Maxi yacht

A maxi yacht usually refers to a racing yacht of at least 70 feet (21 m) in length.

Hyundai, May 2009

Alfa Romeo II on sea trials, 2005

Origin

The term maxi originated with the International Offshore Rule (IOR) rating system, which in the 1970s and 1980s measured offshore racing yachts and applied a single-number rating to each boat. This number was approximately equal to the sailing waterline length in feet, plus or minus speed enhancing or reducing factors in the design. A yacht with a rating of 40 feet (12 m) was generally about 47 to 52 feet (14 to 16 m) in length overall. The IOR had upper and lower rating limits of 16 feet (4.9 m) and 70 feet (21 m), so a yacht designed and built to exceed the maximum limit of 70 feet (21 m) rating was known as a maxi.

Being the biggest sailing yachts afloat, Maxis have always had the best chance of finishing first. They were sufficiently fast and seaworthy to cross oceans and became the craft of choice of pioneers of the Whitbread Round the World Race. The racing giants in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2005 are the modern descendants of those early aquatic thoroughbreds.

— Charles St. Clair Brown, EPS / Maximus

Competition

The IOR Maxis were generally 75 to 82 feet (23 to 25 m) long overall, and raced boat-for-boat without handicap, unlike the rest of the IOR fleet which raced with a time correction factor depending on the boat's rating. In the 1980s they were the most glamorous, exciting, expensive and high-visibility racing yachts in the world, with regular appearances at most of the great races such as the Fastnet, Sydney-Hobart, Bermuda Race, and their own private series of regattas in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. The maxis were also prominent as line honour contestants in the Whitbread Round the World Race from 1973 to 1993.

Modern maxis

Modern maxi yachts are usually custom-designed and built to the IRC rule but regardless of handicap in order to achieve line honour victories. In 2001 however two 86 ft Reichel/Pugh boats were built to the "maxZ86" class in order to match boat speed evenly, but the class did not generate further interest. For the 2009 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia increased the IRC rating upper limit for length of hull from 98 ft to 100 ft, and most 98 ft yachts have been lengthened to this size. In order to achieve higher speeds, maxi yachts were early adopters of modern materials and technologies such as carbonfiber, thermoformed sails, rotating wingmasts, water ballasts and canting keels. Previous smaller maxi yachts are still raced with corrected time class victories in mind whilst the 72 ft "mini-maxi" yachts now have a class of their own. Maxi yachts are raced in both inshore and offshore races.

List of largest maxi yachts

yacht	year	LH	designer	shipyard	notes
Stealth	1996	93ft	Germán Frers	Green Marine	owned by Gianni Agnelli, won the 2001 Fastnet race
Cap Gemini	1999	100ft	Ron Holland	Pendennis	now Hyundai
Leopard 2	2000	96ft	Reichel/Pugh	Green Marine	now Maria Alba II
Alfa Romeo I	2002	90ft	Reichel/Pugh	McConaghy Boats	ex Shockwave, Rambler, now La Bête, won the 2002 Sydney-Hobart, the 2003 Fastnet race and four Middle Sea Races
Bols	2003	90ft	Hugh Welbourn	Boatspeed	now Med Spirit
Zana	2003	98ft	Brett Bakewell-White	Hakes Marine	ex Konica Minolta, Lahana, redesigned in 2014 at the TP Cookson yard as 100ft Rio 100
Skandia	2003	98ft	Don Jones, Fred Barrett	Hart Marine	Triple Moving Foil, now Wild Thing, won the 2003 Sydney-Hobart
Mari-Cha IV	2003	140ft	Greg Elliott, Clay Oliver, Philippe Briand	JMV Industries	schooner built for Robert Warren Miller, redesigned in 2015 at Royal Huisman as cruiser Samurai
Nicorette III	2004	90ft	Alex Simonis, Marten Voogd	Boatspeed	Triple Moving Foil owned by Ludde Ingvall, ex Aapt ,YuuZoo, won the 2004 Sydney-Hobart, redesigned in 2016 by Brett Bakewell-White at the Southern Ocean Marine yard as 98ft CQS
Genuine Risk	2004	90ft	Edward George Dubois	McConaghy Boats	Canting Ballast Twin Foil, now Ragamuffin 90 and owned by Syd Fischer
Maximus	2005	98ft	Greg Elliott, Clay Oliver	TP Cookson	Canting Ballast Twin Foil, ex Investec Loyal, redesigned in 2014 by Andrew Dovell at the Innovation Composite yard as Ragamuffin 100ft, now Scallywag; Won the 2005 Fastnet race and the 2011 Sydney-Hobart
Alfa Romeo II	2005	98ft	Reichel/Pugh	McConaghy Boats	Canting Ballast Twin Foil, now 100ft Black Jack IV, won the 2009 Transpac, the 2009 Sydney-Hobart and three Middle Sea Races
Wild Oats XI	2005	98ft	Reichel/Pugh	McConaghy Boats	development of Alfa Romeo II, now 100ft and completely modernised, won eight Sydney-Hobarts and the 2015 Transpac
Leopard 3	2007	98ft	Bruce Farr	McConaghy Boats	now 100 ft, won two Fastnet races and the 2009 Middle Sea Race
Speedboat	2008	98ft	Juan Kouyoumdjian	TP Cookson	ex Virgin Money, Rambler 100, Perpetual Loyal, now 100ft Infotrack, won the 2011 Caribbean 600, the 2011 Newport-Lizard Point race and the 2016 Sydney-Hobart
Rambler 88	2014	88ft	Juan Kouyoumdjian	New England Boatworks	owned by George David, won the 2015 Middle Sea Race
Comanche	2014	100ft	VPLP, Guillaume Verdier	Hodgdon Yachts	holder of the New York-Lizard Point monohull record and the 24-hour record, winner of the 2017 and 2019 Sydney-Hobart

• LH designates the length of hull as measured by IRC, excluding bowsprits

See also

• International Maxi Association
• Maxi Yachts AB - production sailing yachts designed by Olympic medallist Pelle Pettersson and built on the island of Gotland. Over 16,000 have been built over the last 30 years. Current production consists of the Maxi 1200, Maxi 1300 and the Swedish Match 40.

References