SPEED FREAK

MEET THE WORLD'S FIRST FOILING MAXI, FLYING NIKKA. DESIGNED FOR MEDITERRANEAN DISTANCE RACING, THIS 60FT SPACESHIP IS GOING TO SHAKE UP THE BIG BOAT SCENE, WRITES TOBY HODGES AFTER AN EXCLUSIVE FIRST SAIL

- TOBY HODGES

You might understandably mistake this futuristic craft for another America’s Cup foiler. Yet, although the aesthetics may look similar, Flying Nikka is a very different animal to the AC75s which ripped around Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in 2021 – and to anything we’ve seen before. This 60ft foiling weapon is designed to be owner-driven and compete in key maxi and long-distance Mediterranean races.

Flying Nikka has a keel and inherent stability as it needs to compete in displacement mode too. It also has the potential to embarrass any competitors by lifting onto its carbon foils and taking off at two to three times the speed of most other monohulls in existence.

Flying Nikka is the most complex, innovative and exciting big yacht of the year – a pure speed machine, a technological and engineering goliath and a brave endeavour. It pushes the boundaries of where displacement sailing and foiling technology meet for offshore (albeit non-ocean) monohull racing.

It is the vision of Italian owner Roberto Lacorte, designed by Mark Mills and constructed at King Marine in Valencia. Not only was its development impressively rapid from concept to first foiling, but it was built to a repeatable budget, around 1/10th the cost of a Cup boat. As Mills emphasises: “The core of the project was for reliable, easy foiling.” It is sailed by Lacorte and his longstanding crew, rather than Cup all-stars.

And while I was admittedly sceptical about the overall purpose of Flying Nikka, I was privileged to be given an exclusive sail aboard during the team’s early trials from Punta Ala, Italy, in July.

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