Mirabella V, the world's largest sloop at the time of launch

Challenge

Bowmaster’s sister company, Manson Anchors were approached by Ron Holland, world-leading Yacht Designer and Vosper Thornycroft, a British Shipyard. They were in the process of designing and building what would be the largest sloop in the world. At 248ft long and costing over £100 million, this was a very high-profile project to be a part of.

The designers selected a Manson Ray, which due to the unique shape of the bow fitted perfectly. However, due to the large furling units inside the bow, the space for the deployment system was limited. The anchors would need to sit in specially designed deployment systems to fit the tight space.

Designer, Ron Holland, had experience with the reliable Manson Ray Anchors on existing sailing yachts he had designed. This experience assured him that the Manson Ray anchoring system for Mirabella V was the right choice.

Solution

The anchors for Mirabella V were constructed from 316 low carbon stainless steel plate. After extensive discussion on the dimension limitations, the Manson Anchors team offered digital drawings to check against the pre-designed anchor housing. Once these were checked and found the anchors could fit beneath the furler bases, construction went ahead.

Manson’s unique fabrication methods meant that millimeter accurate CAD drawings could be supplied to the builders and slight modifications could be made to ensure a perfect fit.

These two anchors were not cast, they were fabricated from plates. When manufactured this way, an exact and easily manipulated set of dimensions can be achieved.

The Ray Anchors were flared to the same specifications as the bow enabling them to sit snug against the bow.

The Manson Ray Anchors were the world’s largest Stainless-Steel Ray-type anchors weighing 600kg (1300lbs) and 400kg (900lbs).

Being made for the largest sloop in the world created a lot of attention for Manson Anchors in their ability to work to very tight dimensions.

Manson’s ability to manufacture the product and achieve tight tolerance and also the level of the mirror polish finish on the anchors also received high praise from all involved in the project.

As a result of this project, Manson Anchors were chosen as the winner of the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Creative Design Award. In addition, Manson Anchors was chosen by the ISTIA (international Superyacht Technology Innovation Awards) as runner up in the hardware and deck gear section.

https://www.bowmaster.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Vosper-Thornycroft-Mirabella-V.pdf