The first Infiniti 52 Tulikettu has been undergoing sea trials in the Solent, where she hit 28+ knots, with more than 30 anticipated.
Following delivery to her new Finnish owner Arto Linnervuo, in anticipation of a busy offshore racing program, she has impressed her crew with her easy speed and bow-out attitude.
Designed by Hugh Welbourn, the Infiniti 52 is the first foil assisted high performance/racing yacht developed for semi-custom production.
A brand new entry to the race boat market’s busy 52ft sector, it is unique in several ways.
Firstly it is one of the few designed from the outset specifically to be campaigned offshore, rather than inshore windward-leeward racing.
But most significantly it is the only 52 fitted with a Dynamic Stability Systems (DSS) retracting lateral foil, the same technology as used on Canova, Sailing Yacht of the Year at the 2020 Superyachts Award and the Quant 23, the 2016 European Yacht of Year.
The Infiniti 52’s DSS foil isn’t designed to make the boat fly, but it does significantly reduce displacement and drag, again increasing speed.
Most importantly, 15 years on, the DSS system and the subtleties of the foil’s shape, section, aspect, curvature and location are now highly refined . . . in CFD, tank testing and, most importantly, verified through 10,000s of race miles.
Understated and over-delivering, it remains the simplest, most reliable foil system, requiring no complex rake or other mechanical controls: It is deployed (via a rope on a winch) and left to do its job, no hydrodynamics PhDs or Olympic medals needed.
It was these features, together with not wishing to take the overly large step into a fully flying yacht, that attracted Tulikettu’s owner.
At a time when many rating rules are attempting to ‘protect the fleet’ – constraining the ability of boats to fly by effectively limiting the amount of vertical lift their foils can produce, the DSS configuration has the benefit of just falling within these limits.
The Infiniti 46 Maverick, for example, has been regularly competing under IRC in RORC races and under ORR in the Transpac. Tulikettu, and the Infiniti 52 #2 that is soon to be completed, will do the same.
Designed to be sailed offshore with a crew of as few as seven, the program for Tulikettu is to compete in some RORC races in the Channel and the North Sea Race before heading up to the Baltic for Gotland Runt and the RORC’s new Baltic 600 race.
This is the build-up to the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race and the Rolex Middle Sea Race, before the Infiniti 52 heads transatlantic for next year’s RORC Caribbean 600.
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