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Body of British tech entrepreneur Lynch retrieved from yacht, daughter missing

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• Interior ministry official confirmed Lynch's death
• Officials say it could take time to recover last body
• Chief prosecutor to hold press conference on Saturday
• Yacht manufacturer blames sinking on crew errors

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Who Was on the Sunken Yacht? Tech Mogul Mike Lynch, His Family and Friends.

Mr. Lynch, the former chief executive of the software firm Autonomy, who was acquitted on fraud charges in June, was with friends and family when the yacht went down in a severe storm.

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By Michael J. de la Merced

Michael de la Merced reported on Mike Lynch’s career and legal battles over the course of 13 years across two continents.

A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch , who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

Instead, it turned into a disaster after the yacht, a 180-foot boat called the Bayesian, sank off the coast of Sicily in a violent storm. Of the 22 people aboard, 15 were rescued, six bodies were recovered and one was still missing. Search operations at the site of the sunken yacht were continuing on Thursday.

Here’s what we know about the passengers.

Mike Lynch and his family

Mr. Lynch, 59, is a British software entrepreneur who had once been described as his country’s Bill Gates. He founded the software firm Autonomy, which analyzed clients’ unorganized data, and turned it into one of the most prominent British technology companies of its time. He became a widely known corporate leader, who advised David Cameron, the British prime minister at the time, and joined the board of the BBC.

In 2011, Mr. Lynch sold Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion, which was far above its market value, earning him hundreds of millions. But HP investors almost immediately soured on the transaction, and the American tech giant quickly fired its chief executive — and then Mr. Lynch.

HP later accused Mr. Lynch of misleading it about the state of Autonomy’s business, setting off a decade-long legal ordeal for the British executive, who denied the accusations. U.S. prosecutors charged him and other executives with fraud, and Autonomy’s chief financial officer was convicted in 2018.

Despite appeals to the British government, Mr. Lynch was extradited to the United States last year and was confined to a townhouse in San Francisco ahead of his criminal trial, which began in March. Facing the possibility of decades in prison if convicted, Mr. Lynch and another colleague were instead acquitted of all charges.

An official in Palermo, Sicily’s capital, said on Thursday that Mr. Lynch’s body had been recovered. His wife, Angela Bacares, 57, accompanied him on the yacht, and she was rescued on Monday when it sank. She was a consistent presence at his trial in the United States. Records show that she controlled Revtom, the company listed as the owner of the Bayesian.

Hannah Lynch, Mr. Lynch and Ms. Bacares’s 18-year-old daughter, was also on the yacht and remains missing.

The other guests

Jonathan Bloomer, 70, chair of Morgan Stanley’s international arm and the chairman of Hiscox, an insurance provider that trades on the London Stock Exchange, was on the yacht when it sank, along with his wife, Judy Bloomer, 71. Their bodies are thought to be among those recovered, but Italian authorities have not identified them.

Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, a New York-based partner at the international law firm Clifford Chance, was also on the yacht. A former federal prosecutor who comes from a family of prominent lawyers, Mr. Morvillo represented Mr. Lynch during his criminal trial in San Francisco. His wife, Neda, 57, was with him on the yacht. Their bodies are also assumed to be among those recovered.

“We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident,” a representative of Clifford Chance said in a statement.

Surviving passengers rescued from the yacht include Charlotte Golunski, a partner at Mr. Lynch’s venture firm, Invoke Capital; Ms. Golunski’s husband, James Emslie; and their one-year-old daughter Sophie. Also rescued were Ayla Ronald, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, and her partner, Matthew Fletcher.

The yacht had a crew of 10, and nine were rescued. The body of the chef, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered from the water, the Sicilian Civil Protection Department said.

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting, and Kitty Bennett and Susan Campbell Beachy contributed research.

Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006. More about Michael J. de la Merced

Body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch recovered from sunken superyacht as search enters final stages

PORTICELLO, Italy — The body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch was recovered from the wreck of a superyacht that sank off Sicily , a source familiar with the matter told CNBC on Thursday.

The source said rescuers were still searching for Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, the l ast p er son missing from the luxury boat , which went down in what authorities said was a freak storm early Monday.

A massive search effort was launched, and four bodies were recovered from the 180-foot Bayesian on Wednesday after an operation hampered by the depth to which the wreck had sunk and the debris that blocked divers’ path through its narrow passages.

Salvatore Cocina, head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, confirmed to NBC News on Thursday morning that a fifth body had been recovered. And hours later, CNBC reported that the body of Lynch, regularly described in U.K. media as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” was among them.

The U.K.'s Royal Academy of Engineering said Thursday morning that it was “deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mike Lynch,” who is one of its fellows. “Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time,” the academy said in a statement on X .

The others missing were Lynch's associates, who had successfully defended him in a blockbuster U.S. fraud trial earlier this summer: Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and the British insurance firm Hiscox, and his wife, Judy; and a well-known New York City defense attorney, Christopher Morvillo, and his wife, Neda.

The body of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian Antiguan national who was the ship’s cook, was recovered shortly after the accident Monday. 

Fifteen of the 22 people onboard survived.

Waves gently crashed against the rocks of Porticello, a port near the Italian island’s main city, Palermo, with the sea calm as rescuers brought ashore green body bags Wednesday — a stark contrast to just three days ago, when officials believe the yacht was hit by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout.

The vessel was anchored about a half-mile offshore when it sank, leaving divers to search its hull on the seabed 164 feet underwater.

The dock has swarmed for days with journalists, photographers and curious onlookers taking photos with their smartphones as rescue teams traveled to and from the site of the wreck.

Claudio Lavanga reported from Porticello and Yuliya Talmazan from London.

Claudio Lavanga is Rome-based foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.

Superyacht sinks latest: Divers discover body of final missing person after superyacht sank off Sicily

Six bodies have now been discovered in the search for those missing after a yacht sank off the Sicily coast. Local investigators are gathering evidence for a potential criminal investigation into the sinking of the yacht.

Friday 23 August 2024 11:30, UK

• Superyacht sinking

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• Six bodies found in search of superyacht wreckage, taking number of confirmed deaths to seven
• Divers discover body of final missing person
• Ashna Hurynag in Sicily: Investigators gather evidence for potential criminal probe
• Family of Jonathan and Judy Bloomer describe 'unimaginable grief'
• Explained: Inside the superyacht
• Live reporting by Samuel Osborne (now) and Brad Young  (earlier)

Divers have discovered the body of the final person missing from the superyacht that sank off Sicily, the Italian Coastguard has told Sky News.

Hannah Lynch, 18, the daughter of British tycoon Mike Lynch, was the only person still unaccounted for.

Mr Lynch was lost along with his daughter, Morgan Stanley International bank chair Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda when the yacht sank around 5am local time on Monday.

Five bodies have been brought to shore in the small fishing village of Porticello.

Of the 22 passengers and crew on board the boat 15, including Mr Lynch's wife Angela Bacares, were rescued after escaping on to a lifeboat.

The body of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef working on the superyacht, was recovered from the scene on Monday.

The search for British tycoon Mike Lynch's daughter Hannah has not been "easy or quick" a spokesperson for the Italian Coastguard has said.

Vincenzo Zagarola compared the sunken superyacht to an "18-storey building full of water".

"From the first moment it has not been easy or quick to inspect the boat," he told the PA news agency.

"Think of an 18-storey building full of water."

Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, Sicily, near where the Bayesian superyacht went down, are scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow morning.

Earlier, we reported that investigators from the local public prosecutor's office are gathering evidence for a potential criminal investigation into the sinking of the yacht (see 7.29am post).

These pictures show rescue boats off the coast of Porticello, near where the luxury yacht sank, as rescue personnel resume search operations to find British tycoon Mike Lynch's daughter Hannah.

Search operations for the final person missing from the wreck of the superyacht continue, Italy's fire and rescue service has said.

It tweeted to say sea dives had resumed and added that "the long and delicate search operations for the last missing person continue".

The service shared pictures of rescue workers on boats preparing to dive.

The Italian coastguard hopes there will be progress today in the search for Hannah Lynch.

Asked if any developments were expected, spokesman Vincenzo Zagarola replied: "We trust."

Ms Lynch is the last tourist unaccounted for after six bodies were recovered since the sinking of the Bayesian on Monday.

A captain and maritime chartered surveyor has identified four potential issues that may have contributed to the yacht disaster.

Captain Ed Geary said retractable keels - a stabilising fin at the base of a boat - have "historic problems of failure".

"Whether the keel was up or down would have a serious impact on the stability of the vessel."

Second, he took aim at the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency rules.

"The MCA delegates the inspection and certification and survey of these commercial vessels - up to 12 passengers - to profit-motivated, surveying societies, certification societies.

"Unfortunately, the quality is not as high as it should be," he claimed, adding some of their personnel were "untrained, unqualified and inexperienced".

Captain Geary also took issue with comments made by Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group,

"The builder of boat initially blurted out that the boat was unsinkable, which is kind of hard to fathom considering the boat is sitting at 50m below the surface of water off the Italian coast."

But the captain agreed with Mr Costantino's claims the crew should have been alert.

Sky News has contacted the MCA for comment.

Investigators from the local public prosecutor's office are gathering evidence for a potential criminal investigation into the sinking of the yacht, says news correspondent Ashna Hurynag.

British investigators have said its too early to comment on their probe.

A "blame game" has already started, with the chief executive of the company that owns the firm that built the vessel "laying some of the blame at the feet of the crew and the captain on board", she adds.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, talked about human error and accused the crew of not being in a state of alert.

Meanwhile, the search continues for Hannah Lynch.

"Divers are starting to get ready, and those search and rescue teams have been on site for the past half an hour or so," says Hurynag.

"Tributes have been pouring in for the six people who are confirmed to have died in this tragic incident."

The search continues for 18-year-old Hannah Lynch, the final person missing from the wreck of the Bayesian.

The body of her father, technology tycoon Mike Lynch, was recovered yesterday, while his wife Angela Bacares survived.

Divers paused their efforts at 8pm off the coast of Sicily last night and were expected to resume at 6.30am (5.30am UK time) this morning.

A decision on whether to raise the sunken yacht from the seabed is "not on the agenda", but will be in the future, said a spokesman from the Italian Coastguard, Vincenzo Zagarola.

The wreckage of the Bayesian is resting on the seabed at a depth of 164ft.

It had been moored around half a mile off the coast of Porticello when it sank at about 5am local time on Monday.

Mr Zagarola said the Italian coastguard's working theory is still that the missing woman is inside the boat.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the yacht disaster, as the search continues for the last missing tourist.

Hannah Lynch, 18, the daughter of British tycoon Mike Lynch, is still unaccounted for, while her father has been confirmed dead.

He was among five bodies recovered and identified yesterday.

Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judith Bloomer, as well as lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were also named as among the deceased.

Meanwhile, tributes have flooded in for the deceased, including from the families of the Bloomers and the Morvillos.

A senior oceanography lecturer told Sky News it's "unlikely" Ms Lynch was thrown from the Bayesian and more probable that she will be found somewhere inside the vessel.

An Italian fire service spokesman said emergency workers "would need a crystal ball" to know if and when another body will be discovered.

Meanwhile, an investigation is under way into the circumstances behind the sinking.

The chief executive of a firm which makes and sells yachts like the Bayesian said the sinking may have been due to a series of human mistakes and questioned why its crew were not in a "state of alert" when the storm hit.

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Deep seas and tight spaces impede search for 6 missing after yacht sinks off Sicily

PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — Police divers resumed searching Tuesday for six people believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank in deep seas off Sicily, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who had defended him at trial.

The luxury sailboat, off Porticello near Palermo, was about 50 meters (164 feet) underwater — far deeper than most recreational divers are certified for and a depth that requires special precautions. Recovery crews could only stay for 12-minute shifts, a measure that slowed efforts to reach the cramped inside of the wreck.

Divers tag-teamed the shifts and were using a remote-controlled underwater vehicle, or ROV, to help in the search. They hadn’t been able to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by furniture that shifted during the violent storm that struck the vessel early Monday. Rescue crews said they assume the missing six are in those cabins because the storm struck when most would be sleeping, but the teams haven’t verified their presence there through portholes.

The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged yacht, was moored about a kilometer (a half-mile) offshore when a storm rolled in before 4 a.m. Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.

• What is known about the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily and those aboard
• Divers resume search for 6 missing when yacht sank off Sicily, including tech magnate Mike Lynch
• Tech tycoon, defense attorney, and Morgan Stanley banker among those missing in freak yacht sinking

Grainy film from closed-circuit cameras from shore, broadcast on the website of the Giornale di Sicilia, showed the majestic, illuminated 75-meter (246-foot) mast of the Bayesian weathering the storm and then disappearing over the course of a minute.

Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. One body was recovered, identified by officials as the Antiguan-born on-board chef. The rest of the 10-person crew survived, including the captain whom prosecutors reportedly sought to interview.

The survivors were rescued by a nearby sailboat after getting into a lifeboat.

Lynch, who was once hailed as Britain’s king of technology, was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp. His wife, Angela Bacares, survived the sinking. Hannah Lynch, the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, is reportedly unaccounted for.

Also unaccounted for are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s lawyers, and his wife, Neda; and Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International and the former head of the Autonomy audit committee who testified in Lynch’s defense, and his wife.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which rescued the survivors, said he was close enough to see the Bayesian as the storm came in.

“A moment later, she was gone,” he said.

“It’s a great, great tragedy,” said Britain’s ambassador to Italy, Edward Llewellyn, who visited Porticello on Tuesday. Britain sent four investigators to the scene, given the disaster involved a British-flagged ship and British citizens were among the missing.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the rescue teams, said the search was proceeding much more slowly than another big shipwreck in Italy, the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship that flipped on its side off Tuscany’s coast, because of the depth of the wreck and the limited space divers have to maneuver.

“That was much simpler. Here everything is more tight,” he said.

The outing was intended at least in part as a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal and a “looking forward to what was coming next,” said Reid Weingarten, a Washington attorney and a member of Lynch’s defense team who was not on the yacht.

“A lot of people went, a lot of people were planning to go and then, of course, this happened,” Weingarten said.

Weingarten worked with Morvillo and said he “was like a brother.”

Aki Hussain, CEO of international insurer Hiscox Group, where Bloomer was chairman, said the company was “deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.”

“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our Chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation,” he added.

Among the survivors, the Emslie family was released from Palermo’s pediatric hospital on Tuesday. Charlotte Golunski had reported that she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter, Sofia, in the water but then managed to hold her up over the waves until they were both pulled to safety, doctors said.

The father, identified by ANSA news agency as James Emslie, also survived.

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“They don’t talk much, primarily because they consider themselves survivors and they don’t understand why they survived given what they went through,” said Dr. Domenico Cipolla, head of the emergency room at Di Cristina pediatric hospital.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Cipolla said the parents had been in touch with other survivors, who are being housed at a nearby hotel and were waiting for other family members to arrive in Sicily.

The Bayesian, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, is registered to Revtom Ltd., according to online maritime database Equasis. Bacares, Lynch’s wife, is listed as Revtom’s sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.

According to online charter companies, it had been available for charter for 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week and was notable for its massive 75-meter-tall (246-foot-tall) aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world.

The coast guard said to date there was no trace of fuel leaks from the wreckage.

In an unrelated event, Lynch’s co-defendant in the Autonomy trial who was also cleared, Stephen Chamberlain, was killed Sunday when he was hit by a car while running in Cambridgeshire, England, said Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg.

Winfield reported from Rome. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington; and Danica Kirka and Kelvin Chan in London, contributed to this report.

There are 3 major theories as to why Mike Lynch’s Bayesian yacht sank so fast

On Thursday, Italian authorities retrieved a fifth body from the Bayesian superyacht that sank in a storm earlier this week, killing British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch. 

The 184-foot British-flagged vessel sank early Monday , and the five identified bodies thus far from the incident include Mike Lynch , founder of Autonomy and investor in Darktrace; Morgan Stanley Bank International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy; Chris Morvillo, a Clifford Chance lawyer, and his wife, Neda, were also found. Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still missing.

There are several theories as to why the massive $39 million boat sank in just about 60 seconds. And the maker of the ship says the crew should have had time to rescue passengers. 

Theory one: The mast was pushed over by the wind

The first theory is that the mast on the massive vessel was so tall it tipped the boat over when a waterspout— essentially a water tornado —hit the boat. Giovanni Costantino , CEO of the Italian Sea Group , which owns several boat brands including the yacht’s builder, Perini Navi , told the Financial Times the boat was “designed to be absolutely stable” because it had the “world’s second-tallest mast.” But Karsten Borner, the skipper of a nearby boat, suggests the sinking actually could have been caused by high winds hitting the 236-foot mast. Even with sails stowed, the mast and its rigging would have provided a vast surface area for wind resistance. 

The Bayesian “went flat [with the mast] on the water, and then went down,” Borner told Reuters . For reference, the tallest mast on a sailing boat on record was the Mirabella V at nearly 247 feet long, according to Guinness World Records .

Theory two: The retractable keel was in the wrong position

The second theory about the cause of the Bayesian sinking is that the keel was retracted when it should have been lowered, making the boat less stable. The keel is a structural beam that runs under the middle of the boat from bow to stern, giving the boat better stability, a lower center of gravity in the water, and more control while moving forward. “Without the keel, a boat might slip or skim on the water,” according to boat manufacturer Sea Born .

The Bayesian had a keel that could be retracted, according to the yacht’s manufacturer, Perini Navi. It could be lifted to reduce the draught of the boat, making it easier to enter shallow harbors. It’s possible that if the keel had been in the raised position rather than extended, that could have compromised the boat’s stability in a strong wind, causing it to sink.

Theory three: A major hatch was left open to the waves

Perhaps the strongest theory so far is the notion that someone onboard may have left a major hatch or door ajar, causing the boat to quickly fill with water. In fact, Costantino thinks this is the strongest theory after watching back footage of the sinking; the rear of the boat appears to have a hinged door that folds down into a sea-level deck.

Since it was obvious the Bayesian was taking on water, there should have been time to get everyone off the boat and into rafts, Costantino told the FT .

“Jesus Christ! The hull is intact. The water came in from [hatchways] left open,” he said. “There is no other possible explanation. If maneuvered properly, the boat would have comfortably handled the weather—comfortably,” he said.

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British tech entrepreneur Lynch’s body recovered after yacht tragedy, daughter still missing

The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early Monday as it was moored about a kilometer (a half-mile) offshore. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout. read more

The body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch was retrieved on Thursday from the wreck of his family yacht that sank earlier this week off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, a senior Italian official said.

Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still unaccounted for, interior ministry official Massimo Mariani told Reuters after being briefed by the emergency services. The bodies of four other people who vanished when the boat went down were recovered from the yacht on Wednesday.

Rescue crews brought four body bags ashore at Porticello. Salvatore Cocina, head of the Sicily civil protection agency, said a fifth body had been located. Divers on-scene said they would try to recover it on Thursday while continuing the search for the sixth.

The discovery made clear the operation to search the hull on the seabed 50 meters (164 feet) underwater had quickly turned into a recovery one, not a rescue, given the amount of time that had passed and with no signs of life over three days of searching.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-ft) superyacht carrying 22 passengers and crew, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it disappeared beneath the waves in a matter of minutes after the bad weather struck in the early hours of Monday.

Lynch, 59, was one of the UK’s best-known tech entrepreneurs and had invited friends to join him on the yacht to celebrate his acquittal in June in a major U.S. fraud trial. His body was brought ashore in a blue body bag and driven in an ambulance to a nearby hospital morgue.

Besides Lynch and his daughter, the other people who failed to make it to safety were Judy and Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo; and the onboard chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas.

Thomas’ body was found near the wreck on Monday. Fifteen people, including Lynch’s wife, survived the disaster. Mariani said it was possible that Hannah Lynch’s body was not in the boat, but might have been swept out to sea.

The families of those missing have not yet commented. Fire brigade spokesman Luca Cari warned it could take time, even days, before the last missing person was found, given the difficulty divers were having in accessing all areas of the boat, which is lying on its side at a depth of 50 metres (165 feet).

A judicial investigation has been opened into the disaster, which has baffled naval marine experts, who say a boat like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have been able to withstand the storm.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group  which owns Perini, told Italian media the Bayesian was “one of the safest boats in the world” and blamed the crew for failing to follow correct safety procedures.

The captain, James Cutfield, and his eight surviving crew members, have made no public comment on the disaster.

CHALLENGING CONDITIONS

Specialist rescuers have been searching inside the hull of the sunken yacht for the past three days in what they said were extremely challenging conditions due to the depth and the narrowness of the places that the divers are scouring.

The fire brigade compared the efforts to those that were carried out, on a larger scale, for the Costa Concordia, a luxury cruise liner that capsized off the Italian island of Giglio in January 2012, killing 32 people.

Once the final body is recovered, experts will have to decide whether, or how, to salvage the vessel. The CEO of Italian Sea Group said the yacht’s automatic tracking system suggested that it took 16 minutes from the moment the storm first hit to the sinking.

He said it was clear the ship took in large amounts of water, adding that investigators would need to see what doorways or hatches might have been left open, focusing notably on a main door located on the left side of the yacht.

“A Perini boat survived the Category 5 Katrina hurricane. Do you think one couldn’t survive a waterspout here,” he told Corriere della Sera newspaper, referring to a type of tornado which is believed to have hit the Bayesian.

Under maritime law, a captain has full responsibility for the ship and the crew, as well as the safety of all those aboard. The captain of the Costa Concordia is serving a 16-year prison term for his role in the 2012 disaster after he admitted to sailing too close to underwater rocks.

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• May 15, 2024

Rigging Done Right: A Guide to Yacht Rigging Systems

Introduction to Yacht Rigging Systems

Understanding yacht rigging systems is crucial for anyone passionate about yachting. Rigging comprises a network of ropes, wires, and fittings that support the masts and control the sails. It plays an essential role in ensuring the boat’s stability, performance, and safety at sea. Whether you’re a seasoned enthusiast or new to the world of yachting, grasping the basics of rigging systems will enhance your maritime experience. This guide aims to demystify yacht rigging by breaking down its components, types, and maintenance practices.

Types of Rigging Systems

Standing rigging.

Standing rigging refers to the fixed lines or cables that support the mast, playing a pivotal role in maintaining the yacht’s structure. These components include stays and shrouds, constructed primarily from stainless steel to withstand significant loads and harsh marine environments. Depending on the yacht’s design, standing rigging can either be single or multi-spreader rigs. The rigging is tensioned precisely to ensure optimal performance and safety, distributing loads evenly across the mast. Regular inspections and maintenance are essential to prevent failures and prolong the rig’s lifespan.

Running Rigging

Running rigging consists of the lines and ropes that control the sails, providing the flexibility and maneuverability needed during sailing. These components include halyards, sheets, and control lines, made from various materials like Dacron, Spectra, or Dyneema. Running rigging is dynamic and requires regular adjustment to optimize sail shape and efficiency. As technology advances, newer materials offer higher strength-to-weight ratios, reducing stretch and increasing longevity. Keeping running rigging in top condition ensures smooth operation and enhances the overall performance of the yacht.

Materials Used in Rigging

Stainless steel.

Stainless steel is a popular choice for both standing and running rigging due to its strength and corrosion resistance. It offers durability in harsh marine environments, making it ideal for supporting heavy loads. The longevity of stainless steel components can be attributed to their ability to withstand constant exposure to saltwater and weather elements. Regular inspections are necessary to detect any hidden corrosion or fatigue, which can compromise the rigging’s integrity. Protective coatings and high-grade stainless steel can further enhance its resilience.

Synthetic Fibers

Synthetic fibers like Dacron, Spectra, and Dyneema have revolutionized modern rigging systems. These materials offer exceptional strength, low stretch, and lightweight properties, making them suitable for running rigging. Dyneema, for instance, boasts a high strength-to-weight ratio, offering excellent performance without the bulk. Synthetic ropes are easier to handle and splice, providing flexibility for various rigging setups. Regular maintenance, including washing with freshwater and inspecting for wear, ensures these materials retain their performance characteristics over time.

Rigging Maintenance and Inspection

Regular inspections.

Routine inspections are paramount to identifying potential issues before they escalate into significant problems. Inspecting both standing and running rigging involves checking for signs of wear, corrosion, fraying, or fatigue. Pay close attention to high-stress areas such as deck fittings, turnbuckles, and terminations. Use a magnifying glass to detect fine cracks or corrosion in stainless steel components. Regular inspections not only ensure safety but also extend the lifespan of the rigging system.

Cleaning and Lubrication

Maintaining the cleanliness of your rigging system is vital for its longevity and performance. Rinse rigging components with fresh water after exposure to saltwater to prevent corrosion and buildup. Apply appropriate lubricants to moving parts like blocks, sheaves, and turnbuckles to minimize friction and reduce wear. Avoid using harsh chemicals that can damage synthetic fibers or protective coatings on stainless steel. Regular cleaning and lubrication help maintain the smooth operation and reliability of the rigging system.

Professional Maintenance

While regular inspections and cleaning can be performed by yacht owners, professional maintenance is essential for comprehensive rigging care. Expert riggers have the knowledge and tools to conduct thorough inspections, tension adjustments, and repairs. They can identify underlying issues that may not be apparent to the untrained eye, ensuring that the rigging system operates at its peak performance. Scheduling periodic professional maintenance checks, especially before long voyages, is a wise preventive measure to avoid unforeseen failures.

Upgrading Your Rigging System

Modernization.

Advancements in materials and technology offer opportunities to upgrade your rigging system for enhanced performance and safety. Swapping out old stainless steel cables for synthetic lines can significantly reduce weight aloft, positively impacting the vessel’s agility. Modern fittings and attachments, such as low-friction blocks and sheaves, offer smoother operation and increased efficiency. Upgrading to a more streamlined and efficient rigging system not only improves the yacht’s performance but also enhances the overall yachting experience.

Customized Solutions

Each yacht has unique rigging requirements based on its design, size, and usage. Consulting with a rigging expert can help tailor a customized solution that addresses specific needs and preferences. Customized rigging setups consider factors like the type of sails, rig tension, and sailing conditions to optimize performance. Whether it’s for racing or cruising, bespoke rigging solutions ensure every aspect of the yacht’s rigging system is fine-tuned for optimal performance and safety. Investing in customized rigging not only meets the yacht’s specific demands but also elevates the overall yachting experience.

Understanding and maintaining yacht rigging systems is essential for safe and enjoyable yachting. From recognizing the different types of rigging systems to following effective maintenance practices, every aspect contributes to the yacht’s performance and longevity. For expert advice and top-tier services in all your yachting needs, talk to Fly Yachts, a leading yacht brokerage.

Fly Yachts provides many services for yachting and aviation enthusiasts, starting with their  homepage  for an overview of what they offer. Browse through a selection of yachts, super yachts, and center consoles on their  Yachts for Sale  page. If you want a custom yacht, visit the  Build a Yacht  section for more information. They also help you sell your yacht through their  Sell Your Yacht  service. Planning a vacation? Check out their  Charter Destinations  and find information on chartering yachts  here . For those looking to buy luxury aircraft, visit the  Aircraft for Sale  page. Learn about the company on the  About Us  page and keep up with the latest yachting news on  Gulfstream News . If you have any questions, their  Contact  page is the place to go. Additionally, check out their  Compass Articles  for interesting reads about yachting.

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Investigators probe whether subtle mistake could have caused bayesian yacht to sink.

Tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s superyacht was found with its keel “partially retracted” — something sailboat design experts told The Post could have led directly to the modern craft sinking .

Investigators are focusing their attention on the position of the Bayesian’s 32-foot deep keel, which divers exploring the wreck off the coast of Sicily reported finding in a raised position, according to the Telegraph .

The Bayesian’s keel — a fin-shaped structure on the underside of the hull that’s instrumental in keeping sailboats balanced against their masts — could be raised and lowered, a common feature on luxury yachts that allows easier navigation in harbors where waters might be shallower or have hazards like rocks closer to the surface.

But raising the keel greatly diminishes a boat’s stability, especially under storm-force winds — let alone the tornado witnesses say hit the boat.

“If the keel were in the ‘up’ position, as would be pretty common when anchored or in harbor, the lifted keel would cause its stability to be less than if the keel had been lowered,” luxury yacht designer and engineer Robert Stephens told The Post.

“But stability would still have been ample for any ‘normal’ weather conditions,” Stephens said.

“From the descriptions, it sounds like weather conditions were far out of the ‘normal’ range.”

The Bayesian was struck by a powerful squall just after 4 a.m. Monday as it was anchored outside of Porticello.

Witnesses in nearby boats described a tornado-like waterspout consuming the boat and said it sank within two minutes .

Stephens said no matter how seaworthy the vessel might be, all bets are off if something as volatile and extreme as a waterspout is encountered.

“We don’t know what wind strengths the vessel experienced — if hit directly with a waterspout the winds could have been far in excess of the design criteria for her stability,” he said.

“If the wind strength was strong enough to heel the vessel until the decks were awash, and if watertight doors were not closed in time, the vessel could have filled with water very quickly — what we call ‘downflooding’ — and sunk as a result.”

The ship’s mast — one of the tallest in the world at around 240 feet — could also have played a part in the sinking. Some witnesses have reported seeing the mast snap — which Stephens told The Post would have increased stability in the storm but also created a dangerous hazard.

“The mast on a vessel like this one is very strong and heavy and could impose serious damage to the vessel as it fell or as it lay alongside the vessel, still connected by the rigging,” he said.

“In general, sailing vessels are designed to perform very well and very safely in normal operating conditions,” Stephenson said, adding that when bad weather kicks up it can be up to the crew to respond and manage the boat’s safety — up to a point.

“In the event of sudden or instantaneous onset of extreme weather conditions, it is difficult or impossible to take the safety measures necessary to safeguard the vessel and its crew.”

The bodies of Lynch and five of his passengers — NYC attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda , along with Morgan Stanley executive Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy — have been recovered from the wreck.

Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah remains missing .

Six other passengers made it off to safety before the ship sank, along with nine crew members.

The body of ship cook Ricardo Thomas was found shortly after the wreck .

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Matthew’s Substack

Bayesian, the mega sailing yacht that sank last week by Sicily, was a disaster waiting to happen. Here's why.

Modern high-tech composite materials and rigging allow super-high single-masted sloops that were impossible to build in the old schooner era. An advantage of the old schooners was that with their sails down, there was much less windage far aloft. For a modern giant super-sloop, the windage aloft, even at anchor, is tremendous. All of those spreaders plus the mast surface area present a massive amount of windage when subjected to a blast of wind. The enormous height causes vastly more leverage than the same wind striking a "low aspect ratio" sailing rig. At anchor, deck hatches would be open. If the boat is heeled over far enough to put open side deck hatches underwater, down-flooding and sinking would happen in a matter of a minute or two.

To have a safe righting moment even after being knocked down with her mast horizontal and in the water, Bayesian would have needed a ballast keel 40 or so feet deep. This is not practical, so mega sailboats rely on inertia and mass to not get knocked all the way down. If they are knocked down, they are basically doomed if any hatches are open. There is no ballast keel sufficient to lever them back upright.

Bayesian had HUGE windage, and very high up. Even with her sails down and roller jibs furled, the 237' tall mast is (estimating from photos) almost five feet front to back, and she had 6 sets of "spreaders" that are almost the size of a Cessna's wings. Once she's heeled 45* by the sudden wind blast catching her on her beam, she didn't shed the wind, she caught even more on her spreaders. Her roller furling jibs are also massive, about a yard in diameter even when furled.

A sloop is the most efficient sailing rig in terms of potential lift to drag. 2 sails, one mast. But that enormous mast is always way, way up there. An old gaff schooner at anchor would present much less windage. But any giant sailing ship relying on mass and inertia to avoid being knocked down was and is always at risk. Another "safety factor" present in older sailing ships was that their organic-fiber sails and ropes would tend to "blow out" when struck by a wind blast, instead of taking the ship all the way over. Even being dismasted was preferable to being knocked down and sunk. With today's modern sails and rigging, the sails won't fail, and the sailing ship will be driven over on her beam end.

White Squall 1996 Trailer | Jeff Bridges This is a movie recounting when a sailing ship was knocked down by a "white squall" and sank in minutes with the loss of life.

This also happened to the 90' Pride of Baltimore #1, in 1986 under full sail on the Atlantic.

A schooner being knocked down in a storm also occurs in my new novel, Doomsday Reef. https://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Reef-Matthew-Bracken/dp/0

Ready for more?

Yacht that sank off Sicily was carrying people celebrating tech magnate's acquittal; 6 missing

Police divers resumed searching Tuesday for six people believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank in deep seas off Sicily, including a British tech magnate who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who had defended him at trial.

The resting place of their sailboat is some 50 meters (164 feet) underwater off Porticello — a depth that required special precautions that complicated the work: Recovery crews said they were working in 12-minute shifts, a measure that slowed down their efforts to reach the cramped inside of the wreck.

The Bayesian, a 184-foot British-flagged yacht, was moored about a half-mile offshore when a storm rolled in before 4 a.m. Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly.

Grainy film from closed-circuit cameras from shore, broadcast on the website of the Giornale di Sicilia, showed the majestic, illuminated 246-foot mast of the Bayesian weathering the storm and then disappearing over the course of a minute.

Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. One body has been recovered, identified by officials as the Antiguan-born on-board chef. The rest of the 10-person crew survived, including the captain whom prosecutors reportedly sought to interview.

“It's a great, great tragedy,” said Britain's ambassador to Italy, Edward Llewellyn, who visited Porticello on Tuesday. Britain sent four investigators to the scene, given the disaster involved a British-flagged ship and British citizens were among the missing.

RELATED STORY | Hurricane Ernesto strengthens as it aims at Bermuda

Fire rescue officials have said the six other passengers will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage. They include the tycoon Mike Lynch, who was once hailed as Britain’s king of technology and was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp.

Also unaccounted for are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s lawyers, and Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International and the former head of the Autonomy audit committee who testified in Lynch’s defense.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which rescued the 15 survivors who managed to get into a lifeboat, said he was close enough to be able to see the Bayesian as the storm came in.

“A moment later, she was gone,” he said. “They said they went flat on the water and were sunk in two minutes," Borner added, quoting the survivors.

The rotating search teams, each made up of two specialized cave divers, worked Tuesday to open up access points to get inside the wreck, which lies at a depth far beyond what most recreational divers are certified to reach. They were using a remote-controlled underwater vehicle, or ROV, to help in the search.

The divers have not yet been able to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by furniture that had shifted during the violent storm. Rescue crews said they assume the missing six are in those cabins because the storm struck when most would be sleeping, but the teams haven't verified their presence there through portholes.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the rescue teams, said the search was proceeding much more slowly than another big shipwreck in Italy, the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship that flipped on its side off Tuscany's coast, because of the depth of the wreck and the limited space divers have to maneuver.

“That was much simpler. Here everything is more tight," he said.

The outing was intended at least in part as a celebration of Lynch's acquittal and a “looking forward to what was coming next,” said Reid Weingarten, a Washington attorney and a member of Lynch’s defense team who was not on the yacht.

“A lot of people went, a lot of people were planning to go and then of course this happened,” Weingarten said.

Some of the people who stood by Lynch throughout the ordeal were on board, including Morvillo, the lawyer, who Weingarten worked with and said “was like a brother.”

Morvillo's wife, Neda, is also missing, according to his law firm Clifford Chance.

Aki Hussain, CEO of international insurer Hiscox Group, where Bloomer, the witness, was chairman, said the company was "deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event."

"Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our Chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation,” he added.

Charlotte Golunski, who survived the disaster, said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived, as did Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares. Hannah Lynch, reportedly the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, is among the missing.

The yacht’s registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd., according to online maritime database Equasis. Bacares is listed as Revtom’s sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.

Its name, Bayesian, may be a reference to “Bayesian Inference,” one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning and the one that was used by Lynch’s company.

RELATED STORY | NOAA expects 'extraordinary' 2024 Atlantic hurricane season

The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew. According to online charter companies, it had been available for charter for about $215,000 a week and was notable for its massive 246-foot-tall aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world.

The coast guard said to date there was no trace of fuel leaks from the wreckage.

In an unrelated event, Lynch's co-defendant in the Autonomy trial who was also cleared, Stephen Chamberlain, was killed Sunday when he was hit by a car while running in Cambridgeshire, England, said Chamberlain's lawyer, Gary Lincenberg.

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The definitive guide to sailing yacht rigging

Related articles, superyacht directory.

Do you know your Bermudan rig from your DynaRig or wingsails? And which is best? BOAT explains it all...

Take a look at a modern racing yacht from above, beating to windward and heeled to the breeze, and you can see at a glance why Bermudan rigs have stood the test of time. With its fore and aft sails bladed into efficient aerodynamic shapes, a modern yacht can slice close to the wind and be driven hard. Such a sight would have been outlandish a century ago. Then, a typical trading barquentine could set 18 sails to catch light airs, but it needed a large crew to battle with canvas far out on the yards. In a modern miracle as incredible in its way as flight, today’s racing yachts can sail faster than the speed of the wind – in some cases several times faster.

A mainsail set on a single spar is an age-old concept but only in the 19th century was it adapted as the Bermudan or Marconi rig. A one-piece mainsail set on a mast without a gaff, hoisted with one halyard and controlled by one sheet, was simpler and more efficient. This revolution became the power train of pleasure yachting and racing.

But perhaps the time is coming for a re-evaluation of simpler rigs requiring fewer crew – alternatives with lower loads operated by automated systems. In an era of reduced carbon consumption, could more radical sailplans even herald a revival in sail power?

The evergreen Bermudan rig

The Bermudan rig is the all-rounder, able to perform well at all angles of sail. It is efficient upwind, while downwind the sail area can be significantly boosted with a big gennaker or spinnaker. For good reasons, it is the first choice for nearly every modern sailing yacht up to around 60 to 65 metres for cruising and regatta racing alike. At larger sizes, however, things start to become trickier, and the trade-offs get interesting.

Over the last decade, sail handling technology has steadily advanced to allow sloop rigs to grow larger and larger. “But with that comes a highly loaded rig, many tonnes of compression from tension in the rigging, and you have to build structure in the boat to accept that,” explains Paul MacDonald, founder and superyacht sales manager of Southern Spars.

“You have to have a lot of deck gear and captive winches below decks and the machinery for that. But over the years, boom furling systems and MPS [Multi Purpose Sails for downwind angles] stored on a drum, for example, have made sail handling safer.

Bill Tripp is the designer behind the 86-metre Aquijo , which broke new ground in 2015 as the world’s largest Bermudan ketch. Tripp prefers to call the rig a "sketch", a portmanteau word for a rig that is neither a sloop nor a ketch “because the main and mizzen are identical”. Even though the sailplan is divided over two masts, each spar is still a towering 90 metres above the water. Aquijo perfectly illustrates the issues involved with a Bermudan rig when scaled up.

“The sloop is great but I prefer the ‘sketch’ for sailing around the world under full control due to the desirability of a two-masted rig for reaching ability, which dominates passages, and the safety of controllable loads when sailing in all kinds of conditions miles from nowhere,” he says.

Upwind, Aquijo sets a jib, staysail, mainsail and mizzen, all in North Sails 3Di, totalling 3,821 square metres. A furling Code sail for reaching and downwind angles increases that to a vast 5,051 square metres.

While Aquijo has a crew retinue of 17, it can be controlled under sail by six or seven people. With custom winches to handle halyards and sheets, the sails can be hoisted astonishingly quickly for such a large rig. “It takes five minutes to put the main up, on average, and the main and mizzen can go up at the same time,” Tripp says. Aquijo has now sailed 100,000 nautical miles around the world and the owner is planning another circumnavigation through the Northwest Passage.

Tripp is not convinced of the wisdom of a much larger single-masted sloop rig. “If you are day sailing in the Med, a sloop would be awesome, but I am not sure if you had fewer sails you would be able to [reduce canvas] well enough. Also the mast is a windage problem when the keel is up and you are beam-to. If you are on anchor, that’s no problem but you’d have to be able to cope with being on the docks in 70 knots. The windage at 120 metres is not only more but the centre of effort is so much higher, and so the heeling loads all go up.”

However, British designer Malcolm McKeon , the name behind the high-performance, sloop-rigged carbon composite superyachts Missy and Ribelle , is pushing the sloop rig to new heights. His 85-metre design concept Apex, developed with Royal Huisman , would be the largest sloop-rigged yacht in the world. “The loads are enormous,” he admits, “but it is all scalable.”

“The big disadvantage is sail handling. The downwind sails are pretty complicated once you start hoisting and retrieving, even with drum and reel systems. It is not straightforward.” But, he adds, “I think we know the advantages of a sloop: if you want all-round performance you can’t beat it, even at the top end.”

Advantages of a clipper rig

The DynaRig has been around as a concept since the 1960s when German engineer Wilhelm Prölss devised these free-standing, rotating rigs as a fuel-saving solution for large commercial vessels. The idea was ahead of its time, so much so that its first realisation came nearly 40 years later when American owner Tom Perkins bought the residual technology and commissioned Dykstra Naval Architects to create a three-masted DynaRig for Maltese Falcon , his 88-metre Perini Navi.

The DynaRig is not as efficient upwind as the Bermudan rig, and is probably not the best solution for a yacht smaller than around 65 metres, suggests Jeroen de Vos of Dykstra. “We wouldn’t advise putting a DynaRig on a small yacht because there are other ways to manage sail handling. But on a larger yacht the DynaRig becomes an alternative because there is no rigging, no highly loaded sheets, low-tech [small] sails and no big winches.”

The beauty of the DynaRig is that its automatic systems can be handled by one or two people and, notes de Vos, “you don’t have to get out of your chair to go sailing. Maltese Falcon can sail on and off the anchor and can set 2,400 square metres of sail in six minutes. On other boats it takes six minutes to get the sail cover off.”

Damon Roberts of Magma Structures, which built the rigs for Maltese Falcon and the only other DynaRig yacht to date, the 106-metre Black Pearl , says: “You can do any manoeuvre easily; it’s like sailing a dinghy. There are no highly loaded sheets or ropes or flogging lines. You can luff up, bear away, tack and gybe at  any time and really enjoy sailing the boat without any apparent fuss.”

So with all these advantages, why has the DynaRig been chosen for only two sailing superyachts? For some designers, such as Malcolm McKeon, it is partly to do with compromises imposed by the large mast tubes and bearing diameters on the internal structure and layout, “particularly in the cockpit area,” he says. He also points out that the clipper ship look is not to every owner’s taste. “Sloops are more conventional looking,” he says.

Damon Roberts says there is still development work to be done. He has teamed up with Southern Spars and, with their additional resources, expects evolution with several new projects. “These include two at the moment that are twin-masted DynaRigs,” he says. “We did quite a lot of wind tunnel work early on as we felt that was really the sweet spot for it, and people will be stunned at how efficient these are.”

The future of the wingsail

Wingsails have been around for decades too, but with their adoption by the last two America’s Cups and the confluence with foiling technology, they have undergone rapid and revolutionary development.

To date, there is no proven solution for reefing a wing that would be suitable for offshore cruising or ocean passages. As the pronounced aerodynamic “nose” at the leading edge of a wing can develop force in strong winds, they could potentially make a large yacht uncontrollable in port as well.

“How do you get rid of sail and how does [a boat] handle when caught out in heavy wind conditions – which you will be? How do you keep the angle of attack all the way up the rig and how do you handle squalls?” Roberts asks. “A mechanism to reduce sail might be easy to sketch out but it is difficult to engineer.”

Jeroen de Vos says: “The wingsails are more developed towards performance and I wouldn’t say that they are as practical as soft sails or would ever make handling easier. But if somebody wants that, why not? Reefable soft sails, wings that are inflated, hoisted panels, possibly these are applicable. The development of this area is happening very rapidly.”

Paul MacDonald of Southern Spars agrees that the time is not here yet but thinks it will come. “In reality we are in the early days of wings. For the America’s Cup, they are the most efficient way of sailing by a long shot, but with them comes handling issues, which the industry hasn’t resolved yet. But I am sure they will be in 10 years’ time. Designers such as VPLP are starting to [work on concepts] and we are going to see something that is usable and efficient and suitable for ocean work eventually,” he says. “And whatever the solution is, you imagine that it will scale.”

Looking to the future

A drive for greener superyachts could present an opportunity for sail, but perhaps it needs to be less daunting.

“There is this intimidation of sheets and backstays, and sailing is a language you don’t learn in a year,” Tripp says. “But we have a project we are doing now with a yard with some new rig technology and some soft wings that we think is going to be viable.

“We can uncomplicate sailing more. If we can win people over from motorboats it will help, but we are only winning these battles one or two at a time. We need [more] projects like Sailing Yacht A , which are something really different, and do more things better with less energy. We as architects need to elicit change.”

McKeon also sees change coming. “People are more and more concerned about keeping their image green and sails are the way to do that,” he says. “Simpler sailing systems are needed. The current generation is used to Bermudan sloops. In years to come, the traditionalists will all be gone, and maybe new people will be more accepting of [different ideas]. I think in the future we will certainly have wings.”

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