Vessel: NEW ZEALAND, KZ1
Maker
Marten Marine Industries Ltd
Farr, Bruce Kenneth (b.1949)
Production date
1987-1988
1987
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Designed by New Zealander Bruce Farr and built by Marten Marine in Auckland, KZ1 incorporated state-of-the-art technology: carbon fibre Kevlar/Nomex honeycomb sandwich hull construction, cured in a giant autoclave or oven; carbon fibre spars; an aluminium-alloy space frame to transfer the enormous loads between the tall rig and the deep fin and bulb keel. A complex electronic system provided instantaneous monitoring of rig tensions, and wind and boat speeds.
The challenger’s designer, Bruce Farr, conceived a state-of-the-art yacht with a narrow hull flaring into flat topside ‘wings’, a massive 150ft mast, a deep keel, and a wide deck with crew acting as ballast. The 46.8m (153 ft) mast had to be flown 12 kms by helicopter from the construction yard to the dock at the Devonport Naval Base.
Built in just 24 week, NEW ZEALAND KZ1, nicknamed the ‘Big Boat’, was purported to be the fastest monohull in the world. The massive yacht carried a crew of 40 from the Mercury Bay Boating Club in Whitianga, and was skippered by David Barnes.
In 1990 she was donated by Fay Richwhite to the New Zealand National Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa.
Farr, Bruce Kenneth (b.1949): Designer
Length Overall (L.O.A.) (m): 40.4m (132 9/16ft): 0 - Whole
Beam (m): 7.9m (26ft): 0 - Whole
Reg. Depth (m): 2.6m (8 1/2ft): 0 - Whole
G.r.t. (tonne): 55.2t (56.1 ton): 0 - Whole
N.r.t. (tonne): 16.5t (16.73 ton): 0 - Whole
Length at Waterline (L.W.L.) (ft): 90ft (27.4m): 0 - Whole
Length at Waterline (L.W.L.) (m): 27.4m (90ft): 0 - Whole
Length Overall (L.O.A.) (ft): 132 11/16ft (40.4m): 0 - Whole
Mast: 46.8m: 0 - Whole
Weight: 400kg: 5 - spare rudder
United States of America, North America
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