Holland Jachtbouw has announced that it has started construction on the 62-metre schooner Athos, which will be the largest boat yet built by this premium Dutch yard. Conceived by Hoek Design, the drawings were extensively tank tested at the MARIN institute in the Netherlands, with various keels and rudders being tried out on a scale of 1:10. Combined with wind tunnel tests at the Wolfson Unit of Southampton University (UK), the result is a superb design.

Athos’s deep-V hull with a shallow draught keel and integrated keel centreboard configuration will give her a gracious aero and hydrodynamic shape. The rig will be highly automated in terms of pushbutton operation, with furling booms, carbon spars and captive winches on sheets and halyards. Despite being among the largest schooners in the world, Athos will nonetheless be able to pass the Bridge of the Americas.

An 11-metre beam will create an unprecedented amount of volume. The interior will include a private owners’ cockpit and deckhouse, four guest cabins, and a main deckhouse with a formal dining and lounge area. Athos’s unique engine room will house twin main engines with controllable pitch propellers in a space with standing headroom.

An exclusive aluminium structure will feature three boarding platforms, two boarding ladders and a wide passerelle. Integrated side platforms will constitute ideal landing possibilities for dinghies, while large deck lockers provide storage for two 29-er sailboats, two optimists, two motorbikes, and scuba gear. Athos is earmarked for delivery end of 2008.