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Big Numbers

The stylish and fast new Perini Navi Perseus 3 stretches her long legs.

© 2015 Perini Navi

Perini Navi, the Italian company that built the 289-ft Maltese Falcon for Belvedere’s Tom Perkins, is the leader in large sailing yachts. Having built 56 of them, nobody else comes close.

This month, the company launched hull #2 of their 60-Meter — 196 feet — series. Unlike hull #1, Seahawk, which has been at the St. Barth Bucket for the last two years, the new boat, Perseus 3, is a sloop. If we’re not mistaken, her 246-ft mast is the tallest in the world. It certainly precludes the boat from passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. And unlike all previous Perinis, she’s equipped with a carbon bowsprit and twin rudders.

But here are the numbers that really got us. She can set close to 10,000 meters of sail. (Our Olson 30 La Gamelle sets just over 100 square meters of sail, spinnaker included.) Perseus 3 is equipped with newly-developed Perini captive winches. The winches for the jib have a capacity of 30 tons! Furthermore, they operate at 40 meters per minute, which will supposedly reduce tacking time by 75%.

During the sea trials, Perseus hit 16 knots beam reaching in 21 knots of wind. In the case of the Perini Navis, it’s not how fast you go, but how you go fast.

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