33
SVN Solovelanet Global
T
he sailing ship A launched in 2015, is the
biggest sailing yacht in the world.
Designed by Philippe Starck for the Rus-
sian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, this
sailing ship has been talked and gossiped
about for a long time.
For better or worse, however, such a boat arouses
interest because everything about her is beyond me
-
asure. Let's see some raw numbers of this sailing
yacht.
Defining her a sailboat would be inaccurate, becau-
se A is actually a sail-assisted motor ship.
3 - It is the number of masts, all huge: the tallest
reaches 100 metres in height and is self-supporting,
that is, it has no shrouds. With this height, it is the
tallest mast in the world. The three mast are rotating
at an angle of 70 degrees, and this makes it possible
to find the best angle of incidence. They have been
made of carbon fibre by Magma Structures in Trafal
-
gar Wharf, Portsmouth, England.
These masts are two and a half times stronger
than the wings of an airliner, according to the ma-
gazine Boat International, and would be capable of
withstanding the weight of two imperial buses (En-
glish buses) hanging at the end of each of them.
90 - It is the wind speed in knots that the masts
are capable of withstanding.
This corresponds to 167 km/h gusts, or to a force 12
hurricane.
370 - This is the number of carbon layers that
have been deposited in the mast moulds.
3,742 - The sail plan of A includes (kee-
ping in mind that we are talking about auxiliary sails)
3,742 sqm of canvas, with the mainsail area
being "just" 1,464 sqm.
