X FACTOR: FROM REGATTA TO CRUISE, IT’S (SOMETIMES) A SHORT ROAD

Put together a speed fanatical shipowner who wants to have a cruise holiday with his family; a catamaran which is totally conceived for racing regattas ( it comes from New Zealand, where it has won everything); and a design studio, H3O Yacht Design, who must square the circle and satisfy a very difficult request.

What you get is one of the most interesting boats we have seen in the latest seasons.

The starting point is a project conceived by a great expert, Brett Bakewell – White (with a long experience in America’s Cup) and a boat built by one of the best shipbuilders for this kind of boats, Multihull Solutions. H3O’s challenge was to convert X-Factor into a cruise boat. So, the boat arrived on a cargo vessel from the Pacific Ocean and, after almost two years of studies, updates and finalizings, it became the new X-Factor.

The main change concerns a big superstructure between the two hulls. So, a large covered space which hosts a chart work zone, a kitchen and a large living zone with a launch table. Walkways are delimited by the external area of the cockpit, just before the astern crossbeam.

In order to avoid an excessive weight increase and make these changes without compromising the original project, H3O’s team has lightened all the structures and inner panels, by using an advanced very light carbon sandwich.

Changes corcern interiors, too. Now, in both the lateral hulls, they are perfectly symmetric and they have two cabins and a bathroom.

Sailing manoeuvres are easier thanks to a new position and inclination of lateral drop keels; now, even in cruise and without a particularly skilled crew, X-Factor is at ease when it turns.

X Factor – Technical file

Project: H3O Yacht Design –  Brett Bakewell White

Overall Length 16,50 m

Max Beam 10,45 m
Full Load Displacement 9,100 Kg
Empty displacement 7,500 Kg
Minimum draught 41 cm
Max Draught  2,40 m
Mainsale 107 sq.m.

Jib 47 sq.m.
Code Zero 98 sq.m.
Gennaker 210 sq.m.
Max height 23.23 m