M5, still the world’s largest sailing sloop at 75.2 metres LOA before her refit and now at 77.6m with her new stern, has sliced 18 tonnes off the weight of just her rig alone as a result of extensive component replacement undertaken by rigging specialists Marine Results, as she nears the end of her one and a half year refit at Pendennis Plus Yard in Falmouth, UK.
Formerly Mirabella V, M5 is the fifth largest sailing yacht in the world. Working in conjunction with Carbo-link, Marine Results has project managed the rig upgrade programme which has included the replacement of all the rod rigging with new carbon rods on the yacht’s towering rig which stands at 88.5 metres (292 ft) high from the water.
In consultancy with Carbo-link which supplied the rods, Marine Results signed off all the specifications and lengths and then assembled the new rig. “The new carbon rods are designed for a precision fit to the spreader endings, also newly supplied and assembled, to avoid misalignment of the rig,” explains Jon Morris of Marine Results. “We’ve assembled the rig and inspected all the components to ensure that it is ready for stepping,” he adds.
In fact a six week delay to a separate aspect of M5’s extensive refit means that the rig and its new components are temporarily stored ready for finalising the dressing of the mast in the three week period running up to 10th October, the date set for stepping the rig into the yacht. A team of 10 people from Marine Results will be on the dockside to undertake the operation from mid-September.
“The delay causes quite a shift in our programme of logistics for such a huge project,” says Morris. “However, we have the flexibility at Marine Results to reschedule the rig stepping, so it’s not a problem.”
