Mari-Cha IV currently rules the Atlantic, but there may be a new sheriff in town with the launching of Frank Pong's record chaser,
Maiden Hong Kong. Designer Juan Kouyoumdjian's brief was for a 100-foot-plus monohull capable of breaking existing transoceanic records.
Maiden's 115-foot carbon-composite hull is a stripped-out (pipe berths only) racer built by DK Yachts in Malaysia. Deck hardware comprises largely off-the-shelf hydraulic winches, blocks, and other gear, but features a custom lifting/canting keel with a solid-tungsten bulb (tungsten is nearly 50 percent denser than lead), water ballast, a rotating/canting mast, and a forward foil with trim tab. Displacement is 72,752 pounds, with a keel weight of 28,660 pounds, including the keel fin made of high-grade stainless-steel. The keel cants to 40 degrees and can lift from a draft of just under 20 feet to a somewhat more dockable 15 feet.
The hull flares out from a narrow maximum waterline beam of 12 feet to 26 feet on deck to widen the shroud base. The rig is further bolstered with deck spreaders. The single-skin high-modulus carbon rig towers 124 feet above the deck; it rotates 80 degrees and can be canted 7 degrees to weather. The boat flies 5,758 square feet of sail area upwind area with three furling headsails and 7,534 square feet downwind with a furling gennaker. Water ballast (11,023 pounds in each wing) provides additional righting moment and can be used to trim the boat fore and aft.
With Maiden's design capable of boatspeeds of 30 to 35 knots in flat water, the start of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge in New York this month could be high noon for Mari-Cha. www.dkyachts.com
B.I. Dubin
