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The Cape 31 is a one-design yacht originally created for racing in South Africa, which has rapidly expanded with fleets around the world. Andy Rice reports Thirty-foot keelboats come and go all the time. Most arrive with a short-lived fanfare, only to fade gradually out of sight and memory. Not so the Cape 31, which looks set to be the ‘must sail’ boat for the foreseeable future. With 25 boats sold into England and Ireland in little more than a year, this Mark Mills one-design seems to have hit the sweet spot. Dave Swete is part of the small team promoting the Cape 31 out of a small office in Port Hamble in the UK. Swete is a Volvo Ocean Race veteran and the sole professional sailor on Sunrise, Tom Kneen’s Fastnet-winning JPK 11.80. Asked why the sailing world needed another 30-something keelboat, Swete replies: “I think it’s because it just ticks a lot of boxes. We believe that it’s the only class boat that’s winning on IRC and other rating systems at the moment. “You can get this boat straight out of the box and go and win races. The Cape 31 won overall in Les Voiles de St Tropez last year, as well as a whole host of local events in the Solent.” Whereas some 30ft keelboats might like to describe themselves as a ‘big dinghy’, Swete insists the Cape 31 is “a small keelboat”. He explains: “We can take this boat out in 25 knots wind against tide in the Solent and have a really nice day, then come back in and the boat’s in one piece, it’s not full of water. We haven’t been broaching out and nosediving all day, we’ve just been bow-up, doing 20 knots downwind and 7.5 knots upwind. It’s fair to say it’s a proper yacht.” Working with his R&D partners KND/Sailing Performance, Mark Mills produced a hull with low freeboard and aggressive chines designed to maximise form stability in a breeze while maintaining a low wetted surface area when upright in the lighter stuff. The chine running forward to the bow helps produce the Cape 31’s distinctive bow-up attitude at speed

Whether racing or cruising, tides and current are important. But how accurate is the tidal information available, and how can you best use routing apps and software when navigating in tide? Tidal data accuracy can be critical when sailing in areas like Brittany’s Raz de Sein Wherever we have current (tidal or other) this will always influence the sailing wind and the boat’s course over the ground. At anchor we can accurately measure the wind speed and direction, which we call the ground wind. However, if we are just drifting the effect of the current will alter the wind speed and direction that we are measuring. This we usually call the sailing wind or apparent wind. Navigating in tide This relationship between the ground wind and sailing wind is not just important for racing around the cans but also when venturing offshore. We can look at the direction of the tide and decide in a general sense where we want to go; for example when beating out of the Solent in a flood tide we will usually choose the north shore, but the routing solution should also take into account sailing wind angle. The simplest example is the tacking and gybing angles when with a favourable or adverse tide. We have all looked at our track and been disappointed with the tacking angle when against the tide – even to the point that we’ve made little or no progress. As boats get lighter and faster, with the ability to plane or even foil, wind angle becomes incredibly important. A few degrees one way or another can make a significant difference in boat speed. We see this as we balance speed and angle in a coastal race where competitors are close. However, in longer distance racing we need to take navigating the tide into account, not just on our heading but also for wind angle. The forecast wind direction will be the ground wind, which can be quite a different wind angle to the sailing wind. A current from the side will change the true wind angle around 1.5° for every tenth of a knot. It doesn’t sound like much –

Rupert Holmes on how to go about buying a yacht for shorthanded racing – the fastest growing section of the sport at the moment The rapidly growing double-handed and shorthanded racing scene has attracted a flurry of recently launched models specifically optimised for this type of competition. But a cost-effective way of competing can also be found with a used boat. In little more than five years short-handed racing has transitioned from what was often seen as a fringe activity to become mainstream. There was an explosion in interest when a doublehanded mixed doubles class was mooted for the Paris Olympics. This attracted big names including Dee Caffari, Shirley Robertson, Henry Bomby and Ocean Race veteran Emily Nagel. Even after the class was subsequently dropped from the Games much of that talent has remained in the fleet, and social distancing rules provided a further boost: for a few weeks after the initial 2020 lockdown the only racing possible was solo or doublehanded. “Growth over the past couple of years has been exponential,” confirms Nigel Colley, Solo Offshore Racing Club director and MD of Jeanneau dealer Sea Ventures. “Once people tried it, many didn’t rush back to fully-crewed sailing. Instead a lot modified their boats for shorthanded racing or downsized.” Jean Pierre Kelbert’s JPK 10.30 Léon is a double-handed Fastnet winner. Photo: James Tomlinson It’s easy to think of a good short-handed raceboat as being of a certain mould, with broad transom and twin rudders: Sun Fasts, JPKs and so on. These designs have common traits that include huge stability, translating to better control when pushing hard in borderline conditions and easy depowering when the breeze builds. However, you don’t have to look far to find examples of wildly different designs that have notched up decent results, including many older models. The most obvious of these is Kelvin Rawlings and Stuart Childerly’s J/105 Jester that won the double-handed division of the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race, took 4th overall on IRC, and was first British boat on corrected time. Then there’s Will Sayer’s masthead rigged, shoal draught Sigma 33C Elmarleen, which won the 2008 OSTAR on corrected time and the doublehanded class

Helen Fretter finds out how America’s cup surveillance tactics are used to find marginal gains in the TP52 fleet as they chase that final 1 per cent As the TP52 fleet sweeps around the bottom mark off Palma, eyes turn to the sky. This isn’t a predictable day’s racing in Mallorca. The 2021 Rolex TP52 World Championships were – unusually – held in early November, and the summer sea breezes that crews are used to have been replaced by a shifty, chilly, offshore wind that is fluctuating from eight and 18 knots. It’s a mentally taxing scenario for the tacticians, who rank among the best in the world: Francesco Bruni, Tom Slingsby, Terry Hutchinson. This is the most competitive inshore racing in the world, and place gains and losses are decided on margins of inches. Fluffy clouds are forming over the Bay’s north-western shore, and the Quantum Racing team scan the course for clues. The decision on which headsail to use on the next beat is toss-a-coin marginal. Numbers are called thick and fast, in clear specifics: “There’s 900kg on the mainsheet right now.” Load readings from the runners, diagonals and deflectors, along with angles, margins to competitors… It’s a constant stream of information that captures the stresses and speeds the carbon boat is undergoing in minute detail. But we’re not on the TP52, we’re on a hard-topped chase RIB a few hundred metres away. Quantum Racing at the TP52 World Championships in Palma. Photo: Nico Martinez/Rolex The TP52 coach boat All this data is streaming live from sensors all over the yacht to the RIB, where it is monitored by Quantum Racing’s performance team on laptops and iPads as we thunder around the short windward/leeward course. It’s a set-up usually seen on America’s Cup chase boats tracking foiling test-runs, but here it’s deployed in a 52ft, conventional keeled, box rule fleet about to compete in its 17th year of European racing. These boats have raced each other hundreds of times – what secrets can possibly still be left to be discovered? Running the RIB is Yorkshire-born James Lyne, widely regarded as one of the best performance sailing coaches in

The Contessa 32 celebrates its half-century this year. Elaine Bunting traces its enduring appeal for adventurous sailors. Alan Ker on the Contessa 32 “We were prepared for a very rough night but we didn’t have any inkling how rough it was going to be. As we passed the Scillies the wind was picking up from the west and as the front came through there was heavy rain. That cleared and it became bright moonlight over an extremely stormy sea. At that point we were starting to say: ‘Well, that looks like page 49 of Adlard Coles’s Heavy Weather Sailing’.” It was August 1979 and Alan Ker was taking part in the Fastnet Race with a crew of friends. Aged 23, one of the youngest skippers, he was sailing his father’s Contessa 32, Assent. The Contessa 32 was a small yacht even then, a nutshell by today’s standards, 32ft overall but only 24ft on the waterline, nipped in and narrow at the stern, slender amidships, with a long fin keel. Contessa production line at Lymington in 1971. Photo: Rogers Family Archive Yet the attributes of this pint-sized cruiser were what protected Ker and his crew. The Contessa was knocked down beyond horizontal, as many yachts were, but she righted herself after about 10 seconds. Ker kept driving her 60° off the wind under three-reefed main, steering over the crests. He sailed back into Plymouth, the only finisher in a class of 58 yachts. With no VHF radio, he was unaware of the scale of destruction behind. In the inquiry that followed, the Contessa 32 was found to have an angle of vanishing stability of 156° compared with 117° for a contemporary Half Tonner. With such an endorsement of the boat’s seaworthiness, a design that began life as a modest coastal cruiser-racer instantly gained an all-weather reputation. Even 43 years later, this is still one of the most sought after small yachts for voyages and adventures of the most extreme kind. Contessa 32 No2, Red Herring, emerges from the former mill where she was built by Jeremy Rogers. Photo: Rogers Family Archive Star qualities of the Contessa 32 For Kit Rogers, the

Tom Cunliffe introduces this extract from My Name is Life, as ‘Captain’ Andy Jankowski explores Spitsbergen Andrzej Jankowski, better known as Captain Andy, is a one-off. I met him in Warsaw when I was launching a book of my own, translated into Polish. His book’s title, My Name is Life, may sound presumptuous to some, but it soon becomes clear that Captain Andy is more than just a sailor. As spokesman for the Independent Underground Students’ Union and press officer for the Solidarity Movement, he was actively engaged in the fall of communism, going on to work as Chief of Protocol for Polish President Lech Wałesa. The early chapters of the book deal with Andy’s perspective on this historic period, then move seamlessly into seafaring, the passion of his life. The peak of this section is Spitsbergen. He is minding his own business when the phone rings. An old friend, Tom, demands his presence. He’s short of crew and ice-bound in the high Arctic while he waits for a promised ice-breaker. Sniffing adventure, Andy enlists a pal to ride shotgun and hops on an aeroplane. Read on, and come to sea with a man with a strong handle on where we all stand in a changing world. My Name is Life, by Captain Andy. My Name is Life extract Tom is waiting for us outside the airfield, dressed in a heavy winter coat, knee high quilted boots and a fur hat with earflaps folded down. It is cold out here. Next to him is a second person, dressed the same, though I can’t see his face because he lowered his head, swaying side to side. His feet are close together, the whole of him moving this way and that. “Hi Andy!” he calls out, “Hi there Rafal, welcome! And this is Bogusz,” Tom points to the swaying guy next to him as if he were an exhibit. He makes no eye or hand contact with us, still rocking side to side. “Hi, Bogusz!” I call out loud. The man comes to life. “Eh,” he moans, showing us his young and friendly face, unshaven, front tooth missing. Then the head droops

With two new teams joining SailGP circuit, Team Japan, skippered by Nathan Outteridge is without a boat for the start of the third season. The SailGP F50 catamaran fleet in action on Race Day 1 of Bermuda SailGP presented by Hamilton Princess, Season 3, in Bermuda. 14th May 2022. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP In a bizarre symptom of the rapid growth of the SailGP circuit, one of the event’s top teams – Team Japan, skippered by Nathan Outteridge – is stuck ashore as the third season kicks off in Bermuda. For the third season the fleet has grown to 10 boats, with both Canada and Switzerland joining the fleet. However, with the 10th F50 boat yet to be completed, Nathan Outteridge’s SailGP Team Japan will miss at least the first three events of the season: in Bermuda this weekend, Chicago, USA over June 18-19, and the UK leg of Sail GP in Plymouth, July 30-31. The earliest possible date for Team Japan, who were overall runners up to Tom Slingsby’s Australian team in both previous seasons of SailGP, is the Denmark event over August 19-20. SailGP was initially privately funded by founder Larry Ellison, the tech billionaire chairman of Oracle, with teams expected to become self-funding through commercial partnerships. In a press conference in Bermuda yesterday, CEO and skipper Outteridge explained his team’s position: “It’s a really interesting situation to be a developing nation, building Japanese sailing talent and coming second in the first two seasons, and to not be racing now is a little tough, but I fully understand the situation. “This event is not just about results on the water. It’s about making the teams financially successful as well. And that’s where we’re really struggling at the moment. We’ve identified great sailing talent in Japan and we’ve been getting great results on the water, but we haven’t got the financial backing that we need to be on the start line this weekend. “We now have two fully funded teams joining the League with Switzerland and Canada, which requires ten boats to start. And the 10th boat is not ready. So we’ve loaned

FlyingNikka, a custom-designed 60ft fully foiling racing yacht, took flight during her first day of test sails. FlyingNikka, a custom-designed 60ft racing yacht designed to be the first fully foiling Mini Maxi, took flight during her first day of test sails off the coast of Valencia, Spain. Designed by Mark Mills and a team of specialists for owner Roberto Lacorte, FlyingNikka has been built at the King Marine shipyard in Valencia and was splashed just a week ago on May 5. Since then the radical new yacht has undergone a week of towing flight tests, before today’s first sailing tests. FlyingNikka on her first test sail. Photos: Fabio Taccola Mark Mills commented online: “FlyingNikka Flies! Amazing to foil on her first days sailing. We left to work through the displacement sailing program this morning in light winds, but were able to keep going through all the points until finally we flew. “Very encouraging to foil at such a low windspeed at such an early stage in her development, delivering the performance required for Mediterranean conditions. Congratulations to everyone involved, it’s taken a lot of commitment by many people from design, to build, to sailors, and firstly from the top: Roberto Lacorte.” In a press release issued by the team, Lacorte said: “I can hardly describe the emotion I’m feeling right now. Seeing FlyingNikka fly for the first time, after these intense months dedicated first to its design and then to its construction, is something magical, extraordinary, unique. I am truly thrilled”. The 60ft design shares a clear connection to the AC75s. Photos: Fabio Taccola America’s Cup influences The FlyingNikka project began in December 2020, with Irish designer Mark Mills working with specialists including KND Marine, Nat Shaver and Pure to develop FlyingNikka’s appendages and foil package. Construction has been completed on a tight schedule, of just eight months, managed by Miguel ‘Micky’ Costa. FlyingNikka features lifting T-foils. Photos: Fabio Taccola FlyingNikka is the first fully foiling ‘big boat’ custom yacht design, and represents an accelerated ‘trickle down’ influence from the AC75s, the revolutionary foiling monohull yachts that were used in the 2020/21 America’s Cup. Designed for racing in shorter offshore

A new breed of luxury fast multihulls are seducing wealthy sailors with a need for speed, Sam Fortescue reports on the rise and rise of this latest breed “People sail for fun, and no one has yet convinced me that it’s more fun to go slow than it is to go fast,” said visionary multihull designer Dick Newick in the last century. “We all want high performance with comfort and low cost. Since the three cannot be combined in one vessel, priorities must be established and compromises made.” Now, Newick may belong to another generation, but his observation is as true today as it has ever been. This time round, though, buyers have the money to park the cost issue. A new cohort of boatbuilders like Gunboat, HH and Kinetic are mining a rich (if narrow) seam of demand for high-end cats that go like rocketships and offer genuine comfort, if not outright luxury. Gunboat is the trailblazer here. Launched in 2002, the now iconic brand weathered stormy waters before being taken over and moved to France by the Grand Large Yachting group (which also includes Outremer). Its range has now stabilised at 68ft, 72ft and 80ft – much larger than it typically built in the past. But it has reached the size limit for this business model, according to managing partner Benoit Lebizay. “Beyond 80ft, you go into full custom,” he says. HH Catamarans emerged 10 years later, building boats from 44ft to 88ft in Xiamen, China, with the same contractor that once used to build Gunboats. And Kinetic is more recent still, with construction in South Africa and design by the renowned Simonis Voogd. Kinetic’s KC62 is built for speed, yet with ease and real comfort. Photo: Dale Staples “When we started, we had to make a real threshold decision,” says Kinetic founder Bob Hayward. “Are we trying to make this a hull-flying lightship that’s a bit of a spartan cruiser, or are we really a fast performance cruiser that you race?” Research among Gunboat skippers convinced him of the latter, because the market was commissioning boats with lots of bells and whistles. “Once you start putting the

We ask top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times. Olympian and Ocean racer Annie Lush nominates the Volvo 70 Puma. “I stepped on board Volvo 70 Puma for the first time in Southampton to start trials for Team SCA for the Volvo Ocean Race. I’d just come from the Olympics in the Elliott 6m, so compared to the boats I was used to she looked like a machine. “I remember sailing out of the Solent and bearing away onto a reach. The boat launched. I’d never felt boat speeds that high and consistent before. Going over 15 knots in my career thus far had involved falling down a very big wave, while hanging on to the tiller, or pumping a heavy kite as hard as possible. On Puma the helm was so light, the speed so easy. Photo: Dan Armstrong “There must have been a broad grin on my face at the wheel because Sam Davies, who was trimming the main next to me, said: ‘You know you’ll never go back now’. Although I still like being able to go to the pub at the end of a day inshore racing, something does keep drawing me back to the Ocean Race.” Volvo 70 Puma stats rating: Top speed: 40 knots LOA: 21.5m/70ft 6in Launched: 2011 Berths: 6 Price: US$6.5m Adrenalin factor: 85% Annie Lush English sailor Annie Lush became a keelboat specialist and multiple match racing world champion, predominantly crewing with the MacGregor sisters in the Yngling and Elliot 6m Olympic classes before being selected and competing in the Volvo Ocean Race for Team SCA in 2014/15 and then Team Brunel in the 2017/18 edition. If you enjoyed this…. Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams. Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price. The post World’s coolest yachts: Volvo 70 Puma appeared first on Yachting World.

A fleet of J Class yachts and a plethora of other superyachts will once again be heading to Palma this summer for the Superyacht Cup Superyacht Cup Palma 2022 is set to get underway in Mallorca’s capital from June 29 to July 2 with an ever expanding entry list and an impressive four J-Class yachts signed up it should be an impressive sight. As ever, the fleet will be a blend of regular participants and first timers attracted by Superyacht Cup Palma‘s well-deserved reputation for excitement and entertainment both on and off the water. Few boats can beat the J-Class‘ mix of history, classic beauty and luxury. Despite a resurgence in the class in recent decades through a variety of rebuilds, restorations and new builds based on original plans, and something of a racing circuit, it is still a rarity to see several of these old stunning yachts out racing on the water in one place. J-Class entries this year are: Svea – the newest J based on drawings from 1939; Velsheda – a 1933 J-Class which was rescued and restored in 1984; Topaz – built to a Frank Paine design from 1935, optimised by Hoek Design, and launched in 2015; and Ranger, a 2003 replica of the America’s Cup Defender which was first built in 1937 but later scrapped. A headsail trimmer gets close to the water in J-Class Ranger. Photo: Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy Though these four yachts will draw signifiant crowds the rest of the fleet is, as ever, packed with some of the most stunning superyachts in the world at the moment. Most recent entries include: the high-performance 32m Farr designed Kiboko Tres, whose owner will be familiar with SYC having raced Kiboko Dos in 2015 and 2016, the 27m David Pedrick designed modern classic Savannah, the 46m performance cruiser Ganesha, last seen in 2011 and 2021 respectively, and the elegant 40m ketch Huckleberry, which was awarded the inaugural North Sails Boat of the Day award at her last SYC appearance in 2019. 46m performance cruiser Ganesha took part in the Superyacht Cup 2021 Photo: Sailing Energy / The Superyacht Cup  Plus, also featuring this

A potent mix of Shaun Carkeek design and Mylius’ boatbuilding flare is set to produce a sizzling hot new performance cruiser, the Mylius M 72 Shaun Carkeek’s recent raceboats – including Niklas Zennström’s Fast 40 Ran, Richard Matthews’ CF520 Oystercatcher XXXV and the fully foiling Carkeek Persico F70 – are some of the stand-out designs of their generation. When he turned his hand to a very high performance cruising design it was inevitable he would produce a yacht unlike any other. Add in the already proven pedigree of the Italian Mylius yard and you get the absolutely stunning design, Mylius M 72. The powerful hull shape, with its reverse bow and chamfered topsides forward, together with an exceptionally clean deck layout with an almost vestigial coachroof, shout about its performance credentials. Maximum beam is carried right aft at deck level, but the aft sections have a lot of flare above the waterline, with chines high up on the topsides and twin rudders. A bright interior with plenty of natural light on the Mylius M 72 Yet the deeply upholstered guest cockpit suggests a very high-end daysailer. And below decks there’s a fully-fitted luxury interior, with four cabins, a full-width saloon and generous galley. With a boat like this the aspects that lie below the surface are as important as the external styling. As well as their aero and hydrodynamically efficient shapes, structures are optimised using finite element analysis (FEA). While this is a tool that has been around for decades, it’s time consuming and expensive when applied throughout a large structure, so is often only employed at full scale at the Grand Prix end of the racing scene. Top end systems include an ultra-deep lifting keel. This can be augmented by water ballast for additional stability upwind and when power reaching, without incurring a weight penalty in light airs. Overall, this is a boat that defies categorisation in many respects, yet is clearly a very desirable and extremely fast machine that will offer owners both very high levels of comfort and an adrenaline pumping ride. Mylius M 72 specifications LOA: 22.24m / 73ft 0in Beam: 6.2m / 20ft 4in Draught:

The Yachting World team take to the water in 4 new inflatable tenders to see which will be best for you and your yacht Tenders are so much more than taxis. They can add freedom, sport and exploration to any stopover or anchorage, particularly if your yacht is large enough to carry a rigid dinghy, mini RIB or folding alternative. If not, however, that means investing in one of a number of inflatable tenders that are small and light enough to pack away in a locker when not in use. Thanks to the invention of the high pressure air deck the latest generation of lightweight inflatable tenders are remarkably stable craft that can be rowed or powered by an outboard engine yet still be easily stowed. We tested a range of different 2.3-2.4m inflatables, all with air deck floors and an emphasis on light weight and compact packaging, and picked out the best. We rowed and motored all of the boats solo and with two aboard as well as weighing, measuring and comparing specifications. The size, shape and quality of the carry bag as well as the pumps supplied can also make a surprising difference to the speed and ease of inflating and deflating each tender. Inflatable tenders tested Crewsaver Air Deck 230 While the Crewsaver rucksack doesn’t have a front pocket for storing accessories, there are no zips to corrode and the adjustable webbing buckles mean the top opening of the bag is quite forgiving for repacking. The safety lines are robustly attached to the hull, the rubbing strake also adds durability and the splash guards help keep water out of the boat. Hard plastic coned aft sponson caps enable vertical storage without damage and the rowlocks double as cleats. There are davit rings in the bow and through the transom board, plus the bow handle is wide for ergonomic carrying. The inflatable deck feels sturdy but lacks the V-shape or inflatable keel so it’s not quite as comfortable in a chop. Specifications: Inflated size: 230x130cm Packed size: 95x55x35cm Weight overall: 23kg Max engine: 4hp Max load: 350kg Buy it now from Crewsaver YAM 240 STi Air Floor Sport

Veteran paddleboarder Duncan Slater recommends some essential paddleboard clothing to suit various weathers and SUP situations… What’s best to wear when stand-up paddleboarding? It might sound like a silly question – but the answer isn’t necessarily as straightforward as you might expect. From those with no watersports experience, right up to people with long histories in marine and aquatic environments, it’s easy to assume wrongly.  If you’ve recently bought your first paddleboard of inflatable paddleboard and bought all the SUP accessories that you might need, the choices can be a little confusing should you go for a wetsuit or would it be better to start with some less technical clothing? Thing is, unless you’re intending or expecting to fall in a lot – in surf, for example – paddleboarding on flat water isn’t usually that immersive an experience. Although of course, no matter how good you get there’s always an outside chance that you might end up in the water. Therefore in many situations, much like running or cycling, it’s about layering up or down to suit the weather and conditions.  If the water’s cold though, then you really must dress appropriately – and that means neoprene. You will need enough neoprene that you’re safe in case you fall in, which is always a possibility, yet not so much that you’ll overheat when paddling. The ‘problem’ with neoprene is that it’s not breathable, and wetsuits are really designed to be used wet. Hence most flat water stand-up paddlers tend to minimise the amount of neoprene they’re wearing.  So in most SUP situations a full wetsuit maybe isn’t the way forward. But what is? Here we look at a range of suitable SUP clothing – the essentials to cover you for various weathers and situations. What to wear when paddleboarding… Ion Plasma Boots  Truth be told, when possible most experienced paddleboarders tend to prefer paddling barefoot. But when the water’s cold, a priority for comfort is keeping your feet – and specifically toes – warm. Especially on flat water you’ll find that as you’re not moving your feet around so much they can get very cold very quickly. So over winter

The newly announced HH88 will be capable of cruising at 18 knots comfortably and while providing luxury to owners with some stunning interior styling Described by HH as the largest all-carbon cruising catamaran ever built, the first hull of the HH88 has just emerged from the painting booth in a high-gloss crimson. Destined for the luxury charter market, it has five big ensuite cabins, a jacuzzi on the foredeck and a fully air-conditioned flybridge with internal and external access. With 70kW of lithium battery capacity, it will be able to run the hotel loads overnight without firing up the generator. Some 6kW of solar panels and twin 24kW generators will keep the lights on, and a hybrid power option is in development for future models. HH says the boat will cruise comfortably at 18 knots without heeling more than 4°, with top velocity predictions above 25 knots. Interior styling includes illuminated granite surfaces, carbon detailing and solid burr walnut joinery. Launch is scheduled for later in the year. HH88 specifications LOA: 26.82m 88ft 0in LWL: 26.20m 86ft 0in Beam: 11.10m 36ft 5in Draught: 2.45m 8ft 0in Displacement: 60 tonnes Builder: hhcatamarans.com If you enjoyed this…. Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams. Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price. The post First look: HH88 – largest carbon cruising cat appeared first on Yachting World.