The eyes of the yachting world will focus on the Baltic Yachts after the launch of this cruising yacht. The 43 meter 142 Canova is getting prepared to hit the water next spring.
Commissioned by an experienced owner, a repeat Baltic client, she is set to be delivered next summer. The high performance world cruising yacht, with naval architecture by Farr Yacht Design, is the first superyacht to take advantage of the now well-proven Dynamic Stability System (DSS) which, at the touch of a button, can deploy a 29ft 6in long athwartships foil to dramatically reduce heel, boost speed and increase comfort by reducing pitching motion.
Tolerance seems to have been minimized to almost nothing to enable foil case to be installed beneath the owner’s berth and at the same time allow generous headroom in the cabin. “Everything is optimised around the foil casing and the support structure,” said Baltic Yachts’ project manager Sören Jansson. He also reports that the deck and complex superstructure are in place and bonded to the hull. The superstructure, which forms the deck saloon, extends as a solid bimini over the cockpit and takes the 24-tonne mainsheet load, is faired and painted. “It’s looking very good!” said Sören.
America’s Cup technology
The foil itself is designed to be deployed while the yacht is sailing at speed, so it runs on four sets of highly specialised bearings designed by America’s Cup engineers at BAR Technologies who are currently working on Ben Ainslie’s 2021 Cup campaign. To cope with the size of the foil and the projected 140 tonne upward load on the leeward bearings when it is being deployed, an electric Harken captive winch, with a pull capacity of 20 tonnes, will shortly be installed. This will make the operation of the DSS foil a safe, press-button process no matter what the conditions.
Gordon Kay of Infiniti Yachts said: “Having installed DSS in dozens of yachts we can confidently say we have reached another level with the impeccable installation of the foil case in the Baltic 142 Canova. With ISOTOP, BAR and the team at Baltic Yachts the installation is nothing short of a work of art. The technical know-how of Baltic Yachts and the Infiniti team have turned a complex process into a simple end-user experience and we will reap the rewards of this collaboration when the yacht launches in the spring,” added Kay.
Britton Ward, vice president at Farr Yacht Design, said: “The predicted performance numbers are remarkable with the boat able to comfortably achieve boat speeds equal to wind speed in moderate to strong conditions. For a conventional boat of these dimensions we would anticipate heel angles of 20-25 degrees, but in this case with the foil deployed we see optimal heel angles in the 7-15 degree range,” he added.
Almost all the yacht’s accommodation modules have been installed as have the machinery room components including the diesel electric propulsion system and the pull propeller ‘pod’. Twin generators and the large Lithium battery bank, which supply the yacht with all its electrical needs and enable to yacht to run for long periods of time in ‘quiet’ ship mode, are also in place.
