SUPERYACHT #11
Winter 2007
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news
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Article by
Angelo Colombo
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SOUTHERN WIND 100 DS FAREWELL
Before talking about this alluring sloop we want to talk about the
history of Southern Wind Shipyard. Operational for 15 years,
certain features make it a special and interesting yard for any
yachting enthusiast, especially for sailboat lovers.
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TECHNICAL DATA
LOA: 30.20 metres
beam: 6.70 metres
draft: 3.60 metres
light displacement: 59.200 kilos
sail area: 424 sq. m.
water tanks: 2.100 litres
fuel tanks: 5.000 litres
construction material: composites, Kevlar, carbon fibre and epoxy
naval architecture: Farr Yacht Design
designer: Nauta Design
systems development: Southern Wind Shipyard.
For further information on the 100 DS and on other models
currently offered by the yard (e.g. the SW82' DS, the SW72 o the
SW80' FD) contact Southern Wind Shipyard Ltd, C/O Pegaso Yacht
Division, Via Macaggi 25/21, 16121 Genoa - Italy; tel. 0039 010
5704035; fax 0039 010 5704065; email info@pegasoyd.com; website
www.sws-yachts.com.
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Southern Wind, based in South Africa, is Guglielmo Persico's dream come
true. After spending his youth in Naples, where he had close
contact with the local shipyards, he graduated in engineering. His
youthful experiences, specialised studies and a great passion for
shipbuilding led him to the head of Cantieri Navali Rodriguez, a
yard well known in the civil marine engineering field. But his
passion has always been sail, and he took part, as he still does,
in numerous races aboard his vessels. It was precisely his
experiences as both technician and keen sailor that led him, over
the years, to fine-tune his philosophy of the ideal boat, at least
with regard to his own needs. But market demand has confirmed that
it is a fairly widespread philosophy. In 1990, having identified
his ideal boat, Persico decided to entrust the design to Ron
Holland, also bringing in his old friend architect Antonio
Minniti, an interior design specialist. After purchasing the
design he had to select a yard. On one of his many business trips
he visited Cenmarine in Cape Town, a small yard specialised in
custom yachts. One of this yard's strong points was an expert
workforce who paid special attention to everything that was to be
transformed from everyday object into sailing object. In a short
space of time the yard found itself with two commissions:
Persico's own boat Aga Jari and a 72 footer designed by Farr Yacht
Design for a friend of his. Then came the decisive turning point.
For personal reasons Cenmarine's owner decided to sell the yard,
so Persico took over, buying new space, taking the workforce with
him and setting up Southern Wind Shipyard. Aga Jari, for which an
aluminium hull was envisaged, would never be completed but, in
compensation, Farr's design immediately aroused the interest of
enthusiasts, in particular because it was one of his first yachts
which, though designed for performance, was also expressly
intended for cruising. In the following years Southern Wind built
no less than 10 examples of Farr's 72', years during which the
yard concentrated on that type of yacht and the workforce
increased from a handful of people to the 30 of today. Gradually
taking on personnel from other yards, Southern Wind enriched its
operational unit, which made it possible to create highly
interesting boats that were greatly appreciated worldwide. As in
the case of the 100 DS we're presenting here, the building of
superyachts requires suitable space, so the yard had to continue
buying areas where it could produce its creatures. Incorporating
sailing sector experts into the workforce the yard became
increasingly skilled in building yachts that were exclusive in
both performance and interiors. One fact that should certainly be
mentioned is that Guglielmo Persico personally sails all the boats
that Southern Wind builds. This in order to be sure that every
model corresponds exactly to what an enthusiastic sailor wants of
his sailboat. Now, after our brief history of Southern Wind,
nobody will fail to understand that the 100 DS we're going to talk
about carries within her the passion and experience of a chief who
is involved daily in running the yard. Firstly, the boat is built
in composites worked in accordance with advanced technologies, in
particular in sandwich on a female mould using the infusion
method, in a vacuum. Materials such as carbon, Kevlar mixed with
glass, Core-cell and Divinycell are used to optimise mechanical
resistance of the whole and to ideally handle the distribution of
masses, with view to always ensuring maximum seaworthiness with
high performances. On the 100 DS, as on all Southern Wind models,
almost all the components are manufactured in-house, thus
optimising each element in accordance with the requirements of
each specific model. The cabinetmakers' work deserves special
mention: they are excellent craftspeople and skilled in creating
furnishing elements in line with a superyacht owner's
expectations. The 100 DS - DS stands for Deck Saloon - features a
very clean deck with a deckhouse that is not very high. It houses
the indoor saloon with dining and relaxation areas. The perimeter
windows of the superstructure make it very bright and airy. From
here you access, forward and aft, the owner's and guests' cabins.
The shipyard offers two internal layouts which differ mainly in
the positioning of the areas forward. One version has two spacious
double bed cabins with a shared landing that includes an office
corner; the other version has only one double bed cabin with an
office and an adjacent study. The zone aft, the same in both
versions, consists of two double cabins which, like all the cabins
on board, have a private bathroom, and the crew's quarters farther
aft, with three cabins, crew mess, galley and relaxation area. As
we said, the deck plan of the 100 DS is very clean, designed to
facilitate handling with a skeleton crew and at the same time
provide suitable comfort for guests. Amidships there's a
relaxation area with sofas round the perimeter on the extension of
the superstructure, from which you can access the interior or
proceed aft to the bridge where there are two complete steering
stations. All the running rigging is led to the cockpit and
handled by electro-hydraulic winches, so the helmsman has total
control of the powerful sail plan on all points of sailing. This
sloop rig consists of a mainmast in carbon by Nordic Mast, no less
than 36.30 metres high, and three orders of crosstrees. The total
sail area possible is 424 sq, m. which, together with the
waterlines developed by Farr and a hull construction technology
that ensures relatively reduced weights, guarantees high
performances even in light winds. The engine room, which houses a
305 HP Cummins, is a spacious environment, very well designed to
facilitate checking and handling of all the onboard systems it
contains or whose controls are incorporated there. Indubitably a
yacht built with maniacal care, as much in terms of the technical
solutions as of the finely finished interiors which we had the
pleasure to observe attentively with our own eyes. Farewell was
exhibited at the Genoa Boat Show in October, having sailed there
directly from Cape Town.
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