Come July, when Lionheart is completed, she will officially become the largest J-Class in existence. And she can officially be yours, as she’s for sale.
Nearing completion at Claasen Jachtbouw, Lionheart is a 43.4-meter (142-foot) beauty from the drawing boards of Hoek Design. Not only that, but she is all-aluminum (other Js aren’t), and she has 17-meter (56-foot) overhangs, so you realize she’s something special.
Hoek Design is more than well-versed in specialized sailing yachts, in addition to J-Class yachts. Among other J-Class designs, Hoek Design has worked on a replica of the first J, Enterprise. The studio has also seen more than a dozen of its designs come to completion at Claasen Jachtbouw, so the two companies have a comfortable working relationship.
The owner has a comfortable working relationship with Andre Hoek of the design firm, according to Will Bishop of Yachting Partners International, which is marketing the megayacht for sale. (Bishop says the owner’s business commitments will preclude him from racing and cruising aboard the yacht as intended.) Asking price: €14.9 million, or about $18.3 million.
Note the reference just made to “racing and cruising.” Pure racing yachts don’t emphasize comfortable or entertainment-friendly accommodations. Even though he has great “passion for the J,” Bishop explains, “he’s a knowledgeable sailor,” so he wanted features found aboard cruising boats. He also wanted the option of chartering, rare for a J-class yacht. Among the customary cruising features incorporated: four guest staterooms, a good number for a sailing yacht of this size. Hoek Design also graced Lionheart with two deckhouses and two cockpits (see model close-up above), with one of each reserved for the owner. The owner’s cockpit leads into his suite as well. This method of ensuring privacy is one that Hoek Design has previously employed aboard yachts like Adele and Athos.
For the racing aspect, Hoek Design performed a good deal of finite analysis to ensure Lionheart would be stiff. She employs horizontal, not transverse, stringers as a result. Bishop says this makes her weigh more but definitely fulfills the stiffness need. Hoek Design also analyzed the performance of all the J-Class yachts built back in their heyday as well as the newer ones. It entered the data into its Velocity Prediction Software, which it created with Piet van Oossanen of Van Oossanen & Associates, to determine what could be achieved with Lionheart. (Suffice it to say she’s expected be a worthy competitor; we’ll have to wait to see her in action.) And, as you’d expect of a proper racer, Hall Spars built the spars, and Harken carbon winches were chosen.
More updates to come as she undergoes sea trials.
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