Auckland based Superyacht builder Yachting Developments has announced the launch another 30 metre composite performance cruising sloop for export. The company has lived up to its reputation and produced a Superyacht they can be proud of, particularly considering the short build time of under 400 days.
“YD69 has been a very enjoyable project, the team at Yachting Developments thrived on the challenge. To build such a high quality custom Superyacht in the timeframe requested by the client is remarkable.” says Ian Cook, Yachting Developments Managing Director, “It was made possible by the combined team effort of Yachting Developments staff and management.”
It is interesting to note, that internationally, the accepted build time to construct a vessel of this size and level of quality is at least 700 days. From the design board of naval architects Dixon Yacht Design the vessel is referred to as build number YD69, or by its project name Meteor 100 but is now proudly named Antares III. Built to comply with stringent Germanischer Lloyd and MCA classification requirements, the vessel is incredibly strong yet 25%-30% lighter than similar vessels built in Aluminum, this is achievable by the use of composites. The composite structure is post cure epoxy Eglass/Carbon/Kevlar incorporating high strength foam sandwich technology. The hull has a Kevlar outer skin giving increased impact resistance.
Blonde Teak interior as designed by Rhodes Young was built in-house by Yachting Developments specialist tradesmen with a horizontal grain and is contrasted with wide Walnut planked floors.
The yachts accommodation consists of an upper and lower saloon that are open to each other, two spacious guest cabins and a full beam Owners cabin with private access to the aft cockpit. Forward of the galley and crew mess is accommodation for four crew members. The vessel sports a state of art carbon fibre mast, furling carbon boom and carbon fibre standing rigging, all of which were manufactured in NZ by Southern Spars, and the sails were manufactured by North Sails NZ.
Patrick Yeoward, owner representative and Project Manager describes the launch of Antares III: “They say that things run like a Swiss watch… Well that will have to be rephrased to a ‘Yachting Developments launch’.
The yacht was launched, on time. The rig stepped, on time. The boom loaded, on time. And moored up, on time. All involved from the Owner’s side would like to congratulate and thank Ian Cook and his team for a job that was most certainly well done.”
In the coming months the vessel and owner will take advantage of the South Pacific build location with planned cruises throughout New Zealand, Fiji and other Pacific Islands before heading to the northern hemisphere.