| February 9, 2010 - - New Bedford,
MA - - Schaefer Marine’s patented articulating
mast track has been installed on the mast of the
203 ft. sailing mega yacht “Athos”,
which will arguably be the most notable launching
of a new yacht in 2010. “Athos”, currently
being built in Holland, is 203 ft. long, displaces
370 tons and draws 30 ft. of water with the board
down.
Schaefer’s articulating
sail track will allow the crew of “Athos”
to furl her sails with full-length carbon battens,
entirely into her boom. Fully battening a sail
is normally only possible with the use batten
cars. However batten cars cannot be used if the
sail needs to furled into the boom, which is why
Schaefer originally developed the technology for
their own in-boom furling system originally designed
for boats up to 53’ feet. With Schaefer’s
system, when the sail is furled into the in-boom
the bolt-rope and battens simply slide down and
off the lower end of the articulating track extrusion
and into the boom.
New mast being fitted out
for the 203’ Athos to be launched this spring
When underway, Schaefer’s
entire track articulates so the batten ends and
luff bolt rope move as one when the sail is trimmed.
So the bolt rope, which otherwise would have been
subjected to 750kg of forward thrust from the
battens, is effectively protected by the batten
‘seats' designed into the solid aluminum
extrusion.
The owner of “Athos”
successfully tested the system last year on the
108 ft. “Shamoun” which resulted in
adapting the same system to “Athos”.
More information on Schaefer’s articulating
track and in-boom furling system is available
at SchaeferMarine.com.
Prototype system previously
tested on the 108’ Shamoun
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