FlyingNikka, a custom-designed 60ft fully foiling racing yacht, took flight during her first day of test sails.FlyingNikka, a custom-designed 60ft racing yacht designed to be the first fully foiling Mini Maxi, took flight during her first day of test sails off the coast of Valencia, Spain.
\nDesigned by Mark Mills and a team of specialists for owner Roberto Lacorte, FlyingNikka has been built at the King Marine shipyard in Valencia and was splashed just a week ago on May 5. Since then the radical new yacht has undergone a week of towing flight tests, before today\u2019s first sailing tests.
\nFlyingNikka on her first test sail. Photos: Fabio Taccola
\nMark Mills commented online: \u201cFlyingNikka Flies! Amazing to foil on her first days sailing. We left to work through the displacement sailing program this morning in light winds, but were able to keep going through all the points until finally we flew.
\n\u201cVery encouraging to foil at such a low windspeed at such an early stage in her development, delivering the performance required for Mediterranean conditions. Congratulations to everyone involved, it\u2019s taken a lot of commitment by many people from design, to build, to sailors, and firstly from the top: Roberto Lacorte.\u201d
\nIn a press release issued by the team, Lacorte said: \u201cI can hardly describe the emotion I\u2019m feeling right now. Seeing FlyingNikka fly for the first time, after these intense months dedicated first to its design and then to its construction, is something magical, extraordinary, unique. I am truly thrilled\u201d.
\nThe 60ft design shares a clear connection to the AC75s. Photos: Fabio Taccola
\nAmerica\u2019s Cup influences
\nThe FlyingNikka project began in December 2020, with Irish designer Mark Mills working with specialists including KND Marine, Nat Shaver and Pure to develop FlyingNikka\u2019s appendages and foil package. Construction has been completed on a tight schedule, of just eight months, managed by Miguel \u2018Micky\u2019 Costa.
\nFlyingNikka features lifting T-foils. Photos: Fabio Taccola
\nFlyingNikka is the first fully foiling \u2018big boat\u2019 custom yacht design, and represents an accelerated \u2018trickle down\u2019 influence from the AC75s, the revolutionary foiling monohull yachts that were used in the 2020\/21 America\u2019s Cup.
\nDesigned for racing in shorter offshore and coastal competitions, it features cantilevered T-foils similar to those of an AC75, as well as a high aspect keel with bulb. It will sail with a crew of around six.
\nFlyingNikka testing out of Valencia, Spain. Photos: Fabio Taccola
\nLacorte is an experienced owner, already owning the Vismara V62 SuperNikka (also Mills-designed), and is vice-president of the International Maxi Association.
\nLacorte added: \u201cNow we have a very important part of the campaign ahead of us, which is fine-tuning the boat and crew dynamics while sailing.
\n\u201cThen we will enter race mode and it will be really interesting to see how far FlyingNikka can go. It is a boat that has no comparison, a futuristic racer, so we expect it to be able to write a completely new sailing story, flying on the water for long offshore sailings like no one else has ever managed to do.
\nWe\u2019ll be taking a closer look at this extraordinary new boat in a future issue of Yachting World.
\nThe post FlyingNikka 60ft custom foiler takes flight on first sail appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FlyingNikka, a custom-designed 60ft fully foiling racing yacht, took flight during her first day of test sails.FlyingNikka, a custom-designed 60ft racing yacht designed to be the first fully foiling Mini Maxi, took flight during her first day of test sails … <\/p>\n