kuka light sailboat

Yachting World

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World’s coolest yachts: Kuka Light

Helen Fretter
March 9, 2022

We ask top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times. This time four-time Olympian Mitch Booth nominates Kuka Light.

“ Kuka Light is the most extreme keelboat I have ever sailed,” explains Mitch Booth. “At 42ft and built in an autoclave she is VERY light and stiff. But when you look at the spec she’s special. Around 3,200kg with a beam of 4.6m and draught of 3.5m makes Comanche look very conservative by comparison!”

Booth was involved with the design from the outset, recalling that the brief from the owner was to build the fastest 40ft monohull in the world that could take part in the premier ocean and coastal races.

Kuka Light breaks through the waves. Photo: Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

It was designed by Schickler/Tagliapietra Yacht Design and drew on Booth and the owner’s own performance multihull backgrounds. The full carbon custom build frequently raced against 50-60-footers in events like the Rolex Giraglia and Middle Sea Race. With a carbon-finned canting keel, twin retractable daggerboards and a rotating mast, it was sailed by a crew of just six.

Kuka Light Stats rating:

Top speed: 34 knots LOA: 13m/42ft Launched: 2012 Berths: 6 Price: c.€1million Adrenaline Factor: 90%

Mitch Booth

Four-time Olympian Mitch Booth twice represented Australia and twice the Netherlands in the Tornado catamaran to win a Bronze and Silver. He has long been an innovator in the sport, and co-created the Extreme 40s . Booth is now skipper of the 100ft Comanche , winning the 2021 Rolex Middle Sea Race and 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race .

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PROJECT KUKA-LIGHT. THE BEST CHALLENGE EVER Kuka Light is a high-end race design and started with a simple parameter: to be lightest possible monohull around 12 m that could compete in Rolex Middle Sea Race, Rolex Fastnet, and other 600 nm offshore courses. The initial discussions centered on weight and what “no rules” really means. The IMOCA 60’s were often used as a reference. It was decided that achieving Design Category A for the purposes of CE/ISO certification and ISAF OSR Category 1 was appropriate. This would make the boat a proper ocean racer, just a level below the deep trans-ocean racing of the IMOCA’s. The power to weight of the canting keel proved unbeatable with technology today, for the regattas in question. The efficiency of the rotating wing mast, enhanced by a boat that would sail more like a catamaran than like a fixed keel mono, was too attractive to be ignored. To get the lowest possible weight of the primary hull and deck laminates and unprecedented approach was taken. We decided to build the port and starboard sides, the central hull, and the deckhouse and cockpit each in the largest diameter autoclave available to us. This gives access to huge pressures during cure and allows one to choose prepreg’s with far higher fibre to resin ratios than is normally possible. The weight savings were unattainable any other way. The bowsprit, foils, and mast would also be produced in this same hi-tech process. At a few crucial stages during the design and build process we have been challenged to get the most out of the decision to be made. One example of this would be the CFD research undertaken in the phase were the hull shape was being finalized. It may have cost some weeks, but we could never win back those gains at a later date. The primary focus was how hard the boat could be driven. Deck immersion in waves was considered to be a crucial factor. If it was possible to reduce deck immersion and heeled drag at the same time, all the better. In the end, this study showed the value of rocker, as much as it did volume distribution forward of the mast. As it stands, if Kuka were an IMOCA 60, it would be 15% lighter than the nearest competitor. There is nothing like it on the race course. It is wide for its length, 4.6 m wide for 12.7 m LOA. It has a considerable sprit and an upwind sailplan almost exactly the same as a Class 40, at a fraction of the lightship weight. Kuka has been a unique project, the best challenge we have been presented with to date.

Published on May 3rd, 2022 | by Editor

Kuka Light: World’s coolest yachts

Published on May 3rd, 2022 by Editor -->

Yachting World has been asking top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times, and four-time Olympian Mitch Booth nominated Kuka Light. Here’s the report :

“Kuka Light is the most extreme keelboat I have ever sailed,” explains Booth. “At 42 feet and built in an autoclave, she is very light and stiff. But when you look at the spec she’s special. Around 3,200kg with a beam of 4.6m and draft of 3.5m makes Comanche look very conservative by comparison!”

Booth was involved with the design from the outset, recalling that the brief from the owner was to build the fastest 40 foot monohull in the world that could take part in the premier ocean and coastal races.

Kuka Light Stats rating: Top speed: 34 knots LOA: 13m/42ft Launched: 2012 Berths: 6 Price: c.€1million Adrenaline Factor: 90%

For Yachting World’s list of cool boats, click here .

Tags: coolest yachts , Kuka Light , Mitch Booth , Yachting World

How to build a great sailing crew →

World Sailing must do better at Olympics →

Will USA’s radical design choices pay off? →

Who is the quickest America’s Cup team? →

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Kuka Light is one of the fastest boat ever built in it’s class (40-42 feet) for offshore races. The full-carbon autoclave built yacht is thought and engineered to be raced in long distance races by a small crew of 7. The super light boat (3.4 tons displacement) has demonstrated to be as fast as the best 50 and 60 footer in races like Giraglia and Middle Sea Race. Equipped with a canting keel and a rotating mast Kuka-Light has been constantly developed during the last years and is very competitive also in ORC rating. The boat has been professionally maintained and serviced throughout the years. The carbon fin and the structural parts of boat and mast have been checked by QI-Composite with ultra sound. All hardware of the boat has been checked and replaced during every winter. 2015 new PBO rig. The engine has been also serviced every year.

More info: https://www.racing-yachts.com/open-42...

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Sweet… Kuka Light

Peter Gustafsson Boats⛵️ kuka light , marström , sweet 36

The idea of creating Kuka-Light started to spin around my head when I realised that to improve the Rating of my boat I had to have smaller sails and make the boat slower. This is absurd for a yachtsman used to racing with A class catamarans and with Melges 24 boats. Speed and apparent wind are synonyms of fun for me so I asked myself: why give up on fun and give up having maximum performance?

Här finns lite kommentarer från designkontoret Schickler Tagliapietra.

Det finns också lite Svenskt intresse eftersom Marström har byggt det mesta. Bilder från Håkan Mann på Marström och ägaren Franco Niggeler som också har skrivit lite om tänket.

Some examples of speed… Upwind speed: we sail currently in 14/15 knots of breeze with about 11 knots of speed with a true angle around 45 degrees. Reaching and downwind same wind we achieve 12-13 knots, till now we have only had once wind uo to 30 knots, and max speed we have reached was over 20 knots, absolutely not forcing the boat, as it was during boat transfer with main and jib. As said we are still in a development phase of the boat.

Length 12.80 m Beam 4.60 m Draft 3.50 m Displ (light) 3.200 kg Upwind SA 116 mq Downwind SA 218 mq Engine 30 HP ISOOSR Cat 1 Sailnumber SUI 4200 IRC TCC 1.437 (motsvarar 1.80 i SRS)

Hereafter some comments about the development of Kuka-Light. Kuka-Light is a very different boat, a real prototype. Full Carbon Nomex autoclave hull, rotating mast, canting keel and a light displacement around 3,2 Tons. This with a very agressive hull shape (12,8 m of length by 4,6 m of beam). Add to this a full carbon keel blade, an innovative battery system and you understand that such a boat needs a time for developement and lots of small adjustments to develop its full potential. Kuka-Light was put into water after a two year build time last spring. Since then we fixed a lot of small issues, like the deck plan, the software of the batteries management, the sails and we had also to learn how to sail the boat. Yes, to learn how to sail the boat as you have to sail this monohull like a multihull, it means that you will sail it always in appearant wind mode, never to low, never to high. Thanks to the expertise of Mitch Booth we could make a lot of improvements in a quite short time. We have seen that due to its displacement Kuka-Light is very very sensitive to the weight position. This means that the crew has to move much more like in a dinghy or a light boat like Melges 24 than on a traditional monohull, but it is very easy to sail and very light on the rudder. When the wind is over 25 knots the boat is quite wet, a bit like the Volvo 70. Lots of spray and lot of fun with quite high speed. Upwind we are quite satisfied with the performance we see and we are constantly learning and improving also our reaching and downwind speed, adapting the sails, mast position and so on. I think that we still have more potential to improve our downwind speed, but we are already a very fast boat. We sailed till now two races, the first one was Palermo-Montecarlo. 600 miles with verylight wind, quite a difficult race where we arrived third behind Esimit (former Alfa Romeo) and a Cookson 50 canting keeler. After we sailed a race in Sanremo (Trofeo Gavagnin) and Kuka-Loght won line honors and handicap, beating a 60 foot canting keeler. Next race will be the Middle Sea Race starting the 20th of october from Malta. As in our view the boat now sails up to 85-90% of its full potential we will make some training sessions during the winter in order to optimize our sails and we will also try some differents settings of the boat Best regards Franco

ClubSwan 43 – first sail

JV 62 Whisper | boat tour

SunFast 30 OD tour

36 comments.

Äntligen har jag hittat en PAC-MAN dödare! Nu dj-ar Jimmy! Allt verkar ju perfekt…förutom kanske namnet… ;)

Ha ha, ja den var ju sjukt hårig, köp!!!

Ett billigare sätt att segla ifrån Pac-Man är ju annars att du ställer dig på Formula Windsurfing prylarna igen, gissar att det ungefär är lika stor chans att du på semestern får med dig hela familjen ut på brädan som på Kuka Light. :D

Man tycker ju att Marström kunde ha upplyst italienarna om vad kuka blir på svenska? Eller också är det just det man gjort… ;)

Ägaren är informerad. Ägaren är från Schweiz, byggaren från Spanien förutom Marström, projektledaren från Australien, design från Italien, Usa med lite hjälp från Sverige och besättningen från italien

Kunde ju ha varit värre, om de hade varit från Ungern tex…

:) var tvungen att googla för att hitta betydelsen på ungerska

Bra internationella namn kan vara svårt. Honda jazz hette från början Honda F*tta, inte det bästa namnet på en bil i Sverige.

Eller Swahili…..

The assembly was Soleri in Italy, not Spain. Actually, but for Mitch’s address, we have no Spain in the boat. But yes, your point is clear!

KUKA gör hyfsat många robotar som jobbar i Sverige sen länge. Ta en titt på t ex Volvo

KUKA-tyskt företag (placerad på börsen i Frankfurt) och då ska det uttalas KOKA. då blir det inte lika hemskt.

Blir kul att se denna på Middle sea race den 20e:). Siktar på att ställa upp med min Dehler 34 SV. Så här såg det ut igår på Malta:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIp73xn2wZI&feature=plcp Vi har nog plats för en gubbe till om någon duktig seglare från norr känner sig sugen på att åka ned med kort varsel. Mejla då [email protected]

Riktigt cool båt! Bara att lägga en beställning på en till. Blur IV ?

Om man får vara lite grabbig… Kan man tycka att det verkar vara en båt med stake i!

Lika bred som en katta, lika många roder och centerbord dessutom, hur skall denna design tråd sluta !

Flerskorvsmast dessutom.

Få se nu, hur var det nu då… Toa, wokpanna, diskho… Nej.. Wokpanna, diskho, toa… Eller var det… Diskho, toa, wokpanna.. http://www.blur.se/images/kukalight-gear-10.jpg

Det vill till att träna på ruffkänslan i hammocken innan stökiga nattseglingar.

Så det var den man var lite hemlighetsfull om hos Marström, om jag inte minns fel så gjordes skrovet i två halvor. Halva överbyggnaden och halva skrovet i ett stycke.

Almost. Port side, stbd side, bow from bulkhead to end of sprit, deck and cockpit, hull center, and transom. So 6 main components, and lots of little bits. All moulds ready for more…

Kan det vara det hårdast skruvade/utvecklade enskrovsprojectet med svensk inblandning ? Saknas bara DSS ? Segla denna utan instrument : )

Faster than DSS, we looked at it.

Namnet behöver bara justeras lite grann byt ut light mot big så är det ju ett väldigt bra namn som många andra båtägare skulle avundas ;-)

Sweet och rå båt!!!

Thanks. It is funny about the name in Swedish though…

Ngn som minns Fazisi från Whitbread 89-90 ? http://www.rick-tomlinson.com/Whitbread%20web/images/page41.html Låga fribord, smal för var några av design ideerna.

Konstruktören, Vlad Murnikov har fortsatt på det temat, att uppnå hög fart genom att minska motståndet, nu finns en SpeedDream 27: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3q0RA_8S8o&feature=endscreen&NR=1

På ritbordet finns båtar från 4,5 meter till 115 fot ; http://www.mxspeeddream.com/main.html (bla uppges att dom var en av vinnarna, till World Match Racing Tour)

Mer info om World Match Racing Tour: http://www.wmrt.com/tour-info/boats.html?boat=3

Nu är den till salu :-)

https://ancasta.com/boats-for-sale/used/sail/custom-built/42/34069/ http://www.kuka-light.ch/sale/Kuka-Light.pdf

En del diskussioner från 2012, då man inte riktigt lyckades få ut all prestanda… http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?/topic/141464-kuka-light-less-is-more/

Wow! Lite heta diskussioner där vill jag lova. Verkar inte vara så populärt att kritisera upwind performance :)

Såg först inte att det var jag som hade gett mig in i diskussionen :-)

Hade ganska mycket kommunikation med både Marsttröm, Doug Schikler och ägaren, och det var tydligt att man hade svårt att få ut 100%. Man lyckades väl aldrig leverera några resultat, men var så klart hyfsat snabba.

Nu seglar gänget en Cookson 50, Kuka 3, och har lyckats mycket bättre. Det verkar vara det man skall ha för att göra bra ifrån sig i de klassiska offshore-racen.

Jag ser tydliga paralleller med Maverick, en Infinity 46 helt i kol med DSS, som har gjort bra resultat med proffs ombord, men generellt sett har svårt att få ut potentialen.