Liara

Written by Carlos Seera. Translation: Marco Benevento.Issue Nº 51

On board

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Sum of qualities

A project by the famous Bill Dixon, built in New Zealand and presented on society during the past Monaco yacht show, it creates admiration and good feelings.

Seeing the 30 meters Liara cruising on the water with its majestic bow near Monaco, one feels the urge to be on board and to hold one of the two carbon wheels on deck, to feel the power together with the gentleness that they transmit. Liara is a qualitative leap in the designs of Bill Dixon, a specialist in adapting the advances in hydrodynamic to high volume hull bottoms, and that for this unit has sharpened his pencil proposing a more ambitious package in the field of speed. The equation includes the use of carbon composite prepregs on the hull and deck, which allows to position the displacement in very healthy areas, and a retractable keel whose bulb, added to the wing, weights 19 tons and is efficient going down at five meters deep. The telescopic mechanism can reduce the draft to 3,5 meters when it comes to enter a port. A carbon rig with PBO shrouds, supports the generous sail plan that the described power of the mentioned ballast makes worthwhile, and a bowsprit added to the vertical stem extending the area of the fore triangle to propose an even more powerful set of sails for open courses.