70-metre "Sybaris" on test drive

Rarely has an owner presented himself so openly to the media as Bill Duker, a US entrepreneur with experience in large yachts, who designed his own super yacht together with his son West.

The two spent many years working on their dream yacht, which resulted in Perini Navi being commissioned to build a huge two-master four years ago. The design of the exterior is largely based on the ideas of the father-son team, who had the lines - highly unusual for Perini Navi formats - optimised by yacht designer Philippe Briand. "We really used every spare minute to get to grips with the details of 'Sybaris'," Bill Duker once said.

With a displacement of 927 tonnes, the Ketsch is the largest sailing yacht in the company's history after the 88-metre-long "Maltese Falcon". She can carry up to 3045 square metres of 3DL sailcloth from North Sails on her 62 and 72 metre high Rondal masts, which are held in place by carbon standing rigging.

A monitoring system constantly measures the loads in the shrouds and stays supplied by Carbo-Link and sounds the alarm if critical values are reached. The latest generation of Perini Navi captive winches significantly improves the setting and furling times of the large sail laminates and ensures faster manoeuvres during regattas. The genoa winches work with loads of up to 35 tonnes and line speeds of up to 75 metres per minute. The righting moment is provided by an 11.74 metre deep lifting keel, which can be hydraulically retracted by 7.20 metres. In calm conditions, two MTU "Sybaris" gensets, each with an output of 1440 kilowatts, push the vessel.

Bill Duker gave the American creative team led by Peter Hawrylewicz (PH Design) a largely free hand when designing the modern, minimalist interior. Every piece of furniture on board was made according to the designs of the Miami designers. The yacht guests are accommodated in a 30 metre long wing and are entertained on the 18 metre long flybridge when the weather is fine. The master suite measures 80 square metres and is said to be impressively quiet, even under engine power, thanks to state-of-the-art sound insulation measures. We are talking about just 45 decibels at a speed of twelve knots.

"Sybaris" will be presented at the Monaco Yacht Show from 28 September to 1 October.