The start of a Six – part 1
February 28th, 2022
Month one – the hull shape emerges
In December 2021 the team at Red Sky Yachts in Kotka, Finland, received a new order – to design and build a new Six Metre. The order had come from Henrik Andersin, an experienced Six Metre sailor who had already owned a number of both classic and modern Sixes.
Red Sky’s in-house designer, Allan Savolainen, was to create the drawings, and manager Chris Winter would oversee the project. Allan has years of experience in innovative updating of some of the finest classic Sixes in the international fleet and is excited about taking a shot at designing his first modern Six Metre. Chris brings experience in Olympic level coaching and project management on a Twelve Metre and several Dragon and Six Metre projects. Red Sky is also no stranger to the class, with the yard regularly maintaining and restoring Six Metres for the last 20 years. They are seen as one of the leading yards working with the class in Finland, which itself has one of the most active fleets in the world.
The new boat will be made using modern build methods. Chris explains: “Technology has brought the price and size of CAD/CAM manufacturing within reach of a yard the size of Red Sky Yachts. Running simulations of different hull shapes and keels along with optimizing the rig and machining parts in house keeps the cost of building a new boat within reach of many top sailing teams. Vacuum bagging and infusing parts minimize waste and allows really accurate laminates to be produced that meet the class requirements. Simulations also give us a really good idea about crew and part weight placement in the boat and how that affects trim.”
After working through all the necessary paperwork and having the plans approved by the regulatory bodies, work started in January 2022. The boat has already been named “Oiva”. This roughly translates to “Fantastic” in English. Although this translation is close, the word has more of “smart innovation” meaning to it. It is hoped she will be in the water ready to race at the European Championships in Cascais in September 2022. At the point of writing the build is one month in, and the hull is very quickly taking shape.
Click on the images below to explore the build process so far. The image captions have been provided by Henrik and Chris.
Time lapse film - month one
Posted in News by Jenny Wittamore on February 28th, 2022. Tags: Finland, new Six, Oiva, Red Sky
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