Kiboko - Southern Wind 94

Written by Carlos Serra. GE Nº 59

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Adrenalin and carbon

The 2011 Mediterranean superyacht racing season will feature a new shining star – the Southern Wind 94 Kiboko, launched in South Africa late last year and delivered to her Spanish owners this spring. 

Kiboko is the latest design by Reichel-Pugh, regular collaborators with South Africa’s Southern Wind Shipyard and who had already penned the first yacht christened with this name. The lines and naval architecture created by the American duo are weight-saving and very pure, akin to what a performance-driven design may offer, but with enough margin to guarantee guests the comfort and facilities sought after on a superyacht today. The overall concept of the sailing yacht comes from Milan-based studio Nauta, also close collaborators with the shipyard, and reflects the firm’s principal design concepts: free rein for the keel and sailplan, which deliver maximum performance when racing, and simplicity above and below deck.
The new Kiboko’s appearance is defined more by her hull, sharply pointed and with an extremely vertical freeboard, than by her minimal superstructure. The central wheelhouse draws a softly-curved wedge, whilst the coamings that follow it are high enough to close off the cockpit yet add no visual impact whatsoever to the profile.
These coamings stretch almost to the stern to create two clearly distinct sections: a cockpit next to the entrance hatch, geared towards relaxation and away from the nerve centre of sailing, and a well in the aft section with two highly-efficient helm pedestals and access to the crew quarters. Here is also most of the sheet-winding equipment with two pairs of large winches on each side and a conveniently central-placed mainsheet turret and cross traveller.