Lanakai: On board the 39.5m all-carbon fishing machine
Lanakai: On board the 39.5m all-carbon fishing machine
The brief for Lanakai was simple: keep the weight down, the lines refined and the fish plentiful. Ivor Wilkins is hooked by a lean, mean fishing machine that boasts beauty as well as brawn
Big-game fishing was never more glamorised than by Ernest Hemingway’s vivid dispatches from Cuba about mano-a-mano battles with great fish – “rising, shining dark blue and silver, seeming to come endlessly out of the water.” His beloved 11.6-metre Pilar, purchased with the cash advance for an Esquire article, became the prototypical fishing machine, “sweet in any kind of sea”.
Since that time, sportfishing boats have evolved into a distinct type, sometimes exaggerated into caricature. Michael Peters, who has designed many of the breed, takes a tongue-in-cheek poke at the “voodoo” that has evolved: acres of foredeck without non-skid surfaces; no bowrails (they’re for softies); and towers so tall there’s a risk of nosebleeds. Peters notes that half of all sportfishing boats are bought with no intention of ever going fishing. “They get bought for their image and manly looks,” he says. “It’s the rich man’s pickup truck and nothing looks badder at the dock.”
With the launch of Lanakai – a 39.5 metre sporting 6,300hp of grunt under the hood, 18-metre Rupp outriggers and bristling with mechanical and electronic devices to hunt denizens of the deep – it may be tempting to mock Peters for drawing the baddest sportfisher of them all. Built entirely of carbon fibre, this 30-knot fishing machine is no idle dock-bound poser, however. In just 15 months, she has logged 8,500 nautical miles and put around 1,000 hours on her twin MTU 4000 series engines.
When the owner flies in with family and friends to rendezvous at some remote location, the engines are already warmed up and ready to go. As they step aboard, the lines are cast off and the chase is on. “The schedule is pretty hectic,” skipper Danny Bos says. “Between the fishing trips and maintenance, we are always busy. We are on track to complete about 110 days at sea every 12 months, so we clock up a lot of miles.”
“This is my primary passion,” the owner says. Lanakai, which was built at Yachting Developmentsin New Zealand, is his fourth boat, and the second designed by Peters. For a time, the owner did consider a displacement-type superyacht, but his family quickly disabused him of that notion. “They knew it would drive me nuts, just floating about. So we tried to create something approaching superyacht standard, with all the luxury bells and whistles, but basically a sportfishing style.”
Achieving this goal involved a disciplined collaboration between the owner, design studio and yard. In the process the overall length grew from 34 metres to 39.5 metres, primarily to accommodate larger engines and upgrade from fin stabilisers to twin Veem gyro stabiliser units. “I experienced gyro stabilisation on a boat I once chartered in Tahiti,” the owner explains. “I was so impressed, I decided we had to make the switch.” “That comes with a lot of extra weight,” Peters notes. This additional burden at the back of the boat was accommodated by lengthening the cockpit and rearranging some of the internal tankage.
“We did weight studies, which set the benchmark to achieve the kind of performance the owner was looking for,” Peters says. “Then it was up to the yard to do the engineering to make sure it all worked out.” Initially, the intention was to build Lanakai in aluminium. “We spoke to a couple of yards,” the owner says, “but their estimates came in a lot heavier than the target. Michael Peters warned us it would never get out of the water.”
Enter Yachting Developments, based in Auckland, New Zealand, which has gained a reputation for composite construction. Its portfolio is primarily focused on fast sailing superyachts, but also includes the 27-metre sportfisher Satu, built in 2012, and a 33-metre Warwick sportfisher currently in build.
“The decision to go for an all-carbon construction came about because we had to make a contract commitment to weight,” says Ian Cook, Yachting Developments’ managing director. “In the process of an extensive analysis of how to achieve that, it transpired that it was actually more economical to build in carbon than in standard glass composite materials. Five years earlier, carbon would have been prohibitive. However, it is produced much more for the aviation industry now and that has brought the price down,” Cook says. “Also, for the same strength you use less carbon, which means less laminating, which saves time and labour costs.”
The finished boat came in at 6,800 kilograms under contract weight and the combination of the larger MTU engines and light weight have delivered a significant performance bonus. “I wanted a genuine 25-knot boat,” the owner says. “What has been delivered gets very close to 30 knots and we can cruise at 23 to 24 knots all day long if we want.” In passage mode, 10 to 12 knots is the norm. For Cook, who started his boatbuilding career with racing yachts, weight reduction is a simple article of faith. “The lighter something is, the less energy it takes to move it around,” he says.
Much is made of the carbon fibre construction, but Cook points out that the hull and superstructure make up only 14 per cent of the total weight. The rest is taken up with furnishing, machinery and equipment. “You are basically building a hotel,” he says. “It must make its own power, make its own water, treat its own sewerage and be completely self-sufficient. All that comes at a certain weight.”
Written by Ivor Wilkins
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While MPYD raceboats have made history and have established a worldwide reputation for Michael Peters Yacht Design, the company’s philosophy—to improve the performance and efficiency of every boat—permeates every project in the portfolio. Every custom yacht and series production boat has been designed to outperform its predecessor and to push the limits of engineering, style and function. Regardless of the boat’s purpose, each carries the same high quality standards that define Michael Peters Yacht Design.
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