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Boat of the Week: Meet ‘Perseverance,’ One of the Most Sustainable Sailing Superyachts on the Water

The new 117-footer from baltic yachts ticks all the boxes for classic good looks, too., julia zaltzman, julia zaltzman's most recent stories.

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Standing out from the crowd with a metallic-bronze hull, the neo-classic fast cruising cutter was commissioned by an experienced owner who returned to Dykstra Naval Architects following the success of his previous yacht, a Dykstra 60. This time, he wanted to undertake longer passages in comfort but without compromising on speed.

The owner chartered a collection of sailing yachts to iron out his wish list, including a larger yacht with excellent sailing characteristics, ease of maintenance and power-saving systems. With 65 feet of extra length, Perseverance delivers. Plus it has a luxurious interior by deVosdeVries Design and a double cockpit deck layout. The yacht is also equipped with a high-aspect rudder and lifting keel to enhance sailing capabilities. “The goal for the owner was to have a classic sloop with clean deck equipment to make it easy to handle when sailing,” Tommy Johansson, project manager at Baltic Yachts , told Robb Report during a tour of the boat. “So, the yacht can set and furl its sails via push buttons for easy short-handed cruising.”

Perseverance bears many of the traditional hallmarks for which Dykstra is known, including a straight stem, distinctive deep bulwarks and truncated counter. Its deck house, skinned in teak, has individual rectangular windows that provide classic appeal. Like the timber caprail, the wood is treated with oil rather than varnish to reduce maintenance and steer away from a high-gloss finish. The center cockpit—one of the owner’s favorite places on board—is shaded by a mini hardtop that can be lowered to protect the seating and dining area against salt spray when not in use. Inside, light-gray oak, maple and leather-stitched details create a gentleman’s club-meets-industrial-chic ambience. Subtle LED lighting gives a modern touch. The main salon is light and airy, with high ceilings that provide decent headroom and knurled hardware in a dark-matte vintage patina.

Perseverance sleeps eight guests in four cabins, comprising a master suite, one VIP cabin and two twins. They are all fitted with sensors that monitor the interior temperature based on guest occupancy. When not in use, the temperature automatically adjusts to save on energy.

The yacht has cruised extensively since her delivery last year, already clocking 10,000 nautical miles at an average speed of 20 knots. Building a yacht with sustainable credentials was a key prerequisite for the owner. Perseverance ’s diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system can regenerate 20 to 25 kilowatts while under way at 12 to 14 knots, recharging the batteries in 4.5 hours, which then provide up to nine hours of silent running at anchor.

“It means the yacht can head out for a day’s sailing and return to the marina without using its engines,” says Johansson. “In fact, the owner has done that already, enjoying nine hours of silent cruising with only the batteries powering the hotel load.”

Perseverance is now in the Caribbean, with the owner making the most of his easy sailer by spending as much time at the wheel as possible.

Check out more photos of Perseverance here .

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Half a century at the cutting edge

Fifty years ago in Finland five young men shared a controversial idea and an ambitious plan. They quit their jobs at Nautor and set out to create a new style of offshore cruiser racer – lighter, stiffer and faster than almost anything else on the market.

‘We just got together one day and the idea came up,’ says Per-Göran “PG” Johansson, one of the five founding fathers of Baltic Yachts back then and still one of its directors today. ‘We were not alone thinking “light is better” but most boatyards and naval architects favoured heavier designs. Some of our competitors published studies for marketing purposes arguing that heavy was better. One of their claims was “heavy does not stop in waves due to the inertia of the mass”. Another was “the client gets more kilos for his money”. We remained convinced and carried on with our lightweight, hi-tech way.’

History soon proved Johansson and his colleagues to be absolutely correct and the company they founded became a world leader in the production of large, high-performance sailing yachts.

Before any of it could happen, first they had to clear a patch of pine forest at Bosund near Jakobstad and build a shed in which to do it.

Still in use as a joinery workshop, that first shed is finally about to be decommissioned along with the whole facility that grew up around it. This year, Baltic Yachts is moving all operations to Jakobstad where a new state-of-the-art building will more than double the size of its existing waterfront location.

There’s a world of difference between the series-produced Baltics of the 1970s and the full-custom superyachts that have become the yard’s primary focus alongside its ongoing small-series, semi-custom production.

However, from the first Baltic 46 Diva (now Queen Anne) all the way to its current projects via some of the most advanced sailing yachts in each of the last three decades, the core DNA is arguably unchanged.

‘Baltic Yachts is still very much true to its original values,’ Johansson says. ‘We started as a series production yard but with more flexibility built in than most competitors, using hi-tech methods to achieve better sailing performance and handling characteristics. With time we moved over more and more to full custom projects, which required changes in our approach.

‘The projects became more individual in concept, in styling and in materials and methods used.

In that process you lose some of the things that originally earned your company its reputation. However, even our cruising projects have been very hi-tech and in that sense they’ve followed our original philosophy, “lighter is faster and better”. Some of the high-performance projects challenged us to take technology much further, increasing our know-how and potential.’

Eagerness to embrace technology prompted the founding of Baltic Yachts in the first place. Johansson was project manager of the Swan 65 when he tried and failed to convince his managers that it could be built lighter, stiffer and better using sandwich construction with unidirectional fibres instead of a single laminate with woven rovings.

The five who left Nautor – boatbuilders Jan-Erik Nyfelt and Nils Luoma, purchasing manager Ingmar Sundelin, designer Tor Hinders and Johansson – became the nucleus of Baltic Yachts.

Baltic Yachts – major milestone boats 1974-2022

1974 Baltic 46 Ahead of its time: tank tests, sandwich construction, unidirectional fibres, balanced spade rudder, epoxy bonded teak deck…

1977 Baltic 39 Most popular model, 74 in six years. From 1980, one of the first yachts to have computer-generated VPP

1979 Baltic 51 Notable for interior design innovations. First double-berth cabin under an aft cockpit, slanted bulkheads for optimal use of space

1982 Baltic 80 Midnight Sun Baltic Yachts’ first maxi racer and one of the first maxis with full glassfibre composite construction.

1985 Baltic 43 Bully The first offshore sailing yacht in the world built entirely with epoxy resin

1996 Baltic 67 Aledoa The first cruising yacht built entirely in pre-preg carbon

1996 Baltic 87 Anny First Baltic with a lifting keel, complex hydraulics and push-button sail controls

1997 Baltic 70 Vittfarne First Baltic yacht to combine classic appearance with hitech construction and modern hydrodynamics

1997 Baltic 70 Loftfari The first yacht with a fully fitted interior built entirely in pre-preg carbon and Nomex honeycomb, all invisible under the teak veneer finish

Baltic 78 Super Baltic 5 Canting keel with its entire mechanism under the cabin sole; 3.5kts faster than the same yacht with a fixed keel

2002 Baltic 147 Visione The first superyacht capable of planing at 30 knots. Packed with unique innovations, ultra-light displacement (105T) and almost literally no expense spared

2003 Baltic 141 Canica A very complex build and fitout with hi-tech materials, construction techniques and systems. The first Baltic ‘super cruiser’

2011 Baltic 197 Hetairos Largest carbon composite sailing yacht in the world at 221ft LOA. Classic look, superb finish. Hi-tech build and hydrodynamics

Baltic 175 Pink Gin The largest full carbon sloop in the world to date. Unique fold-down, through-hull platforms in the saloon and owner’s suite

2019 Baltic 142 Canova First DSS foil on an ocean cruising superyacht. First hybrid drive with full regeneration. Advanced composite engineering. A giant leap into the future

2022 Baltic 68 Pink Gin Verde First Baltic yacht built with 50% flax fibre. Advanced electric/hybrid propulsion, super efficient systems

‘They had a strong belief in themselves, courage to swim upstream and test new ideas,’ Baltic Yachts’ marketing manager Elisabet Holm explains. ‘They all had a passion for boats, a strong driving force to learn new things and research technology, and they were always ready to meet new challenges.’

The original Baltic 46 was far ahead of its time. At a time when nearly all new designs simply relied on the naval architect’s eye, experience and intuition, several different hull models were tank tested across a range of speeds, at various heel and leeway angles before the design of the 46 was finalised and only then was it built. It had a balanced spade rudder and solid rod rigging, which were then used only on hi-tech racing yachts and its teak deck was laid with epoxy resin. But the hull laminate itself was the key innovation.

‘In those days most yards building larger yachts used woven rovings with fibres bent, not straight, hence not structurally optimal and they also resulted in resin concentration,’ Johasson explains.

‘You could see the roving patterns on the surface, due to resin shrinking, so before applying the rovings they used several layers of chopped mat, which has very low structural value, especially on larger yachts, but added a lot of weight.

‘We used a very thin surface cloth and the rest of the laminate was unidirectional fibres, oriented in the direction of the stresses and perfectly straight, hence stronger and stiffer.

‘The fibres we used did not create resin concentration so there was less print-through on the hull surface. Unidirectional does not build up thickness like woven rovings so we used them with a core material in sandwich construction. This achieved much higher panel stiffness than a single laminate and gave us more flexibility for panel sizes.’

End grain balsa was the core for the 46 but Baltic soon switched to foam cores with a variety of densities and strengths. Carbon fibre was used from 1979, initially in rudder posts, beam tops and to reinforce high-stress areas of the hull where extra stiffness was needed. As stabilised foams for high-temperature cures and then Nomex for pre-preg carbon construction became available, Baltic pioneered the use of those materials.

Baltic Yachts’ early achievements belie the fact that it faced strong headwinds right from the start. 1973 was a bad year to launch a new brand of sailing yachts, with the global oil crisis looming.

The yachting industry as a whole was hit hard and by 1977 Baltic had to seek outside investment to stay in business. Ironically that same year saw their first major commercial success, selling 12 Baltic 39s at the Hamburg Boat Show, which was unheard of at the time.

Hollming, a Finnish shipbuilder, acquired Baltic. Two of the founders, Nils Luoma and Ingmar Sundelin, quit but the takeover turned out to be a positive move. Hollming provided stability and investment to help Baltic grow. A huge production hall was built, funds were provided for new model development and marketing.

An unusual aspect of Baltic Yachts that undoubtedly worked in its favour was the dual role of Johansson. It’s rare that the technical guru of a major boatbuilder is also its head of sales and marketing, yet he combined both jobs with great success for 40 years.

Even now, though officially retired, he still frequently offers a guiding hand in the development of new projects and the current EVP, Henry Hawkins, describes him as ‘an unbelievably useful sounding board and wise head’.

Baltic’s in-house designer Tor Hinders made his mark by changing the way boats are fitted out down below. His stand-out innovation, which was met with hostility when introduced in 1979 on the Baltic 51 but has since been copied by almost every sailing yacht builder in the world, was to put a double-berth cabin under an aft cockpit.

Another key factor in Baltic Yachts’ early success was its partnership with the Canadian naval architects C&C Design, whose chief engineer Rob Ball was among the first in the industry to start using computers. From 1980 he supplied VPP – polar curves and tables of numbers – for the Baltic 39, 51 and 37, with detailed instructions on how to use them. Despite being generated by 2D computing (as 3D models were not yet available), Johansson says those first VPP numbers were accurate and useful.

The yard was quick to develop its own computing expertise. ‘As soon as programmable calculators and then the Epson HX-20 computer became available we saw their potential and started to use them,’ Johansson says. ‘There was no software so we did our own coding.’ By the early 1980s they were already using these tools for displacement, flotation and trim calculations, laminate design and rating optimisation.

A huge quantity of data has been compiled since then and the initially simple programs have evolved into a sophisticated suite of software that enables the technical team to make extremely detailed weight and load calculations for the hull and rig of any new design, study engine power, prop pitch and range for electric and conventional propulsion systems, and much more. The yard has never had any ambition to design its own yachts, but is quite often asked by clients to do preliminary studies before a naval architect is appointed.

The 1980s were the peak of series production but Baltic Yachts but they also began pushing the boundaries of performance with custom builds with more scope for creative technical development.

‘A series production model is always to some degree a compromise,’ Johansson says. ‘On custom projects you can take things much further. For very knowledgeable clients looking for performance we have taken things to the edge.’

The 80ft Midnight Sun was one of the first maxis with full composite construction, launched in 1982. ‘The forward part was a large, empty sail store and we used specially designed longitudinal bulkheads and framework in the upper corner between hull and deck to create the required stiffness,’ Johansson recalls.

The Baltic 43 Bully was the first offshore yacht built entirely in epoxy resin, in 1985. In technical terms this was a spin-off from an earlier R&D project, developing ultra-strong vacuum-infused sandwich laminates for a Soviet deep-sea submarine, which ruffled diplomatic feathers when the Americans found out about it. ‘The main unit was solid steel; we built a streamlined cover around the equipment,’ he says. ‘If you send a normal laminate down to 6,000m it will not be the same afterwards. We learned a few things from that project.’

In 1990, Baltic regained its independence. Finland’s industrial sector was in recession and Hollming needed to focus on its core business. ‘They asked us to arrange a management takeover,’ Johansson explains. ‘The yard was an important workplace for the local community and to shut it would have been very destructive. We were 32 employees who got together, took over and continued the business.’

Marketing manager Lisbeth Staffans stepped up to be managing director and led Baltic Yachts for two decades from a challenging start. ‘With a bad order book and uncertain future there were sleepless nights at the beginning of this new era,’ Johansson says. ‘Lisbeth was a very good person for that job. We couldn’t afford to make any mistakes and she made sure we didn’t. But this period is the one I’m most proud of. We did a good job, moved up in the size of our projects and stayed profitable.’

Innovation continued apace with production manager Christer Lill running a remarkably tight operation as the yachts ramped up rapidly in sophistication and size. In 1996 they launched 67ft Aledoa, the world’s first pre-preg carbon cruiser, and 87ft Anny – their first with a lifting keel, twin rudders and complex hydraulics. She had full push-button sail controls and a tender could be driven straight into the automatic opening-andlowering garage in her stern.

The following year, the Baltic 70 Vittfarne heralded a new style of yacht combining classic appearance and fine traditional craftsmanship with hitech construction, light displacement and modern hydrodynamics. ‘Bill Dixon’s team did a fantastic job on the design and our carpenters performed magic in building it,’ Johansson says.

Another Baltic 70, also launched in 1997, took carbon composite sandwich construction to a new level. The fully fitted interior of Loftfari was built almost entirely in pre-preg carbon/ Nomex honeycomb as well as her hull and deck, saving a large amount of additional weight.

It looked traditional, though, with thin veneers and fillets of teak covering all of the composite surfaces. Most Baltic yachts are now fitted out in a similar way.

The 78ft Super Baltic 5, delivered in 2000, was a major feat of engineering with a canting keel whose entire mechanism was installed in the shallow bilge beneath the saloon sole. She was calculated to be at least 3.5kts faster than an identical yacht with a fixed keel.

At the turn of the millennium Loftfari’s owner came back to Baltic with an impossible design brief, ‘or so it seemed at first,’ Johansson says. ‘To build a yacht in excess of 140ft capable of planing at 30 knots or more.’

The project was an immense challenge, not least because their largest build up to then was a 97- footer. Two years of development work followed before the owner gave the green light for the build to proceed. Remarkably the yacht was delivered six months ahead of schedule and exceeded all expectations.

Packed with unique innovations and with almost literally no expense spared, the Baltic 147 Visione was far ahead of her time and despite being 20 years old she is still quite capable of taking line honours in superyacht regattas today.

In build at the same time, the 141ft Canica challenged the yard in different ways. Performance was key but a lot of equipment and systems were also required to ensure a very high level of comfort on board. ‘That was the first yacht we built with a full floating interior,’ Baltic sales director Kenneth Nyfelt, son of founder Jan- Erik, explains.

‘We installed a highly complex Siemens PLC monitoring and control system, and it was the first project where we used noise and vibration consultants.’ With half the displacement of a typical 140ft cruising yacht, the performance targets were achieved and Canica can now be regarded as the first in a gradually evolving style of high-performance Baltic ‘super cruisers’ that continues to this day. A similar and parallel evolution of successful cruiser-racers began with Nilaya in 2010.

A stand-out project delivered in 2011, at 221ft LOA the Baltic 197 Hetairos is largest carbon composite sailing yacht in the world. A true wolf in sheep’s clothing with an incredible sail area : displacement ratio and a regular winner in superyacht regattas, the 60-metre ketch is classic on deck but thoroughly modern below the waterline with a unique lifting rudder as well as a lifting keel.

Around this time, the people who had staged the 1990 management takeover began to retire so new owners were needed. Two local investors bought shares in 2010; three years later an 80 per cent stake in Baltic Yachts was acquired by the German family-owned company Otto Bock – led by Professor Hans Georg Näder, a longstanding client of Baltic Yachts – and its future was secured. Henry Hawkins, a yacht captain with vast practical experience including many thousands of ocean miles as skipper of Näder’s yachts, joined Baltic, taking on a large part of Johansson’s role.

Näder’s own 175ft Pink Gin VI is one of the most notable recent builds and currently the world’s largest carbon composite sloop with a rig 16m taller than a J Class. Her key features include fold-down platforms in her topsides just above the waterline that are large enough to walk through, one amidships in the main saloon and one forward in the owner’s suite.

While relatively easy to build on a large motor yacht, putting large apertures in highly stressed parts of a sailing yacht hull without reducing its stiffness was a major engineering challenge, solved by mechanically locking the platforms firmly in place to become structural parts of the hull.

Another recent showcase of Baltic’s innovation is the 142ft Canova, which made headlines in 2019 as the world’s first superyacht with a DSS foil to reduce pitching and heeling, plus a host of other advanced features such as an immensely strong coachroof with a featherlight look and an electric drive system that provides enough regeneration capability under sail to cross the Atlantic without using any fossil fuel – with both sailing and hotel systems running.

After four years of cruising, a wide range of what used to be bleeding-edge technologies are now proven to work reliably.

To mark Baltic Yachts’ 50th anniversary, the first Baltic 46 Queen Anne returned to the yard last spring for a refit. Two of the men who built her – Johansson and Jan-Erik Nyfelt, whose grandchildren now work at Baltic – were delighted to find her in excellent condition, which a survey duly confirmed.

‘No structural works are needed, the hull appendages are sound, as is the mast,’ Hawkins says. ‘It’s also interesting that the original propulsion setup was still operational and in good order. The enjoyment at our end was the size of everything compared to today, from fibre technology to deck fittings. There are 18 winches on that boat; a modern 100-footer uses just seven or eight!’ She will be relaunched in June after a cosmetic refit, with a new engine.

What direction is Baltic Yachts likely to take in the future? The 68ft cruiser-racer Pink Gin Verde might hold a few clues with its 50 per cent flax fibre hull and micro-turbine hybrid propulsion system, but as Baltic’s CEO Anders Kurtén puts it, ‘That all depends on where our customers want to take us.’

‘We are fortunate and honoured to build some of the most exciting, groundbreaking custom sailing yachts in the world which means the next major milestone will forever be the next launch, summer 2023 being a perfect example,’ he says. ‘My best guess for the future is ever increasing sustainable practices and yachts with diminishing lifecycle emissions, as well as quantum leaps in terms of pure sailing performance.’

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Baltic Yachts announces first multihull project 

Monday, September 9th, 2024

Written by: Marine Industry News

Finnish sailing yacht builder Baltic Yachts is set to enter the multihull market. The company will reveal details of its first-ever multihull project at the upcoming Monaco Yacht Show (25-28 September).

Construction of the new yacht is scheduled to begin this month, with design and engineering phases already well underway. The shipyard will release more information about the project before the Monaco Yacht Show begins. 

The firm’s newly appointed CEO, Tom von Bonsdorff , along with EVP Henry Hawkins and sales director Kenneth Nyfelt, will be available for meetings at the show. 

The shipyard will also showcase the Baltic 85 Mini Y, a 26-metre cruising sloop designed by Bill Dixon. The yacht, currently for sale through Edmiston, features high sailing performance, easy handling, and a four-guest layout with a spacious owner’s suite.

Recent deliveries from Baltic Yachts include the Baltic 80 Emma , a maxi cruiser-racer, and the third Baltic 68 Café Racer. The company also completed a significant refit of the Baltic 175 Ravenger , transforming the world’s largest full-carbon composite sloop from a cruiser into a high-performance sailing yacht.

Upcoming projects include the Baltic 121 Custom, a world cruiser designed by Malcolm McKeon set for 2026 delivery, and the fourth hull in the Baltic 68 Café Racer series.

Earlier this year, Baltic Yachts consolidated its operations at a new waterfront facility in Jakobstad, Finland. The firm reported this move to improve efficiency and reduce its production footprint.

Baltic’s EVP Henry Hawkins says: “It’s an exciting time here at Baltic Yachts with another major milestone project about to start and the whole team beginning to see real benefits and opportunities now that we’re fully moved into our new, state-of-the art production base.

“And we’re looking forward to Monaco Yacht Show, which is always a great place to catch up and connect with many of our clients and partners.”

Image courtesy of B altic Yachts.

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Electric Candela hydrofoil boat sets world record by crossing Baltic Sea

• September 16, 2024
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• 2 minute read
• Joshua S. Hill

An all-electric hydrofoiling boat from Swedish company Candela has set two new world records by travelling between Stockholm and the Finnish autonomous region of Åland, marking the first time an electric boat has crossed the Baltic Sea.

Candela, which has developed a range of electric hydrofoil boats and ships, wanted to demonstrate that “that zero-emission sea travel is not only possible today, but that foiling electric ships and boats are so much cheaper to operate than fossil-fuelled vessels.”

The record-breaking journey was undertaken in the Candela C-8, a €330,000 ($A544,500) leisure craft, equipped with a battery from technology partner Polestar.

The journey covered 150 nautical miles from the port of Frihamn in Stockholm, Sweden, to Mariehamn, the capital and largest town of the Åland Islands, an autonomous region of Finland, with a charging stop in Kapellskär.

While charging along the trip was made mostly with existing charging infrastructure, a 40kW Kempower Movable Charger was needed in Kapellskär.

Leaving from Frihamn at 6am, the Candela C-8 made it to Mariehamn by lunchtime, and returned to Frihamn the same day.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hFoRF_Q0CA

“The disadvantage of electric boats has been their short range, due to traditional boat hulls consuming so much energy,” said Gustav Hasselskog , the company’s CEO and founder.

“With our hydrofoil technology, we combine high speed and range, but you get so many other benefits. Flying over the Åland Sea in total silence and without slamming was absolutely magical.”

A gasoline-powered chase boat of similar size accompanied the Candela C-8 on the journey and had to be refuelled for a cost of €750, or around $A1,230. For comparison, the Candela C-8 consumed 213 kWh of electricity, at a cost of about €40-50 (around $A66-83).

“We actually had range anxiety, but not for the Candela,” said Gustav Hasselskog.

“The irony is that the photographer’s gasoline-powered chase boat had to refuel six times during the trip, while we only charged three times.

“We’re talking about 95% lower operating costs,” concluded Hasselskog. “This is a revolution that makes waterborne transöport competitive with land transport in terms of costs, which we will now demonstrate in public transport in Stockholm.”

Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.

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Baltic 142: The superyacht bringing foiling technology into cruising

• Toby Hodges
• May 2, 2019

Foil-assisted cruising is the latest innovation to emerge from Baltic Yachts. We talk to the team behind the Baltic 142 to find out how it works

The Baltic 142 may not be using the hydrofoils popularised by the America’s Cup , but her 29ft 6in long (9m) horizontal sliding foil employs the same principle of lift to reduce heel and boost speed.

The designers of the Dynamic Stability System (DSS) say it could improve the performance of this super-cruiser by 20 per cent, delivering a sustained 25 knots – not bad for a superyacht with a predicted lightship displacement of 140 tonnes.

This is the first time the DSS has been used in superyachting, but its benefits will be used for comfortable, fast long-distance cruising rather than gaining an edge on the racecourse. All eyes will be on the Baltic 142 when she launches later this year and sets off on her first ocean passage. If the DSS does what is predicted, it could become commonplace.

The Baltic 142 is due to launch before the end of the year. Photo: facebook.com/balticyachts

Proven technology

The idea, developed by British naval architect Hugh Welbourn and Gordon Kay of Infiniti Yachts, has certainly proved itself on a smaller scale, reducing heel, increasing speed, damping pitching and adding an unexpected degree of steering control in lively conditions.

Gordon Kay, who was at the helm of the Infiniti 46 with its DSS deployed in almost 40 knots of breeze in the 2017 Rolex Middle Sea Race , said: “The boat sat at 28 knots, arrow straight, to the point when I wondered if there was any need for me to drive.”

But can these advantages transfer to a 140-tonner for which speeds in the mid-teens, let alone the 20s, would be considered exceptional? The brains trust behind the project believes they can. These include Baltic Yachts’ head of research and development Roland Kasslin, Farr Yacht Design president Patrick Shaughnessy, BAR Technologies chief technology officer Simon Schofield, Gurit engineering’s Simon Everest, plus Welbourn and Kay. Baltic Yachts’ ability to take on complex engineering challenges and meet them with the latest in lightweight advanced composite building techniques, is well documented.

1-tonne foil

As can be seen in the diagram above, the carbon foil, weighing 1 tonne, will sit in a casing built into the bilge of the Baltic 142 just below the waterline and slightly aft of amidships. As it happens it runs directly beneath the owner’s double berth.

When not deployed the tips of the foil will be just visible, but when in use it will protrude a massive 22ft (6.5m) to leeward. It is designed to be deployed at speed at which point some 40 tonnes of lift can be generated pushing the Baltic 142 upright with a corresponding increase in speed.

Speeds of 25 knots

Gordon Kay says that a conventionally designed yacht beam reaching in 25 knots of wind would heel to just over 20 degrees, but with the foil working heel would be restricted to just 9 degrees and there’s a consequential increase in boat speed. In 25 knots of wind the Baltic 142 could reach sustained speeds of 25 knots depending on sea conditions.

In addition, any pitching motion can be reduced. So apart from speed, the increase in comfort levels is equally appealing. Because the foil is able to generate a large proportion of the Baltic 142’s righting moment, displacement and hull volume can be reduced, although this has presented it own problems.

Article continues below…

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This is the second project of very similar length to launch by this exact same team (Judel Vrolijk, Nauta Yachts…

It limits the amount of space in the bilge to install the foil and provide enough separation between the upper and lower bearings, which enable it to ‘slide’ under load when the Baltic 142 is at speed.

Simon Everest from Gurit said: “We collaborated with Baltic Yachts to make small adjustments to the accommodation and with Farr Yacht Design to alter the hull shape creating a subtle blister around the foil exit.” The blisters provided the width or beam they were looking for.

The foil is controlled using a system of pulleys the lines for which run to a powerful electric captive winch positioned at deck level. To prevent water ingress from the casing, which is permanently flooded, the control lines are led through composite pipes to a point above the waterline.

The actuator or control lines travel to the outer extremities of the foil to a turning block so another challenge was to design a protective channel or groove on the underside of the foil to carry the line. A self-activating lock to prevent the board sliding straight through the casing in the event of the actuator line failing also had to be developed.

America’s Cup research

There are four sets of bearing cassettes, the outboard, upper pair taking the upward loads when the board is deployed and the inner, lower pair dealing with the downward load at the inner end of the board.

A lot of the bearing technology has been provided by the team at Ben Ainslie’s BAR Technologies whose research into friction is literally microscopic in its methodology and benefits from more than two-and-a-half years’ work on America’s Cup boats. What BAR found during that research was that reducing friction to an absolute minimum was paramount.

That might sound obvious, but when the microscopic behaviour of materials such as carbon fibre was studied it was found wanting in certain parts of the design. For instance, the trailing edge of the foil becomes so heavily loaded against the casing aperture when the yacht is sailing at speed, the surface of the carbon fibre foil distorts.

“It’s as if it’s pushing against a little hill of material created temporarily by the loading – in other words it’s constantly ‘going up hill’,” explained Simon Schofield at BAR Technologies. So to reduce the size of ‘the little hill’ and in turn reduce friction, the trailing edge is finished with a much harder material, in this case titanium.

Each case of bearings contains four cassettes made up of 25 Torlon rollers. They are contained in titanium housings that can be adjusted (with the yacht at a standstill) to alter the angle they meet the foil surface. We got some idea of their size when we were told each bearing set on the Baltic 142 weighs 30kg.

The foil itself is being built by French specialist fabricators ISOTOP and comprises a number of carbon fibre spars running the length of the foil that are wrapped and held together with carbon cloth. The foil is designed to deflect through 800mm at each tip and the leading edge is finished with a foam ‘nose’ designed to crush in a collision.

Technoculture

The all-carbon composite Baltic 142 is intended for fast, comfortable global cruising, but her owner hasn’t stopped at foil technology in his quest for innovation. This yacht will be fitted with diesel-electric propulsion and generating system, which burns less fossil fuel, is less space hungry and quieter than a conventional drive train.

Weight is being saved by specifying a 700-volt electrical system that uses lighter cabling and allows equipment normally run on heavy and space hungry hydraulics to be powered by the main battery bank.

The machinery room, housing the remarkably compact 400kW propulsion motor, two 210 kW generators, four banks of Alkasol lithium-ion batteries, watermakers and other ancillary equipment, has been assembled outside the yacht in Baltic Yachts’ Jakobstad facility and was craned into position as a complete module.

There has also been a major effort to improve serviceability so that long periods of independent cruising can be undertaken and maintenance carried out without having to seek out a specialist yachting facility.

With styling and interior design by Lucio Micheletti as well as the in-house team, the Baltic 142 sports a sleek, low deck saloon with a hard, fixed bimini extending over the forward cockpit area. Below, her vast deck saloon, providing panoramic views, forms the focal point of her luxury accommodation.

Unusually, the owner’s suite is located almost amidships, where motion is at its least, with further accommodation for six guests in three cabins. Other features include a Rondal rig with electric in-boom furling, a lifting keel and a propeller leg rotating through 180 degrees.

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Baltic Yachts Yachts

Baltic Yachts made a reputation building high-tech, semi-custom sailing yachts, but in recent years, it has launched a fleet of custom superyachts by noted naval architects and designers.

Baltic Yachts History

In 1973, five young yacht builders defected from the well-known Finnish shipyard Nautor’s Swan and formed their own company, Baltic Yachts, in the Bosund region of western Finland. Their goal was to become a niche builder of high-quality, high-tech sailing yachts for performance-oriented racing and cruising sailors. To staff their shipyard, they drew from local talent in the region; a shipbuilding centre since the 16th century. The founders’ goal was to build sailing yachts that were “faster, stronger and lighter” than the competition utilising exotic construction materials including carbon fibre and high-tech yacht-building method.

After launching the Baltic 46 and 33 production sailing yacht series, Baltic Yachts delivered its first custom yacht in 1975. Two years later, the shipyard was acquired by Finnish shipbuilder Hollming Ltd., enabling it to expand its marketing efforts worldwide. In 1991, ownership of Baltic Yachts passed back into the hands of key staff members. Today, the principal shareholder is Hans Georg Näder a German industrialist, passionate sailor and serial yacht owner. The shipyard offers semi-custom and custom sailing yachts up to 60+ metres in length

Notable Baltic Superyachts

In 2011, Baltic Yachts launched its largest superyacht to date, the 66.7-metre (including bowsprit) Hetairos . Featuring high-tech carbon construction, Hetairos was co-designed by Dykstra Naval Architects and Reichel Pugh Yacht Design .

Yacht designer German Frers designed the light and lithe, 32.64-metre sloop Inukshuk , which Baltic Yachts delivered in 2013. Inukshuk has a telescoping keel that lowers from 3.35 metres to 4.85 metres and an exceptional power-to-weight ratio. The yacht received two ShowBoats Design Awards and Sailing Yacht of the Year from the World Superyacht Awards in 2014.

The 108-foot Javier Jaudenes design WinWin swept the awards tables in 2015 grabbing a pair of prizes each from judges of the ShowBoats Design Awards and World Superyacht Awards, as well as top yacht in the 24- 40m category of the International Superyacht Awards. The following year, 115 foot Nikata from the boards of Judel-Vrolijk and Nauta Yachts captured four ShowBoats Design Awards, a Judges Special Award for Design and Performance at the World Superyacht Awards and Best Sailing Yacht in the 24-40m category from the International Superyacht society

In 2016 Baltic delivered the high performance 130 foot My Song designed by Reichel Pugh and Nauta Yachts to owner Pier Luigi Loro Piano. The yacht, in addition to being a podium finisher at many regattas, received 2017 prizes from the World Superyacht Awards, the ShowBoats Design Awards (2) and the International Superyacht Society. The yacht was involved in an accident while being transported in 2020 and declared a total loss.

Baltic’s 54 metre Pink Gin VI is the world’s largest carbon fibre sloop. Built for the yard’s principal owner, the 245-ton, silver sloop features a 71-ton, two-stage lifting keel, a 67.9m carbon fibre Rondal mast and two fold-out terraces. Naval architecture is by Judel-Vrolijk & Co and interior design and styling by Design Unlimited . Pink Gin VI took the WSA title of Sailing Yacht of the Year in 2018.

The 43.3m Canova , a Farr Yacht Design project that features a sliding horizontal foil from Dynamic Stability System, was launched in the summer of 2019. Canova won the World Superyacht Awards sailing yacht of the year title in 2020 and Best Naval Architecture prize from the Design & Innovation Awards judges. In addition to the largest-ever application of the DSS foil, the yacht also features diesel-electric propulsion and a hydro-generator system, all intended to make her greener, quieter, more comfortable and easy to maintain.

Also launched in 2019 was the 34.14 metre Liara designed by Malcolm McKeon and Adam Lay for cruising and occasional regatta sailing. Liara took a Boat International Design & Innovation Awards for both Exterior Styling and Interior Design in 2020

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Baltic Yachts operates yards in Jakobstad and Bosund, Finland, where it builds new luxury sailing yachts. It also has a service facility in Palma de Mallorca with a 1,000-tonne lift that provides “lifecycle services” including yacht maintenance and refit work including paint, plumbing, carpentry and electrical.

Baltic unveiled a motor yachts division in January 2017 with designs for the 27-metre Baltic MY88, 34-metre Baltic MY112 and 41-metre Baltic MY135; and a Day Boat range with the 15-metre Baltic MY49 and 17-metre Baltic MY56. Its first motor yacht, a 78 footer designed by Mani Frers and called Bill and Me , delivered in July 2017.

Yacht Features

Propulsion System

• Service & Refit
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Baltic 67 Performance Cruiser

7 august 2016.

Genuine speed advantage for a safe, easy-to-sail, family cruiser built in advanced carbon composites

Lighter, stiffer, faster– Baltic Yachts’ new long distance cruiser offers all the advantages of carbon composite construction and the chance to personalise your ideal performance cruising yacht

Baltic Yachts are to build a fast, comfortable, user-friendly 67ft performance cruiser to take full advantage of carbon composite hull construction capitalising on Baltic Yachts’ long experience and expertise in this specialist field. Based on a lightweight hull this completely new yacht will offer clients a choice of deck design and accommodation lay out.

Key advantages will be a displacement far lighter than that of production sailing yachts in the same market sector, lower rig loads, faster average boat speeds requiring less engine assistance and genuine ease of handling for a couple or family.

The aim is to offer a real alternative for those interested in long distance passage-making and also those looking for a fast cruiser for the Mediterranean, northern European and other popular cruising grounds including the USA and Caribbean.

A platform for your ideal yacht

A number of clients are already working with Baltic on the new yacht with the first hull due to start building this year. Although clients will be able to personalise their yacht, each 67 will be based on the same, pre-engineered hull and systems so total build time is expected to be less than a year.

In addition to better performance, the aim of the Baltic 67 Performance Cruiser is to offer a platform upon which clients can design their personalised cruising yacht, safe in the knowledge that the fundamental naval architecture and construction will provide them with ease of handling for short handed and family sailing.

Baltic Yachts have been working with judel/vrolijk for naval architecture, hull shape and appendages and Design Unlimited for the initial interior styling and design options. The emphasis is on contemporary, up-to-date design with a practical seamanlike theme.

Lighter than the competition

Sales director Kenneth Nyfelt, said: “We estimate that building our lightweight 67-footer in advanced carbon composites will produce a yacht displacing four tonnes less than ´series production yachts. This fact alone offers a crucially important average long distance cruising speed advantage. Better performance enables genuine sailing in light to moderate downwind conditions at speeds that won’t require engine assistance. A number of current production yachts in this sector weigh in excess of 10 tonnes more than our target displacement weight of 24,4 tonnes.”

Ease of handling

Baltic Yachts have conducted exhaustive market research to help formulate the initial platform for the Baltic 67 Performance Cruiser. Ease of handling, relative simplicity and reliability are crucial so a fully-battened main, which stows easily onto a V boom with lazy jacks, plus a single-line slab reefing system, which can be operated from the cockpit, were prerequisites. Furling systems are optional.

Dinghy garage

A foldover anchor stowage arm, a dinghy stern garage which will accommodate a 3.4m tender and the option of the well-proven telescopic lifting keel which Baltic Yachts perfected on their popular 50-footer, are all examples of the ‘building blocks’ customers can use to create their ideal yacht.

Accommodation is based on four sleeping cabins with a main saloon offering views through topsides portholes and a deck saloon with panoramic views benefiting from a centreline skylight admitting an abundance of natural light.

With the yacht’s beam carried well aft, the Baltic 67 Performance Cruiser will offer capacious stowage and at the same time provide a stable downwind ride. Her lightweight hull will improve the yacht’s ability to keep water off the deck while sailing fast and her directional stability won’t give auto-pilots a hard time.

Joining the Baltic Family

This opportunity to choose a long distance cruising yacht to suit a client’s personal needs also provides the chance to join the Baltic Family with its renowned quality and a global after sales network provided by the company’s Service and Refit organisation centred in the Mediterranean and northern Europe.

The Baltic 67 Performance Cruiser will be competitively priced and full details of options are available upon request.

Main dimensions

L.O.A. 20.50m D.W.L 19.00m BEAM 5.30m DRAFT 3.20 (fixed) DISPLACEMENT 21.000kg BALLAST 8.600kg

For further information contact: CEO Henry Hawkins +49 170 226 2651 – [email protected] Sales Director Kenneth Nyfelt +358 50 585 8933 – [email protected]

For more high resolution images contact [email protected].

We’re constantly updating our website to bring you news of launchings, new commissions and Baltic inspired innovation.