media and movie mogul Barry Diller. Eos is a three-masted Bermuda rigged schooner and was refitted at Royal Huisman in 2011. After emerging from her refit the yacht caught fire in Norway and had to return to the yard to be repaired.

• Builder: Lurssen
• Country of build: Germany
• Delivery year: 2006
• Length Overall: 92.93 m
• Beam: 13.5 m
• Gross Tonnage 1500 t

4. Athena | 90m

Athena was built by the Royal Huisman in Holland for US software developer Jim Clark. Athena's advanced engineering means that she is able to sail in relatively light airs, while still offering the interior space typically only found on motor yachts. In stronger winds, Athena has been credited as attaining 19 knots under sail. The yacht's three closed decks include a large owner's suite, four guest suites, a saloon and dining room on the main deck and a sky lounge on the upper deck. Her clipper-bow and three-masted schooner sprung from the boards of Pieter Beeldsnijder (exterior styling) and Dykstra Naval Architects (naval architecture).

• Builder: Royal Huisman
• Delivery year: 2004
• Length Overall: 90 m
• Beam: 12.2 m
• Gross Tonnage 1103 t

5. Maltese Falcon | 88m

Maltese Falcon  was built for the late American venture capitalist Tom Perkins. The iconic three-masted schooner is the fifth-largest sailing yacht in the world. Maltese Falcon's rig is made up of three unstayed, 'weapons-grade' carbon fibre masts, with a fully computerised sail and rotating mast system. The system has been dubbed a triumph of design, development and engineering and Maltese Falcon has topped an impressive 24 knots under sail. The Ken Freivokh interior is a marriage of industrial chic and high tech. It features leather, glass, wood and steel as well as a modern art collection. The yacht has accommodation for 12 guests and is available for charter.

• Builder: Perini Navi
• Country of build: Turkey
• Length Overall: 88 m
• Beam: 12.47 m
• Gross Tonnage 1112 t

Yachts for charter

6. aquijo | 85.9m.

The highly anticipated Aquijo was the result of a collaboration between Vitters and Oceanco. Both Dutch yards worked closely with the owner's representative to create a highly complex, performance-driven sailing machine that became the third largest sailing superyacht when launched. Aquijo is an aluminium ketch-rigged yacht, and features a custom steering system. Aquijo's interior layout provides clear sight lines thanks to her high-volume superstructure.

• Builder: Vitters | Oceanco
• Delivery year: 2016
• Length Overall: 85.9 m
• Beam: 14.48 m
• Gross Tonnage 1538 t

7. Sea Eagle II | 81m

Delivered in 2020, Sea Eagle II is the most recent addition to the top ten largest sailing yachts in the world. Built by Royal Huisman, Sea Eagle II features exterior styling by Mark Whiteley and naval architecture penned by Dykstra Naval Architects . Sold in summer 2016 by  Northrop & Johnson  as Project RH400,  Sea Eagle II  is the largest yacht ever built by the Dutch yard. 

• Delivery year: 2020
• Length Overall: 81 m
• Gross Tonnage 1150 t

8. M5 | 78.4m

Built by Vosper Thorneycroft in Southampton, England, M5  was launched as the iconic yacht Mirabella V in 2004. She remains the world’s largest sloop to date. M5 was designed by Ron Holland for American yachtsman Joe Vittoria, who enjoyed sailing her for seven years before she was sold on. The new owner renamed her M5 and she was extended by 3.2 metres in a refit at  Pendennis  before her relaunch in 2013. Her most recent refit , however, in 2019, saw M5 emerge from the sheds with all new paint-work, composite biminis, a reinforced mast and a new bow-thruster.

M5 has a displacement of 780 tonnes (165 tonnes of which is the keel). The carbon fibre mast is an amazing 88.3 metres tall and can carry approximately 3,700 square metres of sail.

• Builder: Vosper Thornycroft
• Country of build: United Kingdom
• Length Overall: 78.4 m
• Beam: 14.8 m
• Gross Tonnage 1009 t

9. Badis | 70m

The second largest Perini Navi sailing yacht to date, Badis was built for the multiple superyacht owner Bill Duker and launched in 2016 as Sybaris . The name comes from a Greek settlement in ancient Italy that was famed for its hedonism, feasts and excesses. Featuring naval architecture and sailplan optimisation by Philippe Briand, this all-aluminium ketch can host up to 12 guests across six cabins. Interiors are by PH Design with a total internal volume of 870GT, while the crew quarters allow for a staff of up to 11. Under power, Badis's twin MTU 16V 2000 M72 diesel engines generate a total of 3,860hp, resulting in a top speed of 17.5 knots and a maximum cruising range of 5,000 nautical miles at 12.5 knots.

• Country of build: Italy
• Length Overall: 70 m
• Beam: 13.24 m
• Gross Tonnage 887 t

10. Atlantic | 69.3m

Atlantic might have the looks of an old classic but don't be fooled, this modern three-masted schooner was delivered in 2010 to an owner with a penchant for classic sailing yachts. She was built from scratch as a replica of the famous 64.5-metre Townsend & Downey schooner by the same name built in 1903. The sailing yacht made history when she set the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1905 - a record that remained unbroken for nearly 100 years - but she was sadly scrapped in 1982. Inspired by its legacy, owner Ed Kastelein built a replica as a tribute to the record-breaking classic at the Van de Graaf shipyard in the Netherlands. The new Atlantic 's three masts stand 50 metres high and support 1,700 square metres of sails with 36 winches in bronze built specially by Harken.

• Builder: Van der Graaf
• Delivery year: 2010
• Length Overall: 69.31 m
• Gross Tonnage 268 t

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The world’s biggest yachts – what’s behind the growth of the gigayacht

• Helen Fretter
• March 14, 2017

The last few years have seen launches of some of the world's largest yachts, truly gigayachts. Helen Fretter delves into the world of the gigayacht

Dwarfing not only any other yacht that happened to be on the River Eider, but even the buildings along the foreshore, the monolithic Sailing Yacht A made quite an impression when she was launched from the Nobriskrug yard in Hamburg in the autumn of 2016.

The 142m, eight-deck behemoth is the archetypal ‘gigayacht’, phenomenal not just in her dimensions but also in her radicalism.

The Philippe Starck-designed Sailing Yacht A , with her 20m freeboard, begs the question: is she even a sailing yacht? The last yacht to divide opinion, and attract the shock and awe of the non-sailing public in the same manner was Maltese Falcon , the glossy, experimental megayacht designed for Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tom Perkins.

But the Falcon was launched a decade ago, and Sailing Yacht A is just one of a crop of extraordinary gigayachts, or sailing superyachts of 80, 90 or 100m plus, to touch the water in 2016.

Besides the 142m Sailing Yacht A , another three-masted design was launched from OceanCo this autumn, the 106m  Black Pearl , which looks set to become the largest sailing yacht in the world – for a while at least. Black Pearl represents a modern evolution of the rotating Dynarig pioneered by Maltese Falcon . Meanwhile in the spring, the largest Bermudan rigged yacht ever launched, the 86m ketch Aquijo , powered through sail trials in preparation for a global adventure.

There are more in the pipeline also. Royal Huisman announced this autumn that they had been commissioned to design and build the 86m Project 400 , another three masted design, this one more conventionally rigged. A proposal for the 114m Endurance has just been unveiled, an explorer concept designed to be able to cruise unassisted for three months. There is also the 86m Komorebi , an experimental wingsail-assisted hybrid trimaran design from the French multihull experts VPLP.

Rise and rise of the gigayacht

Why the sudden flurry of these stratospherically ambitious projects? In truth, it is not that sudden – initial pitches for what ultimately became Sailing Yacht A were invited back in 2008, and pre-studies began in 2011. A decade between projects seems rather shorter when design and build takes at least five years – gigayacht owners may be exacting, but they also have to be extraordinarily patient.

The 141m four-masted Dream Symphony is currently in build out of wood in Turkey, and includes vast living accommodation, and a swimming pool that converts to become a helipad platform.

What is remarkable, though, is how rapidly the yachts have grown in size – raising the upper ceiling from 88 to over 140m in a decade. Dutch naval architecture firm Dykstra has been instrumental in many of the world’s most innovative megayachts, including Sailing Yacht A , Black Pearl , and Maltese Falcon .

Managing director Thys Nikkels comments, “Ten years ago a big boat was a very different size than a big boat is now. I can still remember when I started working in ’91 a 40-metre yacht in those days was a big boat. In the mid-90s we started to design the yacht Athena , which we thought was the biggest boat we were ever going to see in our lives, as a sailing yacht she was 80 metres on the water.”

The largest single sloop rigged yacht in the world remains Mirabella V , launched back in 2003 and since renamed (and slightly lengthened during a refit) M5 at just over 77m. Rob Doyle, who worked on the project led by Ron Holland, recalls:

“We started designing her 17 years ago now. We hit a very natural sweet spot with Mirabella and that’s why it has taken so long for other boats to suddenly go over her length and over her rig height.

“ Mirabella still has the highest ‘P’ measurement [distance from boom to top of mast] and the longest boom in the world, though there are taller masts now.

“She set a bar and we didn’t realise we’d actually set it. It came down to a ratio of the rig weight to the draught and the keel weights, and everything else to be able to carry that amount of sail and that ballast to satisfy the rules.

“We pushed technology a lot – about 16 companies went bust over Mirabella  because the jump was so massive. We were jumping from a 64m to a 75m [yacht] and that jump was like learning to fly, then going to the moon!”

Article continues below

Video of Sailing Yacht A, the world’s largest sail-assisted vessel, during early sea trials

This video footage of Sailing Yacht A shows her with her towering free-standing masts and illustrates the jaw-dropping scale of the world’s…

A look on board the extraordinary 86m Aquijo, the world’s largest ketch

The largest Bermudan rigged ketch ever launched, the 86m Aquijo was designed by Bill Tripp and launched last year. The build came…

Ken Freivokh, who was responsible for the radical styling of Maltese Falcon , also points out that after the much publicised launch of the Falcon many buyers did not want to be seen to be emulating Tom Perkins’s unique style, preferring to wait, or opt for a conservative design. After the Falcon , Freivokh’s next radical Dynarig yacht was Black Pearl , which he began work on six years ago. At 106m Black Pearl dwarfs Maltese Falcon , with a 2,700GT volume that puts her just under the key 3,000GT limit.

Surprisingly, Dykstra’s Thys Nikkels says that the Dynarigs being built today are not markedly different to the one developed for Maltese Falcon a decade ago. “In concept it is not very different. In detail there are a number of improvements that have been made.

But Maltese Falcon was – for her time – years far ahead and she proved to be very successful in sail handling and sailing, so there are not many improvements to be done. Nowadays you just have different materials you can use, or different electronics and software systems that you can use for control.”

Maltese Falcon, launched in 2006, pioneered the Dynarig concept utilised on many of the next generation of larger gigayachts.

Sail handling

Meanwhile a decade of development in superyacht rigs and sail systems, means that Aquijo ’s owner could opt for a conventional ketch rig, which can deploy over 3,000m2 of sails in around six minutes.

Sail handling routines are necessarily different – the jib is furled when tacking. “Vitters organised a nice system that keeps just a nice amount of tension on the jib sheets furling in and out so that they are not flailing about,” explains Aquijo ’s designer, Bill Tripp. “So it’s not a dinghy tack, but it is safe and orderly.

“The spinnaker is on a fast furler and furls up in 30 seconds, making gybes less complex. There is the ketch choreography of bringing the main and mizzen in, but the steering is precise and there is no need to put too much sail up for the conditions.”

Aquijo master cabin

The forces generated on yachts such as Aquijo may be enormous – mast compression can reach around 580 tons – but are no longer beyond the realms of riggers’ experience. “When we started building boats like Saudade [the 2009 45m Wally], 14 tonnes was a very big load. Once we understood racing these boats, and understood they were controllable, you can take another step.

“We were delighted when sailing Aquijo upwind in a lot of breeze that the load on the mainsheet was showing around 12 tonnes. It’s 2:1 so that’s 24 tonnes. I’m not saying that’s not a massive load, but it’s similar to what we have on Saudade ’s big sheet 1:1, and we have years of experience with handling that.” Custom built 40 ton carbon and alloy winches help manage the sheet loads.

Tripp notes that a Dynarig was never considered as an option. “What you’re really asking is do you want the ease of sailing or do you want to be able to access something exciting? And we wanted both of them.

“Sailors tend to like the more fundamental experiences, and when the technology allows them to access those more fundamental experiences, well that’s a great joy.”

Aquijo is the world’s largest ketch, with a mainsail that can be furled or unfurled in around four seconds

Finding the limit

Just how big can a sailing yacht go? Five years ago plans were unveiled for a 101m sloop, with a single 125m carbon mast, which raised a few eyebrows and discussions over whether it might be possible. Malcolm McKeon worked on the proposal and says that it was the cost, rather than technical limitations, which put the brakes on the project.

“It was an evolving process. The owner has a 50m-plus sailing superyacht, and he wanted a new yacht big enough that he could put a reasonably sized chase boat on board. He wanted an explorer type sailboat that he could go to the Pacific on, and carry all his toys with him, and not have to have a support boat.

“The design started at 65 or 70m and it just grew and grew and grew until it got to 100m, and then it basically just got too expensive.

Recent sail trials on Sailing Yacht A saw the 1,464m2 mainsail unfurled from the 27.5m carbon U-shaped boom. Incredibly she is designed to heel up to a maximum angle of 12 degrees under full sail.

“The big problem with the large sail boats is the mast price goes up by a bigger proportion to everything else so the rig price becomes a much bigger percentage of the overall build. Technically it can all be done, it’s just the value of that part becomes a much more significant part and sometimes more difficult for an owner to accept.

“If somebody came to me and said they wanted to build a boat with a 200m mast I would think well, is that really possible? Certainly rigs up to 100m and a bit more I think are possible today, but where we’re going to go after that I don’t know.”

Rob Doyle points out that sailing superyacht owners pay around a 30 per cent premium over opting for a motoryacht, yet the boats lose around a third of the equivalent interior volume. However, for him the biggest limitations are the humans onboard.

“I think we are coming to a stage where we need a new type of rig, to be honest, to be able to safely deploy these sails without killing people. I think we are getting very close to where the metal meets the flesh at the deck level where the people and the guests are hanging around.”

With the ever-increasing winch and line speeds needed to handle the huge loads, serious hand and limb injuries can happen in the blink of an eye. “There is a moral hazard there that keeps playing on my mind,” says Doyle. “We are building very dangerous machines and we have to be very careful of people.”

The newly announced Endurance concept design is a 114m four-masted explorer design with a 6,000 mile range under power.

More prosaically, the bigger your gigayacht, the bigger the challenge of just getting on and off it. “Once you are getting to a stage where you can’t get into anchorages you are in constant fear of drifting – even putting down an anchor you need a huge amount of space around you.

“So then you anchor further out into the slop and the big waves, so the owners find it difficult to get on and off the boat, and suddenly other problems can overwhelm the project,” Doyle points out. One increasingly popular solution to that particular problem is a luxury landing craft.

Too big for the Panama Canal

It might seem counter-intuitive, but it is Aquijo ’s owner’s focus on the sailing experience that has enabled the designers of the 86m ketch to push the size limits of a traditionally rigged yacht.

“ Aquijo is a sophisticated machine and brings most aspects of a 1,600GT motor yacht with her,” comments designer Bill Tripp. “But she does not aspire to helicopters or submarines, the feeling of the boat is one of use. She is for getting out there, and for going out sailing. In Greece this summer, she would go out for an afternoon of sailing in 35 knot Meltemi because it is so much fun to sail at 20 knots, as if on rails.

“We have always done sailboats that can get under the Panama Canal bridge, and the biggest we were happy to do and put under the bridge was really 46m because after that we didn’t have big enough sails for the boat.

“Then five years ago we launched A Better Place , and the owner said ‘I’ll go around, I don’t want to limit my boat because of the bridges.’ With Aquijo they said, we want to go to these places anyway, so let’s get the best sailboat we can. So suddenly, instead of having this 63m limit on the rig, that all opened up and we could start doing a sailing boat that had a gross tonnage like some of the bigger motoryachts.

“I think we’re going to see more of that. You can look at the Strait of Magellan [an alternative route to rounding Cape Horn ], as a place that’s a really long way away or a place you really want to go.”

The three-masted Black Pearl  has an angular ‘Pacman’ bow with a wave-piercing reverse sheer lower section, and extended traditional foredeck above

The wish list

Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko is keeping his Sailing Yacht A tightly wrapped under non-disclosure agreements, but a few intriguing details have been released, including magnifying windows which appear larger inside than outside, and a gimballed crow’s nest, accessible by lift, 60m high in the curved mast.

An observation pod embedded in the keel with foot-thick glass gives a mesmerising – and frankly terrifying-sounding – view of the propellers, and there’s a three-man submarine.

Gigayacht designers have come up with some imaginative solutions to meet owners’ foibles and demands. Drawings for the 101m sloop incorporated an entirely retractable hardtop to the flybridge to give the owner his requested uninterrupted view of the sails and sky.

Plans for the Japanese-influenced Komorebi design feature a live tree on the aft deck. Watersports toys are old news – now tender garages are specified to house motorbikes, amphibious quad bikes, even custom-built marinised supercars.

On Aquijo , the headline feature is the ‘beach club’ on the lower deck. “For a sailing boat it is a huge area, they have a sauna, hamman [Turkish Bath], a rainfall shower, a relaxing area, this huge whirlpool in the middle, a little pantry, and enough space for gym equipment around the pool,” explains interior designer Robert Voges.

Beach club on Aquijo.

Voges says the trickiest element on the yacht was the flawless high shine steel mast claddings which run through the interior. “It is like a piece of art. The mast was going through the main saloon and guest corridor, and we didn’t want to hide it. So we decided to make a feature out of it with seamless stainless steel cladding with integrated LED strip lights from top to bottom over two decks.”

One of the most radical projects in progress is the 141m Dream Symphony , a four-masted design currently in build in Turkey. Originally slated for launch this year, the project is progressing slowly – in part due to the fact the yacht is constructed of wood. Her design includes a large aft deck swimming pool that transforms into a raised helipad area.

This is the type of concept which seemed fantastical just a few years ago, but is now reality in the motoryachts world where designs like the 81m Alfa Nero have deployed it successfully.

“It’s a good solution because you usually have to drop down all the stanchions and any elements that are higher than the helipad itself, whereas if you lift the helipad you don’t have to lower the other elements,” explains Dream Symphony designer Ken Freivokh.

The 141m four-masted Dream Symphony

“The brief did not call for a resident helicopter that would have its own hanger – it’s just a ‘touch and go’. You don’t want to set aside space for a helicopter permanently that’s almost never there, so if you have a reasonably sized swimming pool why not use the base of a pool to just receive the helicopter, and then once the helicopter flies away you can put it back to normal operations?” Why not indeed?

No matter how grandiose your ideas, however, not even the vast volumes of a gigayacht can be entirely filled with art galleries and Reiki studios. Robert Voges explains that, like any other ship, “We have to start with all the emergency exits, the corridors, staircases . . . and from there we can work with the other areas which are left over.”

Ken Freivokh estimates that at least 20 per cent of the interior space has to be allocated to the back-of-house systems required to maintain the equivalent of a small hotel – air conditioning, waste, media, and other unglamorous elements behind the touch-screen luxury.

Edge of reason

At 12,700 GT, Sailing Yacht A has the vastest volume of all. But can she be called a sailing yacht? She carries three of the world’s largest carbon rigs – curved, unstayed, capable of rotating a maximum of 70 degrees – featuring in-boom furling that can deploy 3,747 square metres of sail area (67 per cent more than Maltese Falcon ) from a finger tip command. And yet she cannot help but look implausible.

The hull has a maximum beam of 24.8m and includes 24 shell doors.

No matter how innovative the technology on board, or how vast the expense, the elements will not bend to the will of man or millionaire. Various estimates have put her cost at $400-500million, or in the region of £320 to £400 million – to put those sort of figures in context, the bill for the London Olympics Aquatics centre came in at under £300m.

Sailing Yacht A will be ‘sail-assisted’, not wind-powered. Confounding, aggressive in her styling, she’s a yacht that has attracted scathing opinions as often as wide-eyed wonder. But what is the point of creating a gigayacht that doesn’t?

“It is a creative process with the owner,” comments Aquijo ’s designer Bill Tripp, “They have this idea that they can make something that speaks to them. They don’t write symphonies, and they’re not great painters or sculptors, but on the other hand money is vital energy, and they can create these things that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

“It’s great when someone says, ‘Life’s short, I’m just going to do this.’”

READY TO ROLL

As a significant milestone during the shipyard’s anniversary year, Royal Huisman will turn the hull of its largest super-sized sailing yacht project ever, the “85m New World Sloop.” This 85m / 280ft marvel will be the world’s largest yacht with a single mast, showcasing the pinnacle of design and engineering.

The highly secretive Project 410 is a co-creation between the owner and his team, Frers Design for the overall concept, exterior design, naval architecture, and Wetzels Brown for the interior design. The design is engineered by Royal Huisman’s in-house team, including expert co-makers. This iconic project was first unveiled at an exclusive event during the St. Barths Bucket Regatta 2022 and has since remained below the radar, with only a few visuals released. The aluminum hull is built at the shipyard in Vollenhove, The Netherlands, required the extension of Hall 2 to accommodate the  impressive construction.

Four of the world’s ten largest sailing yachts are either built by or under construction at Royal Huisman

The hull turning of Project 410 marks a memorable milestone. Jan Timmerman, Royal Huisman CEO, adds: “Four of the world’s ten largest sailing yachts are either built by or under construction at Royal Huisman: Athena, Sea Eagle, Project 410 ‘85m New World Sloop’ and a second super-sized sailing yacht currently under construction in Vollenhove will join the top 10 upon delivery. Each super-sized yacht exemplifies the advantages of large sailing yachts over motoryachts. These include the thrill of hoisting sails, cutting through waves, and advanced technologies that enhance comfort.

Jan Timmerman continues:  “Super-sized Royal Huisman sailing yachts can benefit from a green footprint, free wind propulsion, and an energy-neutral mode. This mode generates sufficient power for all systems and recharges batteries for silent anchoring. These features were developed by our team before the start of the build of the world’s first hybrid superyacht nearly two decades ago. This is what makes these Royal Huisman super-sized sailing yachts a testimony to the shipyard’s commitment to innovation. They will become the ultimate expression of personal freedom.”

Royal Huisman turns hull of world’s largest sloop The team achieved a highly anticipated milestone in the creation of Project 410. The impressive 61m / 200ft main part of the aluminum hull was wheeled out of the construction hall of the shipyard in Vollenhove, The Netherlands, revealing her immense scale and two accommodation levels. In a seamless maneuver, four cranes lifted and turned this masterpiece mid-air over the adjacent canal. The upright hull will be placed on a cradle and moved back into Hall 2, her home until completion.

With this significant step completed, the team will now proceed with developing onboard systems, outfitting, and more. The bow section, which is currently under construction, will be attached to the main part in a next stage. Concurrently, sister company Rondal is advancing the production of the carbon boom, mast, and integrated sailing system. Vollenhove: home to the world’s finest superyacht building.

Main specifications – Project 410, 85m New World Sloop – length: 85m / 280ft – “world’s largest sloop” – overall concept, exterior design and naval architecture: Frers Design – interior design: Wetzels Brown – rig + integrated sailing system: Rondal – builder: Royal Huisman

The press release with editor’s notes can be found via this link (opens in new tab).

Super-sized sailing yachts by Royal Huisman An attractive (and possibly even better) alternative to large motoryachts. Four of the world’s ten largest sailing yachts are either built by or under construction at Royal Huisman. Curious?  link