Finot-conq är ju kända för ett antal IMOCA 60, Class 40, minis och en hel rad framgångsrika Pogos. Så när man tar konceptet till en 53-fots cruiser så blir det ganska mulligt. Att tyskarna på Knierim Yachtbau gör det inte sämre.

Det funkade ju bra när man gjorde en 100-fotare på samma tema, Nomad IV, som tyvärr bröt sitt transatlantiska race i december.

After running us in a conttest against another architect, an experienced sailor chose us to design the boat of his dreams.

The project’s highlights are: a fast cruising yacht, comfortable, safe, very easy to handle double-handed, and very stylish, both outside and inside.

Inspired by our IMOCA racing monohulls, this is a wide, light yacht, with one ton of water ballast each side, for maximal performance. It is entierly made of carbon fiber sandwich, with Corecell and Nomex cores. The pivoting lifting keel reduces the performance-oriented 3.75m draft to 1.6m for access to all harbours and creeks. It also provides unmatched safety in case of grounding.

The fromt part of the cockpit is comfortable and well-protected, separate from the manoeuvres, which are regrouped in the aft part. All lines are led below the deck.

The longitudinal garage opens to the transom and makes the tender’s lauch a breeze. The liferaft door doubles as a bathing platform.

The inside is vast and light, with very high-level finishes and equipment. The panoramic coachroof gives a great view towards the sea, even to the front. Large water and gas-oil tanks give peace of mind for even long passages.

The project is entierly developped in-house, with Pierre Forgia in charge of inside and outside styling, and David de Prémorel as project manager. Provisional delivery date early 2016.

LOA 17.33m
Max beam 5.26m
Draft 3.75m lifting to 1.60m
Air draft 23.30m
Empty displacement 10.5t
Water ballasts 1 ton per side
Upwind sail area 170m2
Downwind sail area 340m2
Engine Yanmar 75CV on conventionnal shaft
Generator Fisher-Panda 10kVA
Watermaker 150l/h
Water tank capacity 750l
Gas-oil tank capacity 700l

Cruising like a Vendée Racer

Knierim is building a Finot-Conq 53’ inspired from the IMOCA Open 60

The last thing anyone thinks when looking at single-handed sailors in the Vendée Globe non-stop round the world race is that this might be comfortable and relaxing. However, combining the fastest possible yacht design with the demands of cruising is in vogue. Knierim Yachtbau, from the DEUTSCHE YACHTEN working group, is now building a FC3 53 designed by the successful IMOCA Open 60 designers Finot-Conq at Kiel. The boat, 17.33 metres long, looks like a racer, but for extended two-handed sailing and racing is still luxurious enough for its crew to dispense with packet soups. The Kiel-based shipyard is presenting the plans on the boat in Düsseldorf from 17th to 25th January in Exhibition Hall 7a on stand F02.

“The client wanted a fast cruising yacht, comfortable and safe, but also easy to handle. And the boat had to be very stylish both inside and outside” was how designer Pascal Conq from France summarized the wishes of the German owner. Not by chance was speed in first place on the wish list. “Consequently, the yacht is built using state-of-the art technology with carbon fibre pre-preg skin and Nomex sandwich for the deck and structures, as well as a Corecell foam core for the hull”, explains Knierim’s managing director, Steffen Müller. This is how the super-light 53-footer comes out at a weight of only 10.5 tonnes.

Even during the construction, the shipyard is not making any compromises. This is how the 5.26-metre wide carbon sandwich plug, which has been finished since Christmas, was milled directly with millimetric accuracy for the carbon fibre hull with one of Knierim Tooling’s enormous five-axis machines. Once the hull is produced early on in the year, the designers and builder are both hoping that other followers also convinced of the concept will also place an order for a FC3 53. This is because demand for really fast cruising yachts remains consistently high, according to Müller and Conq.

Knierim Yachtbau has already proved its expertise in this segment with the first Knierim 60. The semi-custom concept from the pen of Beiderbeck Designs from Bremen (also a DY company) is a symbiosis between sail performance, classical elegance and lifestyle. With its glass fibre epoxy hull, the cruiser-focused yacht is already setting a benchmark in the market place with its high speed potential.

Speed is absolutely in the foreground for the FC3 53, with a sail area of 170 square metres upwind and twice as much downwind. The top of the mast is 23.30 metres above the waterline and is positioned well aft; the long main boom, as on the IMOCA Open 60, is sheeted via a traveller at the stern and the sheet fed to a central winch on the starboard side outside the cockpit. The large sail plan relies on a mainsail with a large roach and a fixed bowsprit for the genoa and code zero sails

In order to achieve thoroughbred racer performance, water ballast tanks can be filled with 1000 litres of water on each side. The lifting keel also extends from a harbour-friendly 1.60 metres to an enormous depth of 3.75 metres. A multitude of frames, including three bulkheads in front of the living area below deck, provides the necessary structural integrity.

Regarding the lifting keel: the keel box has been cleverly used by interior designer Pierre Forgia to break up the space in the wide lounge, although it functions also as the central bench for the dining table. This provides added strength below deck and crew safety, especially when the FC3 53 is sailing. In all, the layout below deck is inviting for extended long cruises. There is adequate storage space with a gigantic sail loft below.

Two refrigerators and a 750-litre fresh water tank with its own treatment system which theoretically can fill itself when under way in five hours, speak for themselves. A 700-litre diesel tank provides a reasonable range in windless conditions. Bow and stern thrusters support harbour manoeuvres with a crew of two. Numerous additional features round off the sophisticated order at the highest level. The launch is planned at the very latest for spring 2016.