A Revolutionary Rig

I've been commissioned by a couple from Hong Kong to build a 40-foot sailing catamaran to a custom design by Albert Nazarov. Construction begins at the Jomtien yard this week.

Designed for short-handed, long-distance cruising, it features an unusual, even revolutionary rig called an 'aft mast' – a phrase coined by its designer and energetic developer, Brian Eiland, who also refers to it as a 'single-masted ketch' – because the slender, lightweight spar is set well aft and sets two large headsails but just a very small, high-angled, short-footed mainsail (imagine a low-aspect ratio windsurfer rig!) set within a wishbone. The lack of a boom makes a spacious flying bridge a practical option, without the danger of a boom close overhead.

The headsails are roller-reefing and easily managed with adequately sized two-speed winches. The alloy mast is simply supported, with twin backstays led to the transoms of both hulls and an aft-swept diamond arrangement for the uppers and lowers. The hull is sandwich coremat, while the bulkheads and superstructure will be mainly closed-cell Nida Core. I plan to deliver the vessel by sea to Hong Kong in the spring of 2009.

Running Out Of Room

With order books filling up quickly and the construction of half a dozen new vessels scheduled to start in late June and early July, my company is running out yard space.

We already operate two yards, one in Pattaya and another (which is effectively two separate yards) in Jomtien. Now I am hoping to expand the existing Jomtien yard into land recently required adjacent to it as well as building a third complex a mile or so down the road. I've already had to sub-contract the construction of small vessels, such as run-abouts, sailing dinghies, and sight-seeing pontoons, as well as some RB34 components, to other, smaller local yards working under our supervision.

The unarguable success has not been without some growing pains. I am having to hire for a number of new positions, notably in project and logistical management, while also negotiating banking arrangements for the greatly increased financial requirements of such a large operation.

Above: One of two covered yards at Jomtien, enclosing four very different vessels, ranging in overall length from 38 feet to 60 feet, at various stages of construction.

An Ocean Cruising Cat'

Working with Albert Nazarov again, I've been developing a new addition to the RB range of power and sailing catamarans. The RB45 Blue Water is an obvious evolution of one of our first collaborations, the RB45 motor sailer, launched a couple of years ago. However, this latest design is intended for long passage-making offshore, with better performance under sail but still a high degree of interior comfort and load-carrying capacity.

Its aesthetics have also been refined, with obvious styling notes taken from current high performance European multihulled cruiser-racers. The relatively high-aspect cutter rig is easily managed by two people and yet still offers plenty of sail area for the light winds of the Asian tropics. The open deck spaces aft are expansive and well shaded.

Construction is expected to begin in just a couple of months.

Kicked To The Curb

In the early days of my company, I had so few workers, it didn't really matter where they parked. Most had – still have – motorbikes rather than cars and they parked them in the yard itself, often right under the boat they were working on. In my first yard in Pattaya, which was also my first house, even I had to park on the street because my car port had been turned into a boat shed and saw mill.

Things are a little different now. At the Jomtien yard, which is actually two yards in separate, large, hangar-like, concrete-floored, corrugated metal sheds, we have had to create a formalised parking space outside, not just for workers and management but also the increasing number of current and potential clients who visit. Right now, one of these yards alone employs maybe 30 people aboard two power cats, one 45-foot long, the other 50-foot, as well as a 60-foot traditional motor yacht, and a Tiki 38 sailing cat, all in advanced stages of construction.

Below: Workers' motorbikes parked outside the long, concrete wall of RB's yard, on land reclaimed from jungle near Jomtien, south of Pattaya.

Roadside Junk

The range of projects that I've taken on during the decade my business has been based in Thailand has necessarily been eclectic – and sometimes downright unusual. In July, this year, I'll launch a traditional motorised junk, the second or third I've built. Seventy-five foot long, planked in varnished teak, this one will operate as a floating restaurant.