So many cute little white things bobbing about our ocean lately. First, Pressure Drop and now, M/Y White Rabbit.
Well, cute little white thing…an 84 meter diesel-electric aluminium trimaran with 20 metres of luxurious beam – think 1200 sqm of very stable and luxurious interior guest space.
Plus a private cinema with vibrating seats for that extra sensory bass experience; specially created timber, stone & leather finishes throughout; large custom jacuzzi; formal saloons; crystal finishes; Owners, VIP, Guest and Crew cabins; and a Piano/Karaoke Lounge; and whisper quiet sound readings of 40db.
M/Y White Rabbit is the largest aluminium superyacht and largest trimaran superyacht in the world – winner of numerous international industry awards and built right here in Henderson WA by Echo Yachts.
Western Australia is fast becoming internationally renowned as the place to custom design, build, maintain and refit superyachts – from design to state-of-the-art finishes, advanced Naval Architecture, fuel efficient engineering and facilities second to none, the industry says there is an opportunity to significantly increase its superyacht maintenance project capacity with the right level and types of WA State Government support.
White Rabbit is here for a scheduled maintenance program, this being her second docking since being delivered new at the end of 2018.
Aside from their newbuild projects underway, Echo Yachts is likely to deliver nine superyacht refit or maintenance projects this calendar year including various hull extensions, annual survey works and general maintenance programs. Or as an old tar might say, “It’s time for a good careen and clean.”
Owners are requesting their pleasure craft and all their luxuriously appointed bespoke features, be cared for and maintained in our world class superyacht building facilities, with just the right skills, know-how and tools for the job.
Echo Yachts’ Sales and Marketing Manager, Chris Blackwell, says “with the right WA State Government and Industry Association partnership in terms of improvements to local docking rates and facilities, additional marina berths in Fremantle and oversees superyacht tourism promotion through Tourism WA and Superyacht Australia, I believe we will double, possible triple the amount of superyachts visiting WA from surrounding regions within a short space of time. This is a growth industry that can create significant export manufacturing and maintenance opportunities, jobs and training, plus tourism spend here in Fremantle and other coastal WA regional areas. We have all the right ingredients and skills here in Henderson to build upon. This opportunity will only sail past WA to other Australian States or nations in the S.E. Asian region through inaction and now is the time to grasp this opportunity for our State”.
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So let’s take this opportunity to have a look under White Rabbit’s bonnet –
* Length Overall (LOA): 83.99 meters
* Length along waterline: 77.95 meters
* Beam: 20.14 meters
* Draught (full load): 4.43 meters
* Gross tonnage: 2.940GT
* Engines: 2 x 5 STADT 2.1kW electric motors
* 19/13 knots max speed/cruise
* Range at 13 knots: 5.000 nM
* 4 x 940 ekW Cat C32
* 2 x 550 ekW Cat C18
* Fuel Capacity: 166.200 litres
* Freshwater capacity: 50,000 litres
* 2 x 7.8 Custom Naiad tenders
* Owners/Guests: 30
* Crew: 32.
The vision for Echo Yachts is ultimately advanced, sustainable superyacht manufacture. White Rabbit delivers lots of bang for its buck. Chris says the unique arrangement of the super-efficient One2Three designed aluminium tri-hull, Caterpillar electrical generation engines, variable speed STADT electric motors and Rolls Royce variable pitch propellors, increases power and fuel efficiency by up to 40 per cent compared to a traditional powered full-displacement steel monohull superyachts of the same GT volume.
But what about the ride?
Running bow-on to the weather conditions, Trimarans are more comfortable than monohulls with equivalent displacements. Four enormous Naiad spanning foils and an aft control surface of a combined 45 square meters size help stabilize the vessel underway.
“Stability and roll motion is much easier to fine-tune on a trimaran by increasing and decreasing buoyancy in the outer hulls”, exterior and interior designer Sam Sorgiovanni explains.
The Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) study reinforces the massive advantage of trimarans: “When the same speed is required, the installed propulsion power in the trimaran can be reduced by some 40 per cent, leading to lower operation costs, a reduction in weight and less environmental contamination”.
When asked if he felt White Rabbit had met is expectations on smoothness and quietness, Mark Stothard, the owner of Echo Yachts, replied that it has been the best project he has ever been involved with and “surpassed every expectation”.
When you stand back and take in White Rabbit you can’t help but see why!
* This article was written by our Shipping Correspondent, PA Sinclair
