Royal Huisman: "Aquarius" - A ketch for large passages and small regattas
Friedrich W. Pohl
· 14.05.2023
At the end of March 2019, the big names once again sailed the St. Barths Bucket. And if all goes according to plan "Aquarius" will experience its first major launch off Gustavia. The Caribbean is calling, for the second time. One year after her first trip to the Lesser Antilles, the 56 metre long ketch for long distances from Royal Huisman will be testing her added regatta value there.
The Royal Shipyard for Large Sailing Yachts in Vollenhove, the Netherlands, delivered "Aquarius" to her owners on 1 March 2018. They had signed the contract in December 2014, with Dykstra Naval Architects from Amsterdam responsible for the construction and design and Mark Whiteley's London office for the planning and interior design. The owners had entrusted the experienced ocean-going sailor Godfrey Cray with the project management.
How the Royal Huisman ketch behaves under racing conditions
Since the start of the project, everyone involved has been curious and not a little excited to see how the young ketch will perform with the traditional lines under racing conditions. So far, at any rate, the satisfaction knows no bounds. "Steering her in ten knots of wind and more is a great pleasure. She sails wonderfully, almost perfectly even at twelve to 15 knots of speed in half wind," enthuse the owners. Project manager Godfrey Cray adds with satisfaction: "Space sheets with a mizzen staysail and code zero, she immediately reaches very high speeds and is easy to handle."
The owners' briefing specified an elegant and powerful sailing yacht with a classic profile for very long trips with the family and occasional regattas. If you go to Dykstra, you will most likely order a ketch with lengths of around 50 metres. The large ketch for long voyages is as much a part of the foundations of yachting as the classic manor house or city palace are icons of architecture. In fact, both types of architecture on land and at sea can be considered outdated today. Who still maintains a private country estate and builds a matching manor house with corner turrets and a risalit these days?
However, yacht owners like these Royal Huisman customers still order a ketch with long overhangs and a flat, steep deckhouse from designers and shipyards, even though streamlined sloops of the same size sail at least as fast and comfortably.
It is a sign of consistency when a yacht such as "Aquarius" is out of fashion with two masts, confidently long overhangs and a downright snooty spoon bow.
Not a pirate ship, but a modern and powerful yacht
The owners had chosen Royal Huisman as the shipyard and Dykstra as the designer for good reason: Huisman had delivered the 52 metre long Dykstra design "Meteor" in 2007, and the "Aquarius" owners had gained charter experience with her and other large yachts and had their own opinion of the outwardly rather bulky "Meteor" with bulwark and jib boom in the style of the Grand Banks schooners. "'Aquarius' was not intended to be a pirate ship, but a modern, good-looking, powerful and reliable yacht," says Cray, explaining the independence of the new build.
However, the owners liked the "Meteor" interior by John Munford: classic panelling, old-school New England touches. So their briefing for the interior design was: mahogany, not too obtrusive or over the top, instead calm and elegant, relaxed and understated.
Mark Whiteley was therefore able to base his work on the traditional "Meteor" interior. The ketch provided plenty of inspiration. Whiteley proposed two interior design options right at the start of the project: a dark one very reminiscent of "Meteor" with continuous wooden panels and one with a literally fresher coat of paint that balances mahogany and brightly painted walls. The owners favoured the second concept.
Light colours and Swietania mahogany as the material on board
Whiteley had the wooden wall panels sprayed a light colour and brushed by hand in a further step. The finish gives the impression of a house in the Hamptons on Long Island. Light-coloured fabrics and materials create a more contemporary mood than classic yacht interiors. "The warm and nuanced Swietania mahogany proves a perfect complement to the ivory-coloured lacquered wall surfaces and the upholstery fabrics of the furniture in subtle shades of ivory and cream," explains Whiteley.
A classic layout concept with crew area in the bow, guest accommodation around the main mast, saloon and deckhouse, an owner's suite aft around the mizzen with skylights around the mast that can be individually closed with blinds. The owner's wishes were for a king-size bed to starboard and a bath opposite, as well as a small office with a desk and two director's chairs. Further aft, the owners can retreat to a private deckhouse with sofa and two armchairs. The furniture design comes entirely from Whiteley's studio. All elements are customised.
The sofas were made by Bray Design Upholstery Ltd, the headboards and sides of the beds, bottle and glass holders were ordered by Whiteley from Cools, the folding chairs for the deckhouse were made by Glyn Peter Machin and the armchairs by Bakker US. Furniture and cushions for the outdoor areas were supplied by Telstar Marine.
Carpets, blinds, curtains and the Amtico floor coverings in the crew area were supplied by the Zijlstra Collection, ceiling panelling for this accommodation was again supplied by Cools and the sofa for the crew mess by Telstar Marine.
Owners and guests also have a relatively spacious gym at their disposal, behind the crew quarters on the starboard side opposite the galley. This has been somewhat reduced in favour of the gym, according to "Aquarius" captain James Turner, who was involved in the project from the outset.
Get a feel for proportions
The planning of more than just the interior was facilitated by complete mock-ups of the large deckhouse, the large cockpit and the owner's suite. The one-to-one models in the shipyard halls also enabled the designers in this case - and not least the owners - to get a feel for the proportions. They simplified decisions for the superstructure, deck and interior design.
The mock-up of the owner's suite particularly helped Mark Whiteley to solve the detailed tasks between the sleeping and living areas and the aft deckhouse. Where, for example, are full-height wall cupboards possible?
Despite all the 3D computer images, Huisman's project manager Henriko Kalter believes that mock-ups are unbeatable: "Computers cannot replace touch and movement in space, feelings and sensuality."
Safety, seaworthiness and comfort for Royal-Huisman ketches
Senior designer Erik Wassen also took care of "Aquarius" for Dykstra. He had to fulfil the owner's special requirements. "Aquarius" was to be a yacht that, like so many before it, demanded the squaring of the circle. "The design had to be beautiful. Safety, sea-friendliness and comfort dominated our thinking," says Wassen, explaining the broad scope of the "Aquarius" architecture. The ketch had to be just as suitable for long passages as it was for short afternoons in an anchorage bay with water sports.
Design of the "Aquarius
The owners wanted a tidy deck, unlike the "Meteor", but similar to "Kamaxitha", the 55-metre Dykstra design by Huisman from 2012. "A lot can be hidden behind a bulwark." However, the rather pleasing lines of the "Aquarius" only allowed for a foot rail at most. That's why some fittings and functions had to disappear from the deck behind hatches.
The difficulty of the design also lay in reconciling the actually contradictory requirements of performance, comfort and seaworthiness. "We prioritised comfort when travelling, safety and seaworthiness over competitiveness."
The owner wanted to sail regattas, but not at the expense of long-distance suitability. "However, the light and easy-to-handle boat was constantly in the back of my mind." The space utilisation of any large yacht, regardless of length, always caused headaches. "A slim hull with long overhangs requires more effort from the designer than today's wide hull with a high freeboard and short or no overhangs." Storage space is the biggest problem: spare parts, provisions, deck chairs and cushions, dinghies, ropes and fenders. "The list is endless and space is limited."
Proven technology instead of experiments
Reliability was Wassen's main concern. "We focussed on tried and tested technology instead of experimenting, for example on proven captive winches from Rondal. But sometimes you have to make compromises to compensate for the risks." One example is the decision in favour of halyard swivels. "We see them as almost obligatory for this size of yacht." The locks could fail, but they limit the loads on the halyards, the number of winches and therefore the weight. They are ultimately the more reliable choice. There are no compromises when it comes to reliability.
One example of this is the fixed keel. "It's true that a deep-reaching lifting keel improves performance and makes anchoring in shallow bays possible. But a fixed keel calms the nerves, and a draught of 4.80 metres like the J-Class fits in St. Barth."
Wassen optimised the large sail plan for light winds. The crew therefore has to reduce the sail area relatively early as the wind strength increases. "There is a lot of power in the mizzen, so it is reefed first, up to two reefs, before the main is reduced with a reef." The flexibility of the sail plan offers many options. As with any sailing yacht, the crew need some time to learn how to get the best out of her. This can be achieved by the time of the St Barths Regatta.
However, the regatta will be an exceptional situation, which will also have an impact on crew strength. "On long distances," says Wassen, "crews always have enough time to think about changing the sails." Sudden gusts are of course an exception. On voyages, crew size is not an issue, even with large sail areas like on "Aquarius", as long as the manoeuvre planning is right. On yachts like "Aquarius", it is common for the hotel crew to assist the deck crew anyway. Every crew member can also be deployed on deck.
During the development phase, it was advantageous to have the sailmakers from Doyle and the rig designers from Rondal on the team right from the start when working on sail surfaces and rig loads. "There was a lot of discussion about how much height you can get with the Code sail. The speed of a yacht of this size leads to sharp angles of apparent wind. 90 degrees of true wind quickly becomes 45 degrees of apparent wind with high loads on the leech."
Three decisive points
Henriko Kalter from Huisman considers three points to be crucial: listening to the owners, putting together the right shipyard team, communication between the shipyard and the captain with Chief.
The owners are delighted with the result of the three-year construction period and their experiences in 2018. After her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, "Aquarius" had already travelled 11,000 nautical miles in the Mediterranean. The layout below deck has proved its worth. The owners would not change anything. According to the owners, the build quality also leaves nothing to be desired and the ketch fulfils all expectations. "It's a dream come true for us." If they had to give a rating from one to ten, they would give "Aquarius" a ten plus. After the first year of experience, the owners are still most impressed by "the elegance of the exterior appearance". The regatta test is yet to come. We'll stay tuned.
Technical data
- Length over everything: 56,18 m
- Waterline length:41,17 m
- Width: 9,51 m
- Draught (fixed keel): 4,80 m
- Material: Alustar
- Volume: 298 GT
- Sails on mainsheet (main, mizzen, mizzen staysail, gennaker):3000 square metres
- Sails on mainsheet (main, mizzen, mizzen staysail, gennaker): 3000 square metres
- Rig: Rondal
- Deck hardware, winches: Rondal
- Motor: MTU 8V 2000 M72
- Engine power: 720 kW
- Fuel:24 000 l
- Range:4000 nm @ 10 kn
- Generator: 2 x Northern L., 70 kW
- Water:9500 l
- Water heater: HEM 13 000 l/d
- Spotlight:2 x Hydrosta, 110 kW
- Tender:Williams Jet, Brig Outb.
- Interior:Mark Whiteley Designects
- Interior:Mark Whiteley Design
- Classification:Lloyd's + 100A1 and MCA (Cayman Islands)
- Shipyard: Royal Huisman, 2018
This article appeared in BOOTE EXCLUSIV issue 02/2019 and was revised by the editorial team in May 2023.
