Mario Pedol reports back from the sea trials of Nilaya, the 47m Royal Huisman custom sailing yacht that is Nauta Design's current sail division flagship: "A full day in beautiful sunny and windy weather in the North Sea off Amsterdam showed how Nilaya's performance under sail is truly outstanding," Pedol says. "By the time the mainsail was hoisted the breeze had built to a steady 18 knots. We sailed on a broad reach with the mainsail and Code Zero and rapidly reached a truly impressive 17 kt. boat speed. It was just the beginning of a great day of sailing with the Owner and all of the main players of his and the Builder's teams. This fantastic yacht showed to really match all of the quite demanding main aspects of the Owners' brief. Royal Huisman masterly succeeded in engineering and building the yacht, fulfilling the Owner's request in terms of robustness, reliability, quietness and last but not least amazing performance under sail, thanks to super high level Naval Architecture by Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design."

Pedol also felt that his studio's specific request for longitudinal stiffness, a very important performance booster aboard a sailing yacht, was fully met using thorough and deep final element structural analysis.

"I wish to thank all the team and especially the Owner's Project Manager Nigel Ingram, MCM Newport cofounder, for the amazing job done for this great Owner, I wish him and his family many fantastic years aboard this stunning superyacht!" Pedol concludes.