The Hoek 115 sailing yacht Firefly, the first F-class yacht to be built, was launched in Holland’s North Sea Channel by builder Claasen Jachtbouw BV. Accompanying the yacht’s owner and his crew for sea trials were Hall Commercial Manager Andre Vermeulen, Hall technicians Freddy Franssens and Henk van Zweden, the builders, and designer Andre Hoek and his team.
F-Class Sailing Yacht Firefly
An elegant superyacht fully equipped for racing, sailing yacht Firefly has a high-modulus Hall Seamless carbon spar with four sets of spreaders. Hall also supplied a double-tapered racing boom and a full set of performance running rigging and halyard locks. Sailing yacht Firefly is the prototype for the new F-Class one-design, and is fully optimized to race in the Spirit of Tradition Class. The yacht’s hull was constructed by the shipyard Bloemsma Aluminiumbouw which has built four J-class yacht hulls. S/Y Firefly was then fitted out and completed by Claasen Shipyards which built the recently launched J-class Lionheart yacht. Negotiations are also under way for two sister vessels.
Following the successful sail trials, Andre Vermeulen reported, “The result of Firefly is great: it’s a perfect mix of classic lines and retro-design details. The boat is, without question, an eye-catcher.” Firefly is on its way to Palma de Mallorca and her first yacht races are planned for end of June. There she will make her racing debut at the Superyacht Cup in Palma (June 23-26).
Firefly is the prototype of a new one-design race-classic of the F-class. She is developed as a high-performance racer, optimised to race in the Spirit of Tradition class. The design brief called “for a yacht to be fast on all points of sail, both in light- and heavy wind”. With a displacement of just below 60 ton and a draft of 5,2 meter, the design is extremely powerful. The one-design class that is developed under the auspiciën of the F-Class Association also allows a lifting keel to be used, but the first prototype will be built with a fixed keel. The deck layout can be customised. The interior, for the first yacht, is minimal, although a regular interior layout is possible and accepted in the Class.
Model of the 115 classic race yacht FIREFLY
The first F-class yacht FireFly is rigged by SmartRigging with PBO. Sailing yacht FireFly is a Hoek Design, she is being built by Claassen Jachtbouw, the mast will be supplied by Hall Spars and the rigging by SmartRigging. Sails will be supplied by North Sails.
Specification for the F-Class Classic Yacht Firefly:
Claasen Jachtbouw | 35 mtr (114.8 ft) | 2011 Sailing Yacht
Type: Schooner
Builder: Claasen Jachtbouw
Interior designers: HOEK DESIGN NAVAL ARCHITECTS
Built: 2011
L.O.A.: 35 mtr (114.8 ft
Year Built: 2011
Classification:
Hull construction: Aluminium
