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Perini Navi Group, a leader in the design and construction of many of the world’s largest sailing and motor yachts, has announced the successful completion of mast stepping aboard their most recent launch, Perseus^3, hull # 56 of the Perini Navi sailing fleet. The sloop rigged Perseus^3 boasts one of the world’s largest carbon fibre masts. It was delivered by the spar maker Future Fibres and assembled at the Perini Navi facility in La Spezia.

The 75.8m carbon fibre mast stands amongst the three tallest rigs ever built. Future Fibres commented, “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% to the weight of a mast”. The mast weight is optimised at 16.4 tonnes. 

The 23.4m carbon fibre-furling boom has been manufactured using pre-preg carbon improving structural performance and weight, compared with standard wet–laminate construction. The boom features a new mandrel furling and locking system, as a result of extensive testing and prototyping.

Future Fibres standing rigging comprises carbon fibre for the laterals, while the fore and aft stays are made of a combination of carbon, PBO and kevlar.

Perseus^3 will feature an exclusive Rig Load Monitoring System that, through a series of strain gauges, constantly detects the loads acting on the rig components.

Speaking about the Sail wardrobe of Perseus^3, Robbie Doyle, founder of Doyle Sail Makers said, “[It] is one of the most unique and challenging ever created.”

The dimensions of the asymmetrics 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.

The complete sail set exceeds 10,000 square metres, among which the A2 with its 2,602 square metres is the largest sail ever built.

For the handling and control of the impressive sailing system, Perseus^3 features the new generation of Perini Navi captive winches and furlers. The jib winches pull a maximum load of 30 tonnes and have a maximum line speed of 40m per minute. Electric variable speed motors and furlers, duly synchronised and monitored by the Perini Navi Automated Sail Handling System, dramatically improve furling and deploy times while speeding the tacking and jibing time by over 75% compared to vessels of the previous generation.

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 and Kevlar

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