Future Fibres’ Giant Carbon Mast Will Carry Largest Sail Ever Made

Luxury yacht builder Perini Navi completed the mast stepping operation today of Perseus³ a 60 meter sloop with one of the tallest masts in the world.

Built of carbon fiber by Future Fibres, this 75.8m, 16.4 ton mast is among the top three tallest masts in the world and will soon fly the world’s largest sail, a 2,602 square meter A2 asymmetrical spinnaker.

Future Fibres notes that 4,752 kilometers of carbon fiber was used to make the rigging which also includes a 23.4m carbon fiber pre-preg furling boom, carbon fiber cap stays and diagonals, as well as fore and aft stays made of a combination of Carbon, PBO and Kevlar.

Doyle sailmakers spent 6,000 hours designing the 10,000 square meter sail inventory, an area which is 1000 square meters larger than the playing field at NRG Stadium, or half the size of the MCG in Melbourne.  Doyle notes the A2 is comprised of 3,200 yards of Dyneema and Polyester fabric.

The dimensions of the asymmetricals and the Code 0 are such that the fabric available on the market was not capable of providing the necessary characteristics of strength and lightness, therefore special new fabrics were created after extensive R&D activities.  Robbie Doyle notes this sail package “is one of the most unique and challenging ever created.”

All images courtesy of Perini Navi:

Future Fibres commented on the weight optimization of the huge carbon mast saying, “we have managed to produce a tube with a perfect exterior surface and a flawless Clearcote gloss Carbon finish with zero filler – which can add up to 3 per cent to the weight of a mast.”

Handling the jibs are a pair of primary winches that can pull a maximum of 30 tons and have a maximum lines speed of 40 meters per second.

The rig was installed at the Perini Navi facility in La Spezia, Italy

Technical Features

• Mast: 75.8m Carbon Fibre by Future Fibres
• Boom: 23.4m Carbon Fibre by Future Fibres
• Standing rig: Lateral Rigging in Carbon Fibre
• Aft and Fore Stays in Carbon+PBO+Kevlar

Sail Inventory:

• Main Sail 808 m² – includes 1,140,000 meters of Carbon and Technora fibers
• The mast features 4 main sail locks: 1 full hoist + 3 reefs
• Batten car system
• Cunningham ram
• Reacher 1,160 m²
• Blade 706 m2 with carbon vertical battens
• Staysail 370 m² – On soft hanks and removable torque cable
• Code 0 1,804 m2 – on the biggest torque cable TDF ever built by Future Fibres
• A2 2,602 m²
• A3 2,173 m²
• Spinnaker Stay sail 721 m²