News
Mark Mills was named Yacht Designer of the Year, and the Cape 31 was named Asian Sailing Yacht of the Year 30’-45’, at the 2024 Asian Marine & Boating Awards held during the Shanghai International Boat Show. Collected on Mills’ behalf by Luke Greene of Enterprise Ireland, this second Designer of the Year Award for Mills is an honour reflecting our involvement over 20 years in Asian Racing. Even more exciting is the award for the Cape 31, with the fifth boat inbound to Hong Kong it ensures solid fleet racing in Asia in the worlds most exciting One Design Class is now a reality! Photo: Guy Nowell
Today was the first ever sail of our latest design, the Rapide 41. First drawn for an American client, she turned so many heads in production that she has become the first of the Rapide line of high performance retro-styled designs from Vortec Marine.
Our latest design, the retro-styled Rapide 41 is nearing a Mediterranean launch date for its US owner. Designed to combine the high performance expected from our raceboat designs with a ‘down-east’ daysailer look and feel, the R41 is about keeping things simple and light for a relaxed sailing experience. With enough interior for a comfortable summer weekend on the hook, but enough stability and sail area to power to Bermuda she is a modern solution for an experienced sailor looking for more than just a raceboat, but unwilling to compromise on speed.
Yachting World announced the news with an article by Toby Hodges.
Our latest design, the Cayman 28 for a Cayman Islands client to enjoy high performance racing with his mates, was launched on Hungary’s Lake Balaton by Code Yachts just in time for their largest event of the year, the Blue Ribbon. Described by the team after successfully completing the 96 mile race on only its second ever outing as a ‘Gentleman’s Skiff’, designer Mark Mills said after the race “it was debatable whether our shake-down sail should be one of the worlds largest races, but it was beautiful. Racing down scenic Lake Balaton in company with almost 600 starters on a single start, and finishing after a night time battle reaching with 42 footers with Code Zeros… memorable!”
The all-carbon sportsboat features extendable racks that allow the crew to produce far more righting moment than a conventional hiking position, as well as a more comfortable seating position. In daysailing mode with the racks in it becomes a simple sporty daysailer, with the flat cockpit floor running forward to the stem to produce a more secure foredeck. With load-sharing sails by Doyle, the simple no-backstay rig is adjusted with underdeck forestay and jib tack purchases, relying on the pin-adjustable shrouds to make rig setup easy and repeatable.
More information on the Cayman 28 website .
The fourth of our latest MAT 1220 design for MAT Yachts has arrived in Sweden on her tilted cradle, allowing easy road transport. Drawn to be an all-around solution for both IRC and ORC racing, MAT1220’s have so far been delivered to owners in Turkey, Japan, Australia, and Sweden!
The first fully foiling offshore monohull Flying Nikka completed an overnight test from her base in Punta Ala, averaging 20kn and reaching 36.5 on a cold night with waves.
The latest MAT1220 to leave the MAT Yachts factory in Izmir is the new ‘Bushranger’, heading to Australia for Gerry Hatton and his team just as they win their second NSW ORC Championship Title in a row with their exceptionally successful MAT1245.
The latest MAT1220 hull 2 is complete for a Japanese client, and looking fabulous! This is the first bulb keel version, looking forward to seeing her get up and go.
Our 60′ Foiler Flying Nikka made her debut at the Rolex Maxi Yacht Trophy in Porto Cervo, the most celebrated event in the most stunning location in world yachting. Competing crews were eager to see how the new concept performed, and were not disappointed as the offshore-capable foiler raced through the fleet.
Arkas MAT Sailing Team have launched the first MAT1220 ‘Blue Moon’, taking our dramatically styled new 40’ design and setting a new standard for artistic livery! Arkas are one of the strongest racing teams in Turkey, and have long had a strong relationship with builder MAT Yachts.
Blue Moon is the first of four MAT1220’s currently on order, in both the fin keel and bulb keel versions. Designed to be a versatile IRC and ORC performer both inshore and offshore, the next three boats will go to Japan, Australia, and Sweden, emphasising the worldwide success MAT has earned over 20 years of performance yacht construction.
Mills Design are 2022 ORC European Champions in two of the three Classes in Hanko, Norway. In Class A Michael Berghorn’s 45’ Halbtrocken Sailing Team finished with a first to top the podium above two TP 52s. In Class B our Landmark 43 Intermezzo Racing Team of Jens Kuphal also won on the final day, just in front of her sistership White Shadow Sailing Team, which confirmed their 1, 2 on the podium they had held for most of the week, with only one point between them! These results continue our strong form in ORC: Halbtrocken was the 2021 ORC World Champion, while our Landmark 43 design has claimed the ORC World Championship in 2018 and 2016.
The Flying Nikka project is unique in so many ways, among them having the attention of Pierpaolo Lafrancotti to record the story and share it with everyone. This is the movie of the creation, production, and sailing of a new idea.
Our 62′ Flying Nikka was launched in Valencia, Spain by King Marine in early May, successfully foiling on her first day of sail trials. This complex project required the largest design team we have yet assembled, and demanded the most from the builder King Marine and project manager Micky Costa to deliver on time. The brainchild of Roberto Lacorte, Flying Nikka is aimed at OSR Cat. 3 offshores such as the Rolex Giraglia and 151 Miglia races, as well as the Maxi Worlds in Sardinia.
The first MAT1220 is nearing completion at the MAT Yachts facility in Izmir. The first customer and his team recently visited the yard to see progress and finalise the deck layout details to suit their teams needs. With 3 boats sold already the MAT 1220 has created a lot of interest under both IRC and ORC, partly because of its versatility with fin and bulb keel options, and fat head and pin head main options opening up a range of rating solutions to help optimise for any rule or venue.
Our 62′ Offshore Foiler ‘Flying Nikka’ won the Foiling Project Award at the 5th Foiling Awards prizegiving ceremony in Milan. Received by project founder Roberto Lacorte who said he was “Honored to receive this important award and to share it with those who believe in FlyingNikka“
The first Cape 31 in France, Peter Dubens’ North Star 2 set an unbeatable pace by dominating their 27-boat IRC D class with a scoresheet of 3,1,1,1,1 in perfect St Tropez conditions at Frances most significant IRC event, Les Voiles de St. Tropez. As a result they were awarded the IRC Sword for outstanding IRC performance amongst all 140 competitors in the modern fleet.
North sailmaker Sam Richmond who was sailing on board said, “Fast, fun racing – big smiles all round. We had a bit of luck with courses and conditions but sailed very cleanly against some super competitive IRC boats.” North Star 2’s owner Peter Dubens who controls the North Technology Group of companies including North Sails and Southern Spars brought his Cape 31 to France just to race at Les Voiles, before joining Cape 31 One Design events around the world.
| The Alexela ORC World Championship 2021 held in Tallinn, Estonia in August was decided in the final inshore race in 15-20 knots of wind, a win awarding the overall Class A world title to Michael Berghorn’s Mills 45 HALBTROCKEN 4.5 from Germany. “This team was really solid this week,” said Berghorn. “We worked hard, tried to minimize mistakes, and today especially learned to sail this boat fast downwind. We have a mostly amateur team, so it is especially gratifying to have the hard work everyone has put in rewarded with Gold medals.”
The offshore-oriented Halbtrocken was originally launched as “Concubine“ in Australia. She was shipped to Germany ready to race in 2020 with the Halbtrocken Sailing Team, but with the season cut short by a global pandemic, plans were put in place for the 2021 season with the ORC Worlds at the forefront.
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Held in our IC37 One Design, the 2021 running of the historic Canada’s Cup saw the Royal Canadian Yacht Club under skipper Terry McLaughlin successfully defend against the Youngstown Yacht Club. Posting a strong set of results, the performance of RCYC’s Team Defiant showed the benefit of a two boat program leading up to the Canada’s Cup in Toronto.
Representing 125 years of competition, there were many historical firsts in the 2021 Canada’s Cup: the first match race regatta in IC37s, the first opportunity for junior sailors to participate, the first time the crews were comprised of men and women, and the first time there were father daughter crew members on both boats. Broadening the base and increasing engagement in sailing is exactly what IC37 was designed to promote.
| The DK46 Hydra of Oscar Chaves won a record fifth Copa Del Rey title when they won the BMW ORC Class 1. This high profile class which included King Felipe sailing on the TP52 Aifos went down to a single point, Fernando Léon guided Hydra to four wins but their sixth on the final days 15-18kts seabreeze clinched the title. No other boat has won 5 titles at Spains most prestigious and closely fought regatta.
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Mark recorded an interview with Matt Sheahan from PlanetSail, one of the keenest America’s Cup foiler-watchers, about our 60′ fully foiling Flying Nikka project under construction at King Marine.
The Cetilar branding for our 60′ offshore foiler Flying Nikka has been revealed. Cetilar, a brand of the sponsor PharmaNutra S.p.A., enthusiastically supports high performance sailing projects like Flying Nikka.
Sailing Anarchy posted Mark Mills’ recent interview with Ronnie Simmpson covering a number of our current projects such as the success of the Cape 31 and our 60′ foiler Flying Nikka.
Mills Design is proud to be starting the most exciting new design project outside of the America’s Cup. The vision of repeat client and Italian Owner of the Year Roberto Lacorte, seen above with designer Mark Mills and his sailing team led by Alessio Razeto of North Sails, is to be the first to have a Mini-Maxi sized foiler capable of coastal racing and to bring true big boat foiling performance to a wider audience. This will take the lessons and some of the technology from the America’s Cup AC75 foiling monohull and put them together in a more user friendly and cost-effective package which can sail in a wider range of conditions.
Given the very challenging design brief we have assembled a team of specialists to ensure we can deliver Roberto’s vision. Among the 10-man group are members with experience of 3 of the 4 AC teams currently competing in Auckland. Our R&D Partners KND provide the analytical tools and expertise to evaluate the novel design topography, with aero input from North Sails design specialists, while Pure Engineering provides their relentless drive and technical knowledge to produce the lightest and most reliable platform. The initial six months of preliminary design work has been focused on validating the concept, using the TNZ-developed Gomboc dynamic simulator (below) and the North Sails VPP to evaluate various configurations and foil geometries both when flying and in displacement mode. Led by founder Gio Belgrano, Pure have developed an entirely new wing articulation solution to reduce foil cost and improve reliability appropriate to a project operating outside the rarefied conditions of the America’s Cup.
Our vision for the design is a robust simple platform able to foil in winds below 10 knots true, and capable of passing the various requirements for entry into mainstream race events, such as WS Offshore Special Regs categorisation including stability. The need for limited Archimedean sailing in sub-optimal wind speeds and increased contact with the sea surface in a wave pattern leads to a hull shape differentiated from its AC75 siblings by greater concern for wetted surface. Powered controls and winches assisted by a flight augmentation system reduce the burdens on the 5 man crew, allowing the helm to focus on steering without also having to directly control ride height.
Now that the project is moving at full speed, the design team is focusing on development and optimisation of the design geometry and systems. Over the next three months the hull, deck, and crew configuration will be finalised prior to the commencement of construction. Builder selection is at an advanced stage, guided by experienced Project Manager Micky Costa who fills a crucial role linking the designers, builder, and sailing team to produce a reliable, simple and effective sailing machine. Stand by for updates as the project progresses towards flying over the Mediterranean in 2022.
Mills Design are pleased to have been asked by the Cape2Rio Race organisers to produce a Virtual Raceboat for the Sailonline.org Cape2Rio Race. An offshore classic, the Cape to Rio race has a proud tradition of fast sailing around the dominant South Atlantic High Pressure System that guards the direct route between the city of Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa and the carnival city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, South America. The first running of the race took place in 1971 and since then there have been 16 editions of the race, not all going to Rio. Amazing ocean greyhounds like Pen Duick III & VI, Ondine, Stormy, Morning Glory, Zephyrus, Kwa Hari, Rambler 88, Icap Leopard, Maserati and many more have vied for line honours. The current monohull record stands at 10d 11h 29m 57s held by Maserati a VO70, the multihull record sits at 7d 20h 29m 02s held by Ultim Love Water.
Our 74’ Cape2Rio2023 design is an exciting development of the state of the art in offshore design shaped to reflect the unique event profile of the legendary Cape to Rio Race. This light chined design is drawn to perform most strongly on the long predominantly downwind racetrack, where unusually for most ocean classics running plays a significant role.
Mills Design and MAT are proud to announce their latest collaboration, the MAT1340. This 44’ IRC special is the result of an extensive R&D phase aimed at optimising under IRC both inshore and offshore. It has been increasingly clear that a new approach to IRC performance has become successful, especially offshore, and having devoted the R&D time to understand the features fully, we ended up with a solution significantly faster on corrected time than an aggressive ‘Mini-TP’ model. These features of medium/light displacement, fin keel, moderate sail area, and the option of twin rudders enable reduced crew numbers especially offshore.
This is our fourth project with MAT Yachts over 14 very productive years working together. Since we began working together MAT have become successful worldwide with their focus on high performance, cost-effective boat building, ensuring this new design has the best opportunity to succeed both inshore and offshore. Given the demand for both inshore and offshore racing, lengthy consideration has been given to both disciplines and the extensive options list allows an owner to spec the boat to their exact demands, whilst knowing this is a multi-discipline design.
An interesting development resulting from the R&D phase was the ability to use the CFD generated displaced sea state model in the rendering, matching an accurate wave pattern to the hull shape for some lovely images by Paul Fuchs. Now being sold by Ancasta in the UK and Jamie McPhail in Australia, www.mat.com.tr.
The Melges IC37 Class descends on Newport, RI for the second National Championship October 2-4. The Championship will be hosted by the New York Yacht Club in conjunction with its 166th Annual Regatta, North America’s oldest annual regatta.
Our MD75 Karma built by Maxi Dolphin has been voted the Best Sailing Yacht at The International Yacht & Aviation Awards 2020. A striking high performance design for an Italian client, she combines a sleek minimalist exterior with a relaxed and engaging interior by Nauta Design in Milan. Last Friday 4th September design et al hosted The International Yacht & Aviation Awards 2020 in Capri, Italy, where the winners of the 2020 Awards were announced. The unique voting system enabled 12,441 global industry professionals to individually acknowledge, consider and finally, vote for the shortlisted nominees. Karma was announced as the winner in the Best Sailing Yacht category.
Designer Mark Mills was thrilled with the second major prize in 2020 for Mills Design: “We love working on projects like this, where a combination of sleek looks, true performance aspirations, and great collaborators ensure the result will be outstanding . It’s an honour to be recognised by the industry with such a prestigious award. ” Earlier in the year Mills Design was awarded the MDO Monte Carlo Prize for the Wally 100 Tango.
Our MD75 ‘Karma’ is featured in a Design article in the August 2020 Seahorse Magazine. Created as a stylish ‘GT cruiser’ her clean good looks, relaxed interior, and easy handling have attracted alot of interest.
At the beginning of the lockdown Mark decided to use the time to finally try making some half hull models. Using the 3D printer for the shells, and then finishing and painting by hand the first one went up on the office wall today: Bjorn Geiger’s Cape 31 #9 MB Racing.
SuperNikka owner Roberto Lacorte has won the 2019 Italian Owner of the Year award at the FIV Italian Sailor of the Year awards. Among many other victories, winning his class in SupoerNikka at the Rolex Maxi Yacht Championships 4 years out of 5 is an incredible record, and deserves recognition!
In March of 2017 we were asked to join an experienced Italian owner for lunch in Milan with his friends and advisors to explore the possibilities for a new 70′ performance yacht. During a long and very enjoyable meal he described his passion and experience and we ended up discussing the positives of the clean simple styling of the sixties and seventies. This is not the ‘Classic’ styling of earlier design periods, but the result of decades of racing yacht development at the time focused on producing a seakindly offshore yacht.
Mark Mills was named Irish Sailing and Afloat.ie’s Irish Sailor of the Month for April, reflecting a focus on off the water activity during the current pandemic. Mills was recognised as “a breath of global fresh sea air” for the success of his designs from the large to the small.
Singled out for mention were his recent MDO Monte Carlo award for the design of the Wallycento ‘Tango’ and the success of the Melges IC37 as the latest New York Yacht Club One Design. “It’s a shame the water is off limits for most of us, but I feel incredibly lucky to receive this honour, and to be working though this difficult period.”
World Sailing shared on its facebook account the high speed downwind clip from the Cape 31 MB Racing we originally posted in December:
and it has grabbed attention worldwide, currently for example on the front page of major French website Voiles et Voiliers!
The third annual Cape 31 Invitational 2020 showcased the fabulous sailing venue of Cape Town, the Royal Cape Yacht Club, and the Cape 31 Class, providing the opportunity for the Cape Town fleet to compete against foreign teams as a way to spread the word worldwide. With 10 boats on the start line Niall Dowlings’ Irish visitors Arabella started Day 1 well, with four races sailed in westerly breeze between 10 and 14 knots with a flat sea. By the end of the day however at the top Gerry Hegie and his Seascape Yanmar team led from Nitro, both on 13 points.
Saturday saw four more races sailed initially in lighter conditions, with Tony Norris on TNT Racing starting with two bullets, chased by Nitro, Seascape, and Arabella all posting strong results as the breeze filled. However the Cape Doctor arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning, leading to the final day of racing being cancelled and crowning TNT Racing champions for the second year running.
Starting from the RCYC in Cape Town and finishing after racing more than 80 miles up the coast at Club Mykonos in Langebaan, this is considered the biggest offshore race in Africa by numbers. 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the Mykonos Offshore Regatta hosted by Royal Cape Yacht Club and Club Mykonos, with an amazing 60 entries having a blast making their way up the beautiful west coast. The regatta score adds the 80 mile race to a pursuit race held in the bay the next day.
The Cape 31 class dominated the Offshore results with the first Nitro, finishing second on the water only 7 minutes behind the the 60′ Warrior. That meant Nitro stole the show by winning overall on handicap, winning in their division and winning the Cape 31 Class. The remaining seven Cape 31’s took the next seven spaces Overall, in Division, and of course Class with Seascape Yanmar and Vivaldi rounding out the podium. Including the next days pursuit race results for the overall regatta still left Cape 31’s in the top 5 places for the reagtta, an outstanding result.
Designer Mark Mills “When I was drawing the Cape 31 locals kept enthusing that this boat would really excel in Mykonos Race conditions! Of course after they launched we then got a couple of quiet races, but the 2020 Mykonos Race shows how much the Cape 31 revels in an downwind sleigh ride.”
Wally and Mills Design have won the première edition of the MDO Montecarlo prize dedicated to design for the wallycento TANGO.
At the awards ceremony held at the Yacht Club de Monaco, Wally was honoured with first place in the competition, which celebrates international excellence in innovation, technology, design and sustainability. The prizes were accepted by Mark Mills of Mills Design, and Stefano de Vivo, managing director of Wally, representing a design group including Pininfarina, Persico Marine, and Pure Engineering.
Once again, an international award recognises outstanding work in yacht design and innovation on a global scale. The nominees were judged by a panel of prominent authorities on design – including renowned architects Mario Botta, Richard England and Jean-Michel Wilmotte- based on their stylistic, dimensional, functional and economic traits and features.
From helmsman and owner Bjorn Geiger “The max speed we recorded on that reach was 23.5 knots with wind gusts up to 46 knots. Not as fast as we have been in the past but still a healthy speed.”
Rotate around to see Table Mountain and watch the breeze build!
MD75 Karma by Mills
Italian Design Magazine Top Yacht Design has featured our beautifully simple MD 75 Karma, built by Maxi Dolphin which launched earlier this year.
Ian Atkin’s Melges IC37 Icy was named the Hamble Winter Series Big Boat Champion, as well as winning the IRC 1 class, at the 38th Hamble Winter Series. The 2019 edition of the annual Solent series was held over 4 weeks in October by the Hamble River Sailing Club, comprising 8 races in a tightly fought fleet of the UK’s top race boats. The prestigious Hamble Star Trophy was presented to Dr Mark Tomson on behalf of Icy, a trophy originally gifted to the Hamble River Sailing Club in 1934 by the Household Brigade Yacht Club, and now dedicated to the memory of HRSC Secretary Jane Windsor who passed away in the summer.
2019 has been a great first year for the newly arrived Melges IC37 in the UK, winning its Class in a breezy Cowes Week, and then winning the IRC 1 division at a light airs Royal Southern September Regatta counting firsts and seconds. This continuing success of the Melges IC37 under IRC in the Solent has led to sales agents Ancasta receiving huge amount of interest in the One Design, with its own fleet planned for next year.
The 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup produced stunning racing across the full range of conditions for the Club’s fleet of 20 new Mills designed Melges IC37’s. This sixth edition of the biennial Corinthian championship was a true test of talent, teamwork and perseverance over four days and twelve races. After a strong early showing by the San Diego Yacht Club, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron came to the fore to win the event on the final day. Six-time participant Royal Cork Yacht Club won the last race to take the final podium placing.
The response to the new IC37 designs has been phenomenal: “A boat that was a surprise. Really technical and fun in all conditions.” Perhaps the highest compliment was made to designer Mark Mills on the lawn at Harbour Court after racing one day: “really the perfect fleet racing boat.” The remarkable spectrum of organisational talent on show by the NYYC to create the event, envisage a new class for it, have 20 of them built, run the racing, and host the competitors is unparalleled.
SuperNikka, the Vismara 62 Mills of Roberto Lacorte and his tightly knit team, took their fourth Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup title in five years. This unprecedented run of success at the most respected big boat event in the world is a testament to the strength of the campaign. Counting 4 firsts and a second on the coastal courses of Sardinia in a week with the full range of conditions highlights the versatility of this all-rounder.
Kanreki, the first Melges IC37 to be delivered in the UK, went straight to Cowes Week and pulled off an impressive win, counting fours firsts and a third to take the IRC 1 Class even though she didnt sail the first very windy race. The smallest boat in the Class, Kanreki impressed even more by finishing first on the water in three of those races, in a class stretching up to 46′, including a DK46, Swan 42 and 45, and a custom Lombard 46. Sam Pearson of Ancasta who are marketing the IC37 in the UK said “We are all chuffed at this end with the boats performance”, and another comment from onboard was: “Fantastic boat, for me most exciting since we campaigned the Ultra 30s in the 90s “.
The DK46 Estrella Damm of Ignacio Montes and Oscar Chaves was awarded the overall Copa del Rey MAPFRE title for the handicap divisions as clear winners of the BMW ORC 1 class. The evergreen DK46 repeated her 2018 success at Spains most prestigious event under a team headed by Luis Martínez Doreste, one of Spains most decorated sailors.
The owners were presented with their trophy by King Felipe at the traditional prizegiving ceremony at the end of the event, extending Mills Designs long run of successes at this premier Mediterranean series. This year’s new scoring format, which compresses the fleet before the final 2 days of racing, suited Estrella Damm as she scored 4 straight wins in the final 2 days to stamp her success on the class.
Our Vismara Marine built 68′ Pelotari Project for an experienced Spanish owner was launched in Viareggio ready for preparations and practice to begin before she starts racing. This is our fourth project with Vismara Marine, a builder with a long history of boats of this type The client liked our 3-time World Champion Vismara 62 SuperNikka, and wanted something with an greater emphasis on his unique requirements: to have fun with his friends and family while racing in the major events of the Mediterranean as hard as possible. Pelotari Project is the result of this brief, a carbon hulled, lifting keel speedster with a powerful rig, but also equipped with the creature comforts to enjoy a long relaxed party after racing!
After two years in development, the Melges IC37 Class enjoyed its first major outing at the New York Yacht Club’s 165th Annual Regatta in Newport. Held over three days in a range of conditions, the fleet provided the excitement and close tactical racing the Club desired when when it created the Class.
Designer Mark Mills was there to watch the racing and felt “This was a great event for the Class and the Club, I’m thrilled the IC37 delivers their vision for a fast, fun, and accommodating performance design that will encourage increased involvement in sailing”.
Congratulations to Rush for winning Friday’s Around the Island Race, and to Members Only for winning the weekend inshore racing with a last race bullet.
The Mills IRC72 Caol Ila R of Alex Schaerer is the Overall Winner of the 2019 Rolex Giraglia Race. All 243 yachts starting the iconic 240 mile race in St. Tropez were treated to record-setting conditions. Schaerer and his crew handled the breeze best to pull out more than an hour’s corrected time lead by the finish in Monaco the next morning. This is the second win in a row for Caol Ila R after winning the Rolex Capri Sailing Week a month ago.
As the inaugural IC37 Season kicks off in Newport with a practice weekend before the first ever full fleet event at the Rhode Island Leukemia Cup Regatta, this video highlights why its so exciting to be part of this project.
“If you think about where this sport is going, I dont think there is anything more meaningful than what we’re doing”
Mills Design scored a 1,3 in the Racer Division as the Rolex Capri Sailing Week concluded in the closest of finishes. Alex Schaerer’s Mills Design Maxi72 Caol Ila R knocked Sir Peter Odgen’s Jethou off the top spot on the overall podium after she secured a second place in today’s race as Jethou came home fourth.
Schaerer explained that it took a while to realise they had come out on top: “It was tough because we needed one boat between us and Jethou in order to win. We were hopeful we could get the Maxi86 Vesper [Jim Swartz’s winner today under IRC] between us but that didn’t work by 12 seconds. So then we said ‘that’s fine – Jethou did a good job this week – they won.’”
It was only when the time of Roberto Lacorte’s Mills Vismara 62 SuperNikka was corrected out, that it was found she had slipped into third, beaten by Caol Ila R by just two seconds. After discards were applied, Caol Ila knocked Jethou into second by 0.75 points with SuperNikka (the half-way stage leader) third, just 0.5 further astern after five races. SiperNikka’s result was all the more surprising after being moved to the Racer division from the Racer/Cruiser Class she has dominated for the last four years.
Caol Ila with Francesco DeAngelis as tactician was also first to finish in the light airs of the traditional regatta opener, the 65th Regata dei Tre Golfi from Naples to Capri, for the second year running.
The high performance cruiser Karma recently launched by Maxi Dolphin: Simplicity, Speed, Style.
The Mills Design 72′ Caol Ila R rounded the Li Galli mark at midnight, followed around an hour later by Jethou, Vesper and Wild Joe. Aside from a small stop off the northwest corner of Capri, Caol Ila R secured her second consecutive line honours victory, finishing at 02:36:25 on Sunday morning, followed by Vesper at 03:04, Jethou at 03:09 and Wild Joe at 03:28.
Second oldest in the Italian yachting calendar to the Rolex Giraglia, this 155 mile offshore race has been incorporated into Rolex Capri Sailing Week since 2017, forming a prologue and feeder race to the inshore races that follow for the maxi boats. Organised by the CRV Italia, the course takes the boats northwest from Naples, around the island of Ponza before returning southeast, where the boats can leave Capri to port or starboard before rounding the Li Galli islands off the Amalfi coast, then returning clockwise around the south side of Capri to the finish off Marina Grande. Regata dei Tre Golfi also forms the second event in the International Maxi Association’s Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge (MMOC) which began with last October’s Rolex Middle Sea Race.
IC37 builder Fibre Mechanics has shipped Hull #20, their tenth boat, to the New York Yacht Club ready for the twenty boat IC37 fleet to start the 2019 season. From Fibre Mechanics:
“We have reached another milestone today with the final NYYC IC37 Hull 37020 leaving the factory today, the build team did a great job in getting this boat delivered just 13 weeks after delivery of our 1st boat.
We are looking forward to seeing 20 IC37’s lined up on the start line for the NYYC regatta in June.”
Karma, our 75′ Performance Cruiser design for Maxi Dolphin has hit the water. In coming weeks the rig will be stepped and trial sailing can begin. The stunning Karma interiors are the work of top Milan office Nauta Design, whose experience and clean relaxed vibe reflected the owners wishes perfectly.
The Cape31 Training Regatta took place in Cape Town November 23-25, with professional coaching and drone footage provided with the assistance of TNT owner Dr. Tina Plattner. This was very beneficial for those taking part,a nd produced some fabulous footage!
Details of the 2019 Cape 31 Invitational Regatta have been announced for 5 – 10 February 2019. Want to test a Cape 31 in a proper One Design regatta, or just enjoy some fabulous warm weather racing with your team during the Northern hemisphere winter? Enter the C31 Invitational regatta. Experience these awesome one-design racing machines and sail in iconic Table Bay all while exploring beautiful Cape Town. Limited boats available – get your entry in now!
September 27, 2018, for immediate release by New York Yacht Club
NEWPORT, R.I. – After a summer of commissioning work, sea trials and the occasional weeknight PHRF race, the New York Yacht Club’s first three IC37s lined up for two days of one-design racing on Narragansett Bay on the first weekend of autumn. While the fleet was small, especially compared to the pack of 20 or more boats that will charge the starting line at each IC37 regatta next summer, it was nonetheless a revelation to see this slick 37-footer in its natural environment, namely racing boat-for-boat with full amateur crews.
“We have something special here,” says New York Yacht Club Rear Commodore Chris Culver, who led his team to victory in the event over those skippered by Commodore Phil Lotz and Paul Zabetakis, who chairs the Club’s IC37 subcommittee. “It will be a rewarding sight when we have 20 of these racing thoroughbreds on the line next spring.”
It has been approximately 16 months since Commodore Lotz announced to the membership the Club’s intention to build a fleet of 20 one-design yachts for use in the Club’s flagship event, the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, and for race charter by members. Mark Mills was chosen to design the yacht with Westerly Marine in Santa Ana, Calif., selected as the primary builder. Melges Performance Sailboats will lead the worldwide marketing of the boat and the development of the class. Overwhelming interest from the sailing world led to the addition of a second builder, FIBRE Mechanics, in Lymington, Great Britain, this summer. North Sails will build the class’s one-design sails. Class rules require that all crew be World Sailing Group 1 (amateur) sailors and that each team has at least one woman, two if the team has eight or more people.
The first boat arrived in Newport in April and has been sailed extensively in the time since as numerous industry professionals worked to optimize the deck layout, sail and rig tune and crew mechanics.
“After this weekend, we can safely say that the IC37 has met, and in many cases, exceeded our design specifications of two years ago,” says Zabetakis. “We asked for a modern race boat incorporating the latest hull and rig design with a deck layout planned for maximum efficiency for around-the-buoys racing and that’s exactly what we have. The boat is stable both upwind and down, maneuvers extremely well in tight spaces and accelerates quickly. The time we spent in defining what we wanted, and, as importantly, what we did not want, has clearly paid off.”
SuperNikka, the Vismara 62 Mills owned by Roberto Lacorte, won the Mini-Maxi 1 Class with a day to spare for her third Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup title. With less than half the points of the second placed finisher in the 10 boat fleet, SuperNikka revelled in a mix of conditions over the week-long event in in scenic Porto Cervo.
The pinnacle of the Maxi yacht racing calendar, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup brings together the biggest and fastest monohulls in the world once a year to race in the unparalleled scenery and conditions of the Maddalena archipelago in northeastern Sardinia.
Our WallyCento Tango continued her run of success against her 100 foot sisterships with a pair of excellent results on the final day of the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup, lifting her above Magic Carpet and Galateia in the overall Wally standings. The newest of the WallyCento fleet Tango has excelled among her sisterships in 2018, finishing all three Wally Class events as the top 100.
Claus Landmark drove his Landmark 43 Santa to a runaway victory in Class B at the inaugural Offshore Sailing Worlds at the Hague. Her sistership White Shadow of Torkel Valland was second, both well clear of the third place finisher. The first event to combine the IRC and ORC World Championships, it was scored using the combined results under each rule, underlining the strength of this Mills Design 43 footer in the light medium conditions that prevailed off the Dutch coast.
Landmark had previously won the 2016 ORC World Championship in Santa, but success here carries twice the sweetness as it represents the first coordinated effort to bring the world’s two major rating systems together at a single event. Designer Mark Mills commented after the event “This provides us with a well controlled trial for comparing the two rating systems, from which we are learning more about crossover opportunities to make our designs more capable under both rules, and perhaps under a unified rule of the future.”
The international jury of the ADI Golden Compass Award gave Honourable Mention to the yacht Tango WallyCento#4 which will from now take it’s place in the largest historical design collection of its kind, joining the other products awarded the Golden Compass Award during it’s 64 year history.
The success of Tango is borne of a close collaboration between Mills Design, the Pininfarina Nautical division, builder Persico Marine represented by Marcello Persico above, and innovation leader Wally Yachts. “Receiving such prestigious recognition gives me great pride and attests to the quality of work of a real team of excellence in the nautical sector,” said Paolo Pininfarina, President of Pininfarina Group.
The Mills Design wallycento Tango was first to finish the 2018 edition of the Rolex Giraglia, leading home her sister wallycentos Galateia and Magic Carpet. This result gave her victory in the combined inshore and offshore parts of the Rolex Giraglia event, starting with inshore racing in St. Tropez, and finishing with the historic offshore race to Genoa. The Tango team led by Marc Pajot are rapidly coming to terms with the new and highly sophisticated 100 footer, having bested their more experienced wallycento rivals in both of the Wally events so far in the 2018 calendar.
After starring at the NYYC Commissioning ceremony at Harbour Court, the Melges IC37 went sailing for a week to show her off to stakeholders and potential buyers. In a wide range of conditions she inspired excitement and confidence in equal measure, building high expectations for next seasons fleet racing.
The first Melges IC37 arrived at New England Boatworks last Monday afternoon, and was out sailing Tuesday afternoon after fitting keel, rudder and rig, a testament to the completeness and quality of the preparation and build by the IC37 team. Three days of sailing 001 in wind speeds between 6 and 20 with the development group including Harry Melges, Kenny Read and designer Mark Mills, key contributors from Harken, Spinlock, and Southern Spars, and NYYC members onboard produced unanimous enthusiasm for the new design. North Sails President Read who was an integral part of the development of the class summed up the first sail as “Really amazing, the boat feels good!”. With no major issues arising it marked the smoothest assembly and initial sailing trials imaginable in perfect spring conditions in Newport
Designed to offer a stable platform for a wide range of crew skills to enjoy high performance sailing the IC37 combines the design DNA of the latest generation of raceboat with features to appeal to the widest cross-section of sailors and owners. Strict One Design limitations on the boat and crew, a deliberately limited sail wardrobe, and attractive pricing are key components in building a class with widespread appeal, built on the foundation of 20 boats ordered by the New York Yacht Club. Mills was very enthused “Its probably the best first week I’ve seen, going from a truck to getting a wide range of stakeholders out sailing on a fully debugged boat in less than a week is remarkable, I think the consensus is we have an awesome boat, and class, on our hands.” More information is available at the IC37 Class run by Melges Performance Sailboats.
Comet A the wonderfully painted MAT1180 of the Arkas MAT Sailing Team made the front cover of Seahorse Magazine for May 2018. This newly launched collaboration between Arkas, one of Turkey’s top racing teams, and MAT one of their best builders has enjoyed a winning start to her career.
Westerly Marine is nearing completion of the first IC37 for the New York Yacht Club. The Class website carries the latest construction photos and updates, watch as we bring the IC37 to life!
The second Cape 31 ‘Summer in the South’ regatta was a huge success, attracting teams from the UK and Australia to race against the rest of the Cape Town fleet. Won by One Ton Cup holder Peter Morton from the RORC, the event boasted a full range of conditions. The Cape 31 has proven to be an extraordinary success locally with 12 boats sold and more to come, producing a high quality One Design fleet at the Royal Cape Yacht Club. These and more superb images from Kim van Zyl can be found here: http://www.photographix.co.za/Galle…/Sports/Cape-31-Regatta/
Good video by Titch Mitchell of the Cape 31’s MB and Nemesis on the last day.
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Scud ROCKED it last night. What a jol!
These boats cook at the right angles, and you feel them respond from tip to toe.
What impresses me is not the top speed – which is great nonetheless – but rather how the boat maintains pace and responds so beautifully to inputs.
We were wobbly with our kite drops and drop line, which is a recurring theme for us, and left a lot of time on the course through our own mistakes, but it was great to keep up with the Corby 49 “Nitro” and the Farr 40 “Regardless”… and to hold on for an overall class win on the night.
Course was Start, PE, BB, LM (west of WB), PE, WB, H, finish. About 12.5 miles. Wind was flukey and in the high teen range, with some gusts into the early twenties. Out to sea, it was SW, but in the corner, it was an unstable back to front SE.
We flew the A2 on the first two deep downwind legs, then switched to the A3 for the tighter reach on the last leg. The boat felt like it was exploding with joy on the last leg, after weeks of being caged in with blowout after blowout.
Crew on the night: Michael, Warwick, Imogen, Ian, Gui, Luke & Christian. 594kg.”
A superb video from talented photographer Fabio Taccola and Vismara Marine of the double-Worlds winning Vismara 62 Mills SuperNikka.
Our Premier Composites-built IRC 45 Concubine owned by Jason Ward and Shevaun Bruland was the first boat under 50′ to finish the 2017 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, in a competitive group of designs sized beneath the TP52’s.
Video from the practice day before the Cape 31’s first One design event. Tina Plattner won the regatta by one point from Mike Hayton after nine races over two days. Feedback after the event included:
“Great first regatta. The boats were surprisingly fast in the very light airs of Sunday. All the sailors were exhausted but had a great time. ”
“Everyone sailing and spectating on boats or the shore were raving about the boats, everyone thinks they are indeed fantastic.”
The historic Canada’s Cup is being rebooted using the Mills IC 37 One Design for the NYYC. The Canada’s Cup, the Great Lakes premier match racing trophy, has been contested 24 times between USA and Canada since the first event in 1896. USA holds the edge, 13 to 11, with teams competing in a wide range of classes over that span. To celebrate the history, tradition and competitiveness of the Canada’s Cup, the Canada’s Cup Committee – chaired by Allan Megarry and Past Commodore Jamie Keating, and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) – has developed a new vision for the event beginning in 2020: a bi-annual event with three cycles to 2024 with all events being hosted at the RCYC.
The Canada’s Cup Committee has selected the NYYC Melges IC37 as the platform for this vision. Building on the success of the NYYC Invitational Cups from 2009 to 2017, New York Yacht Club (NYYC) initiated the selection of a replacement for the Swan 42 in 2016. Their selection committee settled on the Mills designed IC37, whose Class Association was developed with partner Melges. “The time had come for a strict one-design class of this size, designed and built to accommodate a wide spectrum of crew skills, targeting Corinthian sailors of the world,” said Harry Melges. “We are dedicated to enriching all areas of one-design racing, including youth, Corinthian, women, and Grand Prix style racing.” more
Fabulous round-up of the C&C30 Class by Petey Crawford at Penalty Box Productions!
Dr. Tina Plattner’s new Cape 31 TNT reaching at speed off Cape Town. She mailed the projects founder Lord Laidlaw:
“We’ve now sailed 3 Wednesday nights in our boat and are loving it. She goes well in light breeze as well as a decent south easter, we yesterday hit 23 knots going downwind! At the same time the designers got it right that she is not slow upwind either. Cut a long story short, the Cape 31 is a really fun boat and thanks again for making this possible for Cape Town we will have a lot of fun with this fleet, and I really hope that some more people will decide to buy one now that they are seeing 4 or 5 of us sailing out there…”
The Cape 31 will have a Class regatta as part of the Volvo Race stopover in Cape Town in December.
The latest wallycento Tango competed in her first event, the Voiles de St. Tropez, a month after launching. With a first and a second in the six race series she proved her potential in a class which for the first time ever included three wallycento’s, four if Open Season is included.
Great image of the second Cape 31 Ski enjoying a 35 knot day at the False Bay Spring Regatta, won by the Landmark 43 Windpower.
Roberto Lacorte’s Supernikka won the Mini Maxi RC1 Class at the 28th edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo. With the guidance of tactician Tommaso Chieffi, SuperNikka triumphed in a competitive class after a tough week of sailing in the most beautiful of venues, on the 50th anniversary of it’s host club the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. This is her second victory at the event in three years, securing a formidible legacy for a dual-purpose racer-cruiser.
The New York Times ran an article by John Clarke “Wally Yachts Puts Owners in the Driving Seat” featuring Wally Yachts and our WallyCento ‘Tango’. Designer Mark Mills described her as our most stylish work to date, combining a delicate balance of aesthetics and ergonomics.
The New York Yacht Club has announced that the IC37, their latest Club One Design designed by Mills Design, will be marketed by Melges Performance Sailboats and built by Westerly Marine. Selected after a great deal of thought, these partners complete an outstanding team developing and delivering the IC37 with an eye towards a successful Class beyond the 20 boat fleet for the NYYC. “The tremendous feedback we received on this new design convinced us that this boat can be more than just the next platform for our flagship competition, the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup,” says New York Yacht Club Commodore Philip A. Lotz.
The class rules are an evolution of the principal philosophy for the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup: top-notch Corinthian competition in matched one-design boats. With the exception of one bonafide boat captain, the crew will be all World Sailing Group 1 (amateur) sailors and the inclusion of female sailors on each crew will be required. The combination of sails constructed to a common design by industry leader North Sails and hulls built to exacting tolerances by Westerly Marine, one of the world’s most respected and capable boatbuilders, will ensure a level platform previously unseen for boats this size. The innovative class structure will establish a new paradigm for true one-design racing.
“None of these ideas, on their own, are groundbreaking,” says Ken Read, President of North Sails, and a 27-year member of the Club. “One-design sails are a hallmark of successful classes such as the Laser and 49er, and the Nacra 17 has shown the potential of mandatory coed crews. But sailing hasn’t seen a boat this big embrace all these concepts from the outset. It’s a bold step by the New York Yacht Club. I think it has tremendous potential. It will greatly reduce the cost of entry and ensure that the competition is extraordinarily close.”
More on the Clubs decision here: https://www.nyyc.org/news/2178-new-york-yacht-club-partners-with-leading-marine-brands-to-launch-ic37-keelboat.
Our 100′ Wally ‘Tango’ was launched in Savona, Italy yesterday to begin a busy month of sea trials before the handover to the client. This opens a new chapter in an intense and exciting build project, our largest to date. It is also we believe the most innovative, the most stylish, and certainly has been one of the most satisfying to develop in collaboration with the client and his team, Wally Yachts, Pininfarina, and Persico Marine.
We owe our involvement to the vision of Wally founder Luca Bassani who suggested us to bring a fresh mindset to the wallycento design question. Presenting as a team with research partner KND-Sailing Performance and structural partner Pure Engineering we showed a radical proposal combining dramatic deck geometry with a novel interior layout for the most efficient ‘packaging’ of the required volumes, integrated with the structure to a level not yet seen in a yacht of this size. That proposal very quickly became the yacht that launches this month after huge amounts of detail development, but very little deviation from the original vision for a sleek, light, and exciting sailing machine.
To bring this highly refined concept to a full resolution required the total engagement of Persico Marine in the development and execution of the complex composites and systems. Setting a new standard for large race yachts of this type, the intensity of the composite construction matches that of aTP52 or Maxi 72, and with the optimisation of the extensive systems with Project Manager Carlo Torre, have resulted in significant gains through weight reduction and centralisation. Combined with the strikingly modern interior design from Pininfarina it is clear the entire team have achieved something extraordinary.
We are looking forward to the launch and sail trials, then showing her off briefly at the Monaco Yacht Show before she gets to her natural environment on the racecourse. Designer Mark Mills commented that “For such a significant and challenging project with so many key players it still surprises me that it has been the most positive and dynamic of environments. That collaborative ethos contributes hugely to making the gains in all of the areas we wanted in order to move the game on.”
22/07/2017, Savona (ITA), Wally Cento Tango going out of the shed, Photo Gilles Martin-Raget
Our 100′ Wally ‘Tango’ leaving the shed and getting ready for launching, click on image for time-lapse video.
MAT Yachts has delivered two new MAT1010’s for Meridian Adventures in very colorful paint schemes!
The MIlls 68 Prospector set a new elapsed time record for the 363 nm Marblehead to Halifax race of 28:28:50, beating the old record by 2:18:02.
Prospector, built in 2008 at New England Boatworks, is owned by Paul McDowell, David Siwicki and Larry Landry. All were on board for the race, and spoke enthusiastically about the sailing conditions they encountered. “It’s amazing to be on boat that can go this fast,” Landry said. “Prospector is one of the best monohulls in the world.” Looking ahead the team plans to take Prospector to the Pacific next year and participate in the Transpac and the Sydney to Hobart Race, building on their offshore successes in the Pineapple Cup and Marblehead to Halifax Race.
The first Cape 31 built entirely by Uwe Jasperson in Cape Town was launched yesterday after an extensive process building tooling and getting production underway. This is the first of 10 orders to be delivered for the South African market.
The New York Yacht Club has selected Mills Design to draw a 37’ high performance racer to form the fleet for the Club’s flagship Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup in 2019. The first 20 will be owned and maintained by the Club, which looks forward to high quality fleet racing in a strict One Design class.
“To ensure the future of this great event, the Club decided to build its own fleet of raceboats. From 19 submissions from top yacht designers around the globe, we have selected a 37-footer drawn by Mark Mills. We think it’s the perfect choice to carry this regatta forward and build upon the substantial legacy established by the Swan 42.” explained Commodore Philip A. Lotz.
The Club had a vision for a high performance One Design that embraces high quality fleet racing, encourages the widest range of participation, and will keep costs managed in a way that ensures the largest uptake. “We were overwhelmed with the response to our initial request for proposals,” says NYYC Sailing Committee Chair Paul M. Zabetakis, “We feel that’s a strong indication that there’s an opportunity in sailing for the next great one-design class. While our primary goal is to create a boat that will sustain the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup well into the future, we also hope that the momentum provided by the Club’s investment will establish a class that will reinvigorate a general interest in Corinthian yachting in larger boats.”
There are a series of Cape 31 cockpit camera videos from YouTube and the Cape 31 website, including this hypnotic offwind ride.
With the launch of ‘Flame’ the first Cape 31 in South Africa last week, Mills Design’s latest high performance design was revealed. Conceived and brought to fruition by Cape Town resident and prominent sailor Lord Irvine Laidlaw of ‘Highland Fling’ fame, it is in production and growing as a successful new One Design class at the Royal Cape Yacht Club. Response has been very enthusiastic after she performed well in conditions ranging from light/medium to almost 30 knots a few days after her launch. More information is available at www.cape31.co.za.
Prospector the Mills 68 crossed the finish line in Montego Bay, Jamaica to correct out ahead of Mini-Maxi rival Wizard by 1 hour 20 minutes after a close fought race in idyllic conditions.
Ken Read, Prospector Strategist on the win, “It was a great race for Prospector. It’s a really good group, a bunch of old friends, a really good team. Really good boat. We worked hard I can tell you that, this boat is new to them and it was fun, but it’s bloody hard work.”
On sailing in the Pineapple Cup, “You know I’ve sailed around the world a couple of times and two of the prettiest nights I’ve ever been out on the water for were in the last two days. Bright moon, stars, just gorgeous sailing conditions. I just did an 800-mile race and I didn’t touch my foul weather gear, so it’s heaven. For people not to consider this race as part of their bucket list if you have a boat that even semi races is crazy, because this is about as good as it gets.”
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The C&C30 Class at Quantum Key West Race Week 2017 enjoyed a beautiful mix of conditions allowing four different boats to win races, although nobody could stop Dan Cheresh and his Extreme 2 team from a decisive victory, as featured in Steve Lapkin’s great images above, and this Quantum Sails facebook video of them in action https://www.facebook.com/84727408409/videos/10154972976913410/
Mills Design and MAT Yachts have been developing a smaller sister to the successful MAT1180. The MAT1080 is a high performance raceboat capable of inshore and coastal racing which has been carefully developed to keep cost and complexity to a minimum. Designer Mark Mills “We are very excited to develop another boat with MAT who are a great partner to work with. We feel a fast simple design offering cost-effective performance under both ORC and IRC is the way forwards.” Further details of this project will be shared in 2017.
Mills Design and Vismara Marine are proud to announce their latest collaboration, the Vismara 67 Mills. Following in the footsteps of the V50 Mills, V56 Mills and all-conquering V62 Mills, the V67 is a natural progression for the Viareggio-based luxury yacht builder. As with her sister ships, her construction will be in the most advanced carbon & epoxy sandwiches with carbon rig and standing rigging to ensure a very light displacement of approx 21.6 tons. She will also benefit from a telescopic keel design pioneered by Alessandro Vismara and fitted to a number of her forbears allowing her draft to be decreased from 3.6m to just 2.4m.
With four semi-custom designs already launched during 2016, the new V67 further cements Vismara Marine / Mills Design relationship. Offering the perfect combination of cutting edge performance hull design with the very latest in build techniques and technical design innovation, Vismara Marine with Mills Design is leading a new Italian renaissance amongst yacht builders.
German watchmaker Tutima has supported the all-women Tutima Sailing Team for a number of years, and this October rigged their dark-grey DK46 in the most unusual of locations to celebrate German Unity Day. Rigged with the mast up but no keel in central Dresden brought some unusual challenges but it created an extraordinarily successful centrepiece.
Our latest IRC 41 Karasu has just been launched in Japan and started test sailing. Built by McConaghy’s in Zhuhai, this all-carbon racer is targeted at an inshore schedule in primarily light/medium conditions. The optimisation for these conditions includes lighter displacement, large sail plan, and our innovative ramp deck allowing a lighter stiffer deck structure as well as improved crew ergonomics. As usual the design was developed with involvement from Hall Spars NZ, North Sails, and a new deck gear package from Harken using 65’s for the driven primaries which will become the base spec for future Fast40+.
A three boat MAT1180 order for the Turkish Naval Academy has been delivered by MAT. The Naval Academy’s 3000 acre campus in Tuzla outside Istanbul includes comprehensive sailing facilities for its dinghy fleet as well as a range of larger yachts. The Academy will campaign its MAT1180’s on the competitive Turkish IRC circuit.
The DK46 ‘Maserati’ of Alvaro Irala triumphed in BMW ORC 1, the biggest class at Spain’s most important regatta. The final day saw “Maserati” which has Olympic gold medalist Fernando Leon on board with round the world racer Guillermo Altadill, finish with a 2,3 to win by 6.5 points overall. Irala commented:
“This morning we were second overall and so we had to really attack today but still to keep calm on board with cool heads. We could not be conservative.”
The Landmark 43 Santa of Claus Landmark triumphed in the 2016 ORC World Championships which concluded on Saturday in Copenhagen, Denmark. Counting 5 bullets over the mostly light airs event Landmark bettered his strong performance at the 2014 ORC Worlds where he led until the final day, this time leaving no doubt of his dominance of the 59 boat Class B. With all 3 of the Landmarks 43’s finishing in the top 10, this is a reward for the Norwegian performance cruiser-racer project Claus began with Mills Design a decade ago.
The inaugural C&C30 North American Championships were won by Dan Cheresh and his Extreme 2 team in a hotly contested event in Newport R.I.. Held as part of the 2016 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, Cheresh enthused: “To win the first North American Championships in Newport at the NYYC, it doesn’t get any better than this. This was by far the most rewarding event I’ve ever sailed in.” The C&C30 fleet continues to grow, and the appointment of Stagg Yachts to manage and market the class will further boost its future. – Image Paul Todd / Outside Images.
C&C 30 fleet video at 2016 NYYC Race Week from Alden Winder.
Exciting footage on-board Extreme2 on her way to winning the C&C30 class at the NYYC Annual Regatta.
The latest Vismara 62 Mills ‘Yaru’ was launched today by Vismara Marine, the cruising sistership of our successful Racer/Cruiser ‘SuperNikka’. With a more softly chined hull shape and a focus on cruising amenities she combines the performance of SuperNikka with greater intimacy and refinement to deliver cruising enjoyment for family and friends.
The beautiful surrounds of Santa Margherita and Portofino in Northern Italy hosted the 2016 TAG Heuer Velafestival, a combination of boat show, regatta, and celebration of sailing including the 2016 Annual Sailor of the Year Awards. The Vismara 62 Mills SuperNikka and the newly launched Vismara 56 Mills performance cruiser TWIN were showcased at the event both at the dock and on the water.
At the Awards ceremony on Friday night SuperNikka was presented with the TAG Heuer Performance award for boat of the year, while her owner Roberto Lacorte was on the shortlist for the Sailor of the Year. Mark Mills was presented a Special Mention award by a father of modern yacht design Dick Carter along with Alessandro Vismara, while Marcello Persico head of Persico Marine building the latest WallyCento won the TAG Heuer Innovation award. On Saturday the racing overall was won by SuperNikka, while Twin came third in her class.
The new MAT1180 LEELOO went racing in some breeze and posted these great images from Dolores Burkert.
Apologies on behalf of Facebook Translation:
“The vibe that we with the crew on deck when they experienced accelereerde and left at the first upwind curve at 20 + knots of wind was legendary!
Not entirely unexpected ?, made some kite damage… but what a boat, what a fun. Too bad we don’t have more gennakers to see if we have a scoop on top of the last 17.5 club could do.
Anyway, happy with the weekend, learned a lot and psyched with the MAT.”
Great graphics, definitely the fifth element!
Some images from Luca Ferron’s workshop of his latest free-standing model, our Maxi 72 Caol Ila R. This showpiece highlights the extraordinary attention to detail Luca brings to his work. www.lucaferron.eu .
Our latest project with Vismara Marine the Vismara56 Mills ‘TWIN’ was launched in Viareggio. This powerful fast cruiser with extraordinary interior space was conceived by the owner as a shorthanded blue-water cruiser able to daysail in the Maddalena archpelago off Sardinia as easily as cruise across the Mediterranean. The interior and exterior styling is by Milan-based Studio Micheletti.
In an exciting start to the first ever stand-alone class event of its type, the C&C30 Miami Ocean Challenge held at Coconut Grove Sailing Club in Miami, Florida certainly delivered. In changeable conditions which varied from huge seas with winds of 18-25 knots on Friday to 4-9 knots on the final day, Sunday, the lead changed multiple times with over 80% of the boats partaking winning an individual race.
A fascinating video following the C&C30 Bobsled during the Conch Republic Cup in Cuba and the crew’s enjoyment of this incredible country and culture.
Olympian Shirley Robertson who presents CNN’s Mainsheet Sailing program was in Key West and highlighted the C&C 30 as “the standout class ” of Quantum Key West Race Week.
Walt Thirion’s bright blue C&C30 Themis won a challenging C&C30 One Design Class at Quantum Key West Race Week. Over a week which saw conditions ranging from 10 knots to blown out, the lead changed hands multiple times with almost half the fleet recording an individual race win. In its first year as a class the C&C30 with 11 identical boats on the start line was the second largest fleet at Key West Race Week, with competitors coming from as far afield as the UK and Norway. Images Max Ranchi / Quantum Key West race Week
Great Quantum video from onboard Extreme2 with some fun downwind legs.
Footage of one of the Maxi 72 Class races at Key West Race Week including our 72 Caol Ila R and her owner Alex Schaerer. Caol Ila led early on and ultimately finished second in a very high quality fleet.
Great drone footage of Concubine sailing up the Derwent River towards the finish line of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2015. With thanks to Kyle Gardener from Aerial Vision Australia for the video.
An extensive R&D program was undertaken for WallyCento#4 with our R&D Partners KND/Sailing Performance, including hull and appendage CFD studies in both panel code overseen by partner Roland Kleiter, and RANS headed by Dimitri Nicolopoulos which included appended modelling in waves. These programs build on their experience developing the 2014 Maxi72 World Champion Alegre, foiling IMOCA 60’s, and the Volvo 65 VPP.
A key component of the process is targeting the design to a carefully defined weather and course model reflecting Wally Class events in the Mediterranean, using a decade of historic weather data both from logged event data and data recorded by weather services adjacent to sailing venues. The final hull shape exhibits a combination of low drag in lighter conditions and increased stability in more wind that makes her more versatile than previous generations. The single rudder chosen reflects this optimisation to the condition set which includes a mix of windward/leeward as well as coastal courses.
Mills Design is excited to have been chosen to design Tango, the next high performance Wally. When asked by the client for the most refined high performance solution to Wally’s 100′ Racer-Cruiser WallyCento rule we assembled a team of specialists with the most open minds to review the options and create something special. Our core design partnership comprises R&D specialist Dimitri Nicolopoulos from KND/Sailing Performance in Valencia (also providing design management), Giovanni Belgrano of Pure Engineering overseeing the engineering, and Gautier Sergeant lead designer with North Sails. We sat down in late 2014 with a clean sheet of paper to combine the comfort and style demanded by Wally with the performance and refinement expected by all of the team, and the result is WallyCento#4.
Tango is currently under construction at the Persico Marine yard in Italy. “We suggested Mark to the client because I was impressed by the performance of the Maxi72 Alegre.” says Wally founder Luca Bassani. “Since the first meetings, we shared with him the same visions of the innovations that can be applied to this type of yachts like the cutting-edge deck layout that combines our flush-deck with bulwark introduced in 2006 with Esense, with the ramp deck of Alegre, perfectly reflecting the Wally DNA of improved functionality.”
Significant progress has been made in a number of areas of design and engineering, one of the first targets was optimisation of the accomodation and structure to reduce structural weight, improve hull stiffness, and centralise the significant machinery weights to reduce pitching inertias. Key to this process has been the involvement of the Project Manager Carlo Torre of MYT in Monaco and the Persico team, who have been creative and flexible throughout the extensive development process, assessing numerous alternatives before a final layout was agreed. As part of this the extensive systems necessary for these boats have been incorporated from the outset instead of being added at a later point, to ensure the most refined layout and structure.
Deck development is another significant thread, combining the simple sleek aesthetic that Wally has pioneered with a more functional race-able layout encouraging quicker easier manoeuvres. Drawing on the ramp deck first seen on Alegre this geometry was developed firstly to fit over the interior accommodation mandated by the wallycento rule in the most efficient way possible. The combination of sloping deck fore and aft with the raised central cockpit floor not only achieves this but provides an easier deck on which to operate. The key crew roles are concentrated centrally between the wheels and the pit winches, promoting communication and allowing the largest number of winch combinations to come into play.
The complexity of a WallyCento requires many specialists functioning together to achieve an optimised outcome, construction is well underway and we look forward to the launch of Tango in spring 2017 as another example of the strength of team solutions in a project of this scale and scope.
The Premier IRC 45 Concubine built for Australians Jason Ward and his wife Shevaun Bruland, seen here with Project Manager Silas Nolan, arrived safely in Adelaide last week, installed the Hall Spars rig, and has already started sailing.
More information at downundersail.com.
Photographer Fabio Taccola put together this overview of the Vismara 62 Mills SuperNikka’s year from conception to competition for a celebration dinner in Pisa in November.
Some great footage from the C&C30 One Design fleet at the STC Annapolis Fall Regatta. Won by Dan Cheresh’s Extreme2 the 9 boat class enjoyed great racing as momentum builds towards Key West.
‘Concubine’, the first of our latest IRC45′ design for Premier Composites Technologies in Dubai is nearing completion, prior to being shipped to Australia to prepare for the 2015 Sydney-Hobart race. An aggressive approach to the inshore/offshore brief produced a light wide hull shape with plenty of form stability when heeled to produce the versatility required to succeed in a wide range of conditions. Developed with the team at Premier, Concubine’s project manager Silas Nolan, and the teams from Pure Engineering, KND Sailing Performance, Harken, and Hall Spars we are looking forward to seeing her perform.
‘SuperNikka’ the silver Vismara 62 Mills Racer/Cruiser of Roberto Lacorte won the Mini-Maxi Racer class at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in the beautiful setting of Porto Cervo, Sardinia. Racing on challenging coastal courses under the tactical guidance of Tommaso Chieffi she counted a 1,1,1,2 to take the Mini-Maxi Racer class after very close competition between the top three boats.
SuperNikka is a high performance hybrid, combining racing speed with a genuine cruising capability including tender garage, recessed dodger, lifting keel, and a spacious light interior. Hulls 2 and 3 are under construction at Vismara Marine in different configurations to reflect each owners wishes. Photographer Fabio Taccola followed SuperNikka throughout the event, producing some fantastic images of a superb week. In the Maxi Class Mills Design assisted Windfall with a new bulb and sprit, fitted just before the event to help win her class.
Bob Steele’s new MAT1180 Quest led throughout to win their class at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week and with it the Australian IRC National Championships with a race to spare. The Quest team chose the deep draft option, specified a large sail plan, and added a grinder and reels to Hull 02 after it arrived in Australia to optimise for their conditions, highlighted in the footage of the first race below. Interesting Sail -World article with further details here. http://www.sail-world.com/M-A-T-1180—It-s-all-in-a-name-/137972
Never off the podium, her success across a range of windspeeds confirms the competitiveness of the new 1180 design of which 7 have been sold. An amazing sailing venue, Andrea Francolini’s great shots show off this stunning Great Barrier Reef location. In second was the evergreen DK46 Khaleesi.
Bob Steele’s new MAT1180 Quest sailing away from their class in Race 1 at Hamilton Island Race Week to an 8 minute corrected time win.
Concubine, the first of our latest 45′ IRC design was demolded at the Premier Composites facility in Dubai this week. Project managed by top sailor Silas Nolan she is on track for a December debut for her Australian client. With structures by Pure Engineering, rig from Hall NZ, and R&D managed by KND we are very excited.
The Vismara 62 Mills ‘SuperNikka’ for Roberto Lacorte was launched at a gala celebration last week, attended by hundreds in the beautiful new port of Marina Di Pisa in Italy. This aggressive 62’ Cruiser/Racer was developed with a team including Vismara Marine, North Sails Italy, and Roberto and his wife Luisa. The first event for this hybrid part racer/part family cruiser will be the 151 Miglia, an offshore race created by Roberto some years ago and now growing to be one of the strongest in the Lugurian Sea. Construction of a more cruising oriented version of this design is already underway for a second client.
Matt Sheahan the technical Editor of Yachting World has been doing quite a few Sport boat tests this spring. In this Boat Test he took out the Checkmate Sailing Sailing C&C30 on a beautiful Solent day – and his verdict? “I really like this boat.”
Another BAYK Series Weekend, another win, this time with two bullets. Nice on-board video of them racing, here beside the Ker 40 ‘Arkas’.
Beautiful shot of the newly launched MAT1180 CFM winning the 3 race BAYK Winter Series Weekend in Bodrum.
The new McConaghy’s-built IRC 41 Ambush 2 launched in Hong Kong last week, on-weight, on-schedule. Inshore/Offshore boat for repeat clients, focus on keeping things simple and reducing water ingress. Feedback very positive, look for sailing shots next week. Second hull available, please ask for information.
The new MAT 1180 has hit the water and been sailing, looking powerful and getting great reviews from the crew as they start working her up.
The new MAT1180 is coming together at the MAT facility outside Izmir, we will add more images as the fitout proceeds.
Andy Soriano and his Alegre team were crowned World Champions at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Worlds yesterday in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. In perhaps the best Mini-Maxi fleet yet assembled including previous champions Ran in their latest boat and past winners Bella Mente, Alegre remained on top of the 7 boat class from the first race to the last. “It’s a great achievement for the team to be World Champion,” said Soriano. “I’m relieved, it’s something we strove for, we’ve been (in this position) twice already and we finally were able to get over the last hurdle. We sailed our own race; loose, relaxed, confident like we have all week. This year the level of the competition has been raised, more than any of us could have imagined.”
Alegre, the second Mini-Maxi from Mills Design for this owner, was aimed at winning this event and showed her boatspeed and crew handling advantages by comfortably winning both coastal races. Having been forced into the runners-up spot on the last day twice in previous years, and with only three points between first and second going into the final day, the pressure was on the team in the worlds highest quality Owner-Driver event. Supported by tactician John Kostecki and a tight-knit crew they played the odds on the final day to ensure the series was wrapped up with a race to spare. “I am very happy for Andy and the whole Alegre team” said designer Mark Mills “It’s just reward for the dedicated and focused campaign that they have run. I can’t thank Andy enough for the opportunity to be playing and winning at this level. the success of the design would not have been possible without the involvement in the design team of R&D specialists KND and engineer Steve Koopman of SDK, and the passion of builders Longitud Cero ”
Our latest IRC 41 design is currently under construction at McConaghy’s, the result of a long and detailed R&D program aimed at optimising the performance for Asian conditions both inshore and offshore. The first boat is for repeat clients in Hong Kong, and reflects their experience racing locally in their previous custom Mills 41, as well as their views about the best way to approach the fleet with a new design.
The design process involved a comprehensive CFD driven VPP study with our research partners KND / Sailing Performance, looking at multiple hull shape options, foil configurations, and sail plan sizes. This work built on our previous studies for new designs based on increasing form stability when heeled, resulting in significant gain upwind in a breeze. The focus for this design was to ensure these gains could be combined with strength in light/medium airs, as well as breezier conditions offshore in events like the Vietnam Race. Since these ambitions are not always mutually compatible, it became clear that including as much modabilitiy as possible into the basic boat would offer a range of benefits: firstly it provides the client a far wider range of competitive configurations by adjusting the key components of Draft, Displacement, Trim, and Sail Area. Secondly in the light of the IRC rule’s transition in recent years towards accommodating lighter faster designs including wide modable ranges in as many parameters as possible opens up the ability to respond to future rule adjustments flexibly, extending the competitive life of the boat. Thirdly it allowed the basic hull shape to deliver a wider range of possibilities for other clients looking to optimise future builds of the design more significantly for different conditions.
Our latest project is the sleek and aggressive 62′ SuperNikka for Italian owner Roberto Lacorte. Built in semi custom series by Vismara Marine as the VISMARA 62 Mills she is a unique combination of light powerful carbon racer and fully featured family cruiser, based on a chined light offshore-oriented raceboat hull with tall rig and deep lifting keel, perfect for targeting Mediterranean racing with his existing team. A keen racer and creator of the 151 Miglia offshore race Mr. Lacorte also enjoys cruising every summer with his family, and needs his yacht to be as functional as it is fast to provide the best of both worlds. To help deliver this in 2013 he asked Mills Design to join the team producing his latest yacht, including builder and experienced designer Alessandro Vismara of Vismara Marine and North Sails Italy who have been part of his previous successful programs.
We were excited to join this group tasked with producing the exterior geometry: hull and deck surfaces, appendages, and rig, allowing us to focus on performance with our R&D partners KND in Valencia, while the Vismara team produced the interior and engineering, integrating her aggressive racing character with amenities such as the lifting keel, a dinghy garage in the transom, and underdeck dodger stowage. Due to launch in Spring 2015, hull lamination is complete and deck and bulkhead construction is well advanced.
The new C&C30 One Design was launched and went sailing this week, getting a lot of attention in busy Newport. A shakedown sail with top sailors Brad Read and Jesse Fielding and US Watercraft head Randy Borges provided a lot of positive feedback on the boat in 12-16kn upwind and down. The latest high performance One Design with a carbon keel fin, fixed sprit, and inshore and offshore capabilities proved to be an exhilirating and hugely enjoyable ride. More information at http://c-cyachts.com/.
The MAT1180 is an exciting next-generation IRC raceboat design which is the product of a long and careful design, engineering, and development process initiated by long term clients Alp and Cem Somer of MAT. Mills Design and MAT have worked together very successfully in the past on the MAT1245 and MAT1010 IRC designs, and we are looking forward to continuing this relationship with the new MAT1180. MAT’s interest in taking their successful production operation to the next level began with a preliminary design exercise in 2013 to investigate fully the changes in IRC affecting lighter designs in the 39’ size range. It became clear that there was space in IRC for an aggressively light and fast design if well-engineered and well-built to produce the right weight and distribution of mass. more
Welcome to the NEW Mills Design Website. We hope to use this new platform to better communicate Mills Designs’ successes around the world with more regular News and Results updates. With the help of the guys at xava.ie we have developed a new format website which retains the feel of our previous web presence while opening up more screen space to make for a brighter, more exciting, and more informative experience. It is fully responsive for optimal viewing across a range of platforms so we hope you will become a regular visitor using your tablet, phone, or PC. If you notice any problems or have any suggestions on how we can improve the experience, please contact us.
Mills Design is excited to have been asked by C&C Yachts, now part of US Watercraft, to produce the design for their new high performance One Design the C&C 30. More information on the design is available at c-cyachts.com, with tooling pictures regularly posted to their Facebook page.
Mills Design scored a remarkable first and second in IRC 0 at the Rolex Giraglia Trophy series in St. Tropez with our latest launching Alegre winning on her first outing. She was followed by Alex Schaerer’s IRC69 Caol Ila R in a light-medium air inshore series boasting the majority of the IMA Mini-Maxi racing fleet in the 27 boat class. Designer Mark Mills said “For two of our boats to top a full strength table is a vindication of the team we have assembled and the work we are doing.”
More on Alegre 3
Our latest design, the IRC 72 Alegre has been launched for owner Andy Soriano. Boasting an innovative deck layout and numerous unique solutions to produce a cleaner, lighter, and stiffer design which is easier to sail, Alegre enjoyed a week of workup and crew training prior to joining the Mediterranean IMA race circuit. A feature in the June Seahorse Magazine describes the design process and we are privileged to use the images of Jesus Renedo.
More on Alegre 3
When Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth continued their excellent run of form by winning their second straight China Coast Regatta it marked more than just their ongoing success in the most competitive annual inshore regatta in Asia. It marked the fifth year in a row that a Mills Design boat has won the IRC 1 class, comprising perhaps the most competitive 40′ IRC fleet anywhere in the world. Mills Design wants to thank the owners and crew of the three boats responsible for this extraordinary domination: Drew Taylor and Joachim Isler of Ambush 2008 and 2009, Helmuth Hennig in Blondie 2010, and Nick and Fred in 2011 and 2012.
The Mills 39 Dignity was part of the victorious 2012 Commodores Cup winning Team GBR Red, the boat’s second back-to-back win in this event having previously raced as marinerscove.ie with the winning Irish team in 2010.
We started counting the Quarter Tonners we have been involved with, and found that in the 2012 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup 7 of the top 11 boats used our original Espada keel design (below), and for 4 of them we had designed the sail plan. 5 of the last 7 Quarter Ton Cup winners have benefitted from our performance input, as well as some Half ton Winners. If you are interested in upgrading an old IOR design please get in touch.
Andy Soriano and the Alegre team repepated their 2010 performance to be named the International Maxi Association 2011 Season and Offshore Mini-Maxi Champions. Here is a YouTube video to remind you of what an Offshore in the Mediterranean can be like.
Mills Design is excited to be developing plans with Summit Yachts for a limited-series build of our latest 45′ raceboat design. The product of extensive CFD research and built of carbon in female molds by a leading raceboat builder, this light and exciting design offers a Grand Prix raceboat at a significant cost savings, achieved by sharing the start-up costs. The final configuration of the design (flush deck, wheels, etc) can be adapted for each clients needs, for more details please contact us or Summit Yachts directly.
More on the Summit 45
Our Mills Design Facebook page is now up with the latest news and results from Mills Design, offering a chance to comment and ask questions about our latest work, please come join.
The first MAT1010 arrived in the Hamble to be assembled and campaigned by top Solent yachtie Louise Morton. After an hours practice they went out and won their first race. Hull 2 is on its way to Scotland, with orders to Hull 7 under construction.
More on the MAT1010
Andy Soriano’s IRC 69 Alegre won the 2010 IMA Mini-Maxi title after a tremendous season, sailing and winning in places such as Palma, Portofino, St. Tropez, Porto Cervo, and Capri, culminating in a close run second place at the Maxi Worlds.
More info on the IRC 68
On the final day Mariners Cove stormed around the last inshore race in winds over 25km to record another race win by 3 minutes, and thus win Class 2 and help secure the 2010 Rolex Commodore’s Cup for Ireland. David Dwyer’s (second from right below) Mills Design IRC 39 along with teammates Antix and Roxy decisively grasped the prestigious biennial title by dominating the mix of inshore and offshore races competed for by 10 three-boat teams from around the world.
Hong Kong secured second place, sailing intelligently in the double-points final race to record a major upset over teams such as previous winners France and Great Britain. Team members Summit 40 Blondie and the Mills 41 Mandrake meant that 3 of the 6 boats in the top two teams came from the pen of Mark Mills, the designer with the largest representation in the fleet, with boats sailing for GBR and South Africa, including the last days big boat class winner the Landmark 43 Windpower.
Mills was excited by the success of the Irish team: “They meant to bring it back this time, which was reflected in the preparation, the boats, and the execution. In particular I am very happy for David and his team who deserve this after setting such a high standard with the extraordinary success of the boat.”
See Final Results
Andy Soriano helming his IRC 68 Alegre has won the 57th edition of the famous 243 mile Giraglia Race from St. Tropez to Genoa via the rocky outcrop of Giraglia off Corsica, as well as the preceding Giraglia Rolex Cup inshore race series held in St. Tropez. Alegre finished at the head of a tightly packed Mini-Maxi fleet composed of the worlds latest Grand Prix IRC Racers, most of whom owe her time producing a significant IRC win in her class. Alegre earlier won the intense three race Giraglia Rolex Cup inshore series held in St. Tropez over the weekend, including a coastal race corrected time win by 7 minutes. Owner Soriano said “the racing was truly tight all the way through, with all the mini-maxis coming up to the windward mark even on port …amazing”.
More on the IRC 68
Mark Mills was honored with the Asian Marine & Boating Best Designer Award 2010 at the Louis XIII-sponsored China International Boat Show (CIBS) Gala Dinner in Shanghai last week. The award was collected on Mills’ behalf by the Irish Vice-Consul in Shanghai John Lynam, above.
Mills Design has racked up a string of IRC Championship titles this year; Mariners Cove has been crowned the Overall British IRC Champion as well as winning the Irish Championship, Argie Bargie won the Scottish IRC Championship, and Ngoni took the Italian IRC Championship. These and other successes for both custom and production designs at events like the NYYC Annual Regatta, Scottish Series, and Red Funnel reflect the balance in IRC and bodes well for future projects.
More on the IRC 39
Mark Mills was honored with the Irish Independent / Afloat.ie Sailor of the Year Award: “Globally successful yacht designer Mark Mills of County Wicklow is the Afloat.ie/Irish Independent ‘Sailor of the Year 2009’ after a year of exceptional achievements which built on his original accolade as Sailor of the Month a year ago.”
Mark Mills was a featured speaker at the International Yacht Forum 2010, the Future in Offshore Yacht Racing held in Hamburg on February 13. A very positive event organised by the German Offshore Owners Association with a tremendous turnout from all around the Baltic requiring a relocation to the city’s convention centre, this meeting represented the major interest in reviving Big Boat events in the Baltic, starting with the new Hanseboot IRC Baltic Open series in 2010.
Summit Yachts have announced their latest project, the Summit 35 . Designed to follow in the footsteps of the successful King 40, the Summit 35 is already underway with milled tooling completed and construction underway.
More on the Summit 35
Soozal, the King 40 owned and driven by Dan Woolery with a strong team including Robbie Haines and Scott Easom, has continued her winning streak in Florida with wins in the Montego Bay Race-Pineapple Cup and 8 bullets in the Acura Miami Grand Prix. She now returns to a busy season in the Bay Area.
More on the Summit 40
The Mills Design website has been upgraded with the addition of a Proposals page to showcase the design work we have performed on preliminary and proposal designs. New ideas often show up first in these plans intended to get design discussions underway, without the pressure of implementation to limit creativity. Perhaps they will form the basis of a new design discussion we can have with you.
Browse our latest proposals
Mark Mills was named the January 2009 ‘Sailor of the Month’ by Ireland’s largest daily paper the Irish Independent, who mentioned the wide-ranging success of Mills Design in 2008, culminating in success in Key West this January..
The leading US magazine Sailing World has announced the King 40 by Summit Yachts as their 2009 Overall Boat of the Year. Topping the list of winners for Sailing World’s 25th annual Boat of the Year contest was this IRC Racer/Cruiser from Mills Design, which won the award from an independent panel of experts who inspected and sailed the 17 nominated entries during the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis earlier this year.
More on the Summit 40
Alegre the IRC 68 Mini-Maxi of Andres Soriano III sailed an extraordinary race to win a tough Rolex Middle Sea Race. This extends her record of success in major Mediterranean offshore events after first to finish victories and Mini-Maxi class wins in both the 2008 Rolex Middle Sea Race and the 2009 Rolex Giraglia Race. In very testing conditions with large waves and up to 40kn of wind producing significant numbers of breakages and retirements, Alegre led the fleet on handicap at each of the passing marks after Stromboli, approximately a third of the way into the race. Beating boats like the SuperMaxi ICAP Leopard and the 80′ Beau Geste on handicap and staying ahead of larger Mini-Maxi competitors such as the 72′ Ran II on the water was a testament to the non-stop team effort. Owner Soriano summed it up “this result shows what hard work, team spirit and supporting each other can do. We’re just friends sailing together and I’m so proud.”
More on the IRC 68
The first Summit 35 was launched on Sept 5 and after 2 days sailing went straight to the Newport Boat Show where interest exceeded expectations, boats sold, and she was awarded the Best Sailboat title. Pictured are the heads of the team responsible for the Summit 35 including Peter Truslow of Edgewater Boats, Tom Whidden of North Group, both partners from Summit Yachts, and Mark Mills.
More info on the Summit 35
A portfolio of IRC designs in the 40′-43′ size range we have produced in recent years is available for download. The large Acrobat (.pdf) file lists both our custom and production projects.
Download Portfolio
Soozal driven by owner Dan Woolery took the top spot from Tony Buckingham’s Mills 40 Ngoni after a tough ten-race Acura Key West Race Week . In a competitive fleet the fight for top spot went down to the last day, with the very successful Mills 40 Ngoni (ex-Tiamat) only needing to make up 3 points over the last two races, but Soozal looked rock solid and finished the day strongly for a series lead of seven points, counting a first or second in nine of the 10 races.
More on the Summit 40
David Dwyers IRC 39 Mariners Cove, one of the most successful IRC designs of recent years, was awarded the ICRA Yacht of the Year for 2008 jointly with ‘Rosie’.
More on the IRC 39
Ambush, the custom IRC 41 by McConaghy’s China, has lit up Hong Kong with back to back wins in the BMW Autumn Regatta and China Coast Regatta.
More on the IRC 41
Alegre has taken line honours in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, beating her Mini-Maxi rivals on corrected time in this Mediterranean offshore classic.
More on the IRC 68
The latest Tiamat for Tim Costello of Dublin has been launched by Vision Yachts. This 43′ IRC performer will be competing with No Naked Flames and Blondie as the Irish Green team in the Commodores Cup this July.
More on IRC 43
The first King 40 ‘Blondie IV’ did well in her first outing: a windy and truncated Red Funnel.
More on the Summit 40
Performance Cruiser with looks as well as pace for Cruising Division fun around the globe.
No Naked Flames, the first of the semi-custom Sliim 37 design, has been launched by Davie Norris Boatbuilders in New Zealand for Andrew Allen of the Irish Commodores Cup Green Team. Project Manager Chris Main reports “Boat is pretty F%$£&^%$ nice”.
More on the IRC 37
Now sailing in Dubai, the Landmark 43 has proved to be a stunner, both in visual and performance terms. The first reaction from Claus Landmark was “The first impression is great: the boat looks great and the balance of the boat seems to be perfect.”
More on the Landmark
The first md35 matagi was launched in the UK this summer for a UK owner who believed in the idea of a slim, stable, containerisable gentlemans daysailer. With performance, looks, and handling which has caused industry testers to gush with enthusiasm, the md35 is poised to become a large and lasting success worldwide. More info on the md35