Southern Wind Shipyards celebrated two world premieres during the Monaco Yacht Show, debuting its SW102 Hevea, delivered in May 2013, and SW94 Windfall, delivered in January.
Hevea is a SW 102 DS, a successor to the popular SW 100 DS series. The composite sailing yacht features naval architecture by Farr Yacht Design and exterior and interior styling by Nauta Yacht Design. Windfall is hull No. 2 of 28.64m sailing yacht series. Like her predecessor, Windfall has naval architecture by Reichel Pugh and general styling by Nauta Yacht Design. She’s built in advanced composite sandwich materials making her light and fast.
In addition to showing of these two new yachts in Monaco, Southern Wind received the official recognition as the first shipyard to achieve RINA Rig certification. RINA and Southern Wind partnered for the implementation of a new certification system for sailing rigs, and RINA developed the new certification to be in line with the requirements of MCA LY3 commercial code. The classification combines the testing of critical rig items and direct CFD (computational fluid dynamics)/FEM (electromotive force) calculations. In addition to following this systematic rig analysis approach, RINA's method includes surveys and testing critical rig items in the presence of a class surveyor and scheduling maintenance and periodic surveys.
Hevea's and Windfall's maiden voyages from Cape Town, South Africa, gave RINA a unique 7,000nm opportunity to test the rigs in many different weather conditions and points of sail. RINA was able to record the acceleration acting on the masts of both yachts, which are built in Intermediate or High Modulus carbon.
During a ceremony in Monaco, RINA bestowed Southern Wind with a RINA Approved Rig Design award for Hevea and Windfall.