Design Q&A with Maarten Voogd from Simonis Voogd
Hi Maarten. Good to chat again! We’re incredibly excited about the new KC54 you have designed for Kinetic. Can you give us an overview of your yacht design background?
I was actually interested in yacht design from a very young age and was put in contact with Alex Simonis in 1988 by a mutual acquaintance. I then went to do my apprenticeship with Alex in 1991 and a year later he asked me to come back to South Africa for the design of Broomstick. At that time it was one of the most radical 70’ monohulls around. Part of the deal of me coming back to Cape Town was that I wanted to be part of the crew on Broomstick for the Cape to Rio race in 1993. So I did, and instead of going back to Holland I stayed in South Africa till early 1999. In April 1999 we started our office in Holland to be more in touch with the European market. Since then we run two offices, with the majority of our work in South Africa, China and Europe.
What is your design philosophy?
In general we are performance orientated, if it is sailboats or powerboats. We like speed and simplicity. Speed is very much weight driven and the simpler a boat is, the more speed potential it can have.
What is your relationship with Kinetic Catamarans?
We have been involved with Kinetic right from the start. In actual fact, our relationship with the original owner of the yard goes back 30 years.
How are the Kinetic Catamarans different to other cats?
The range of Kinetic Catamarans is really a first for all performance orientated cats, I see it as the Porsche of the catamarans. Good performance with a comfortable interior - it is not a full-on racing boat, however everything possible is done to reduce weight on interior and systems .
What is the inspiration behind the Kinetic Catamarans?
The idea behind Kinetic Catamarans is to develop blue water sailing catamaran which combines speed with comfort. A general trend is that most boats - monohulls and multihulls - have become heavier, taking away the real sailing pleasure. We are trying to change this trend with the Kinetic Cats. I am myself a very enthusiastic sports-boat sailor and must say that standing behind the wheel of the KC62 gives me the same feeling as sailing a big powerful monohull. So yes, that is the feel we want to achieve.
What are the decisions based on the longer and wider hulls of the KC54 and how will this impact both performance and living space?
Although we feel that the hulls on KC62 are perfectly shaped (also based on the feedback we are getting), if we would have used the same parameters on KC54 we would compromise too much on useful floorspace. So on KC54 we went slightly wider on the waterline beam but at the same time went down on the amount of hull rocker. According to our VPP it is still well within our performance goal.
There are standard rig and performance rig options for the KC54. What can we expect from each of these?
For sure the more performance orientated rig gives more speed, but might also be more intimidating to some people. It really depends on the customer and how extreme one would like to go. In any event, both versions are well above average when it comes to performance.
The KC54 is set up for shorthanded sailing for a cruising couple. Are there any design innovations to make the boat easy to sail.
To make a boat shorthanded controllable it really boils down to making the sailing systems as user friendly as possible. The biggest hurdles to overcome with sailing a relatively big boat like the KC54 and 62 is manoeuvring tight spaces - so bow and maybe stern thruster are of big help here.
The controlling of the sails is also important, especially when reefing or lowering down. In general, we try to make this push button controlled as much as possible while focusing on uncomplicated systems, as the more systems on board the more weight.
Space and living areas are big features in the KC54. What makes these special?
Relative to KC62 we have slightly wider hulls. If we would have scaled the KC62 down to a 54’, the space would have been too cramped. Boats are all about compromises and it is our task to reach the best comprises in order to make a successful product. We feel that with the 54 we are getting close, but the market will tell in the end!
The forward cockpit is a new addition to the KC54. What is the idea behind this and what benefits does it allow for?
The forward cockpit on KC54 wasn’t actually originally there, but after attending the Annapolis Boatshow in 2019 I felt like we should really go for the forward cockpit on KC54 as well. It sets us apart from the competition.
Always such a pleasure Maarten, thanks for the chat and we look forward to a visit soon!