When one thinks of Yachting and Finland, the obvious first image is the iconic Nautor Swan and the brilliant design skills of German Frers. However, there is a new twist in this Finnish tale of world supremacy in Yacht design and building. It had to happen, a Catamaran! and not just any Catamaran. Designed by the same German Frers and built by OQS in Jakobstad, Finland comes the Ocean Explorer C-60. Built to the same exacting standards as Her Finnish Neighbour, the OQS C-60 is the culmination of planning by a group of specialist marine technology Companies, German Frers, Rivoyre Ingenierie and a team of supremely skilled Finnish craftsmen boatbuilders to produce the worlds most luxurious and cutting edge performance cruising Cat.

The background story
The company was founded 2010 by four companies active for decades as subcontractors to local boatyards  Nautor´s Swan and Baltic Yachts. The founders are Riskas Snickeri (carpentry), PolyPoint (engineering), Acu-Elektro (electrics) and Wi-Bo Metall. Looking deeper into the historical roots there are more connections to the other yards. Bernt Riska´s father was one of the early founders of Nautor together with Pekka Koskenkylä. Rurik Riska sold his shares but remained until retirement the boss of Nautor´s carpentry. Ingmar Granholm was marketing manager and head of R&D at Nautor for several decades. Ingmar´s sons are together with a colleague in charge of PolyPoint. Wi-bo and Acu-Elektro have the same longtime background and the companies still continue to supply parts and services to the other yards. In Jakobstad we are lucky to have two world renowned yards. The ambition is to create a third, but within the multihull segment.

The need for something new
-The idea and decision to go for a catamaran design was taken during time of the recession.
When the recession hit it was a crossroad ahead, either be passive and see what is going to happen or take an active role to try to define the future ahead.  The decision taken was to try the active approach. After a comprehensive study it was decided to try with something totally new and not seek competition with Nautor or Baltic Yachts. We wanted to maintain good relations, continue co-operation rather than start to compete.

The concept and design process.
After having looked at various catamarans on the market, anything from low cost segment to what is considered high end, it was decided to try to push the envelope a bit further in the premium segment. The ambition was to reach a level at least matching what is normally expected from the yards in Jakobstad/Pietarsaari.

Amongst the catamarans we did not find many builders taking their product to the same level of quality and finish as what is found in the top segment of the monohull premium market. We believed this was our niche to explore.

Germán Frers was asked if he is interested to accept the challenge and expand his naval architecture work from single hull to multihull. After only a day if consideration he was onboard.

Germán was assigned for several reasons. We knew him from so many years back and the track record for design could not be disputed. A few “advisers” said he does not know catamaran design, but we chose not to listen to this.  His eye and feeling for the combination of beauty and efficient hull lines played a big roll and we wanted to bring something totally new to the market. Most of the proven catamaran designers have their own style and are already being built by other yards. This was our own way to start fresh and actually from a blank piece of paper.

During the first conceptual design meeting Germán started by hand with a pencil on a blank paper. As support we had made a 7 page design brief of wanted and not wanted features and details.

It was mutually agreed that the design process was to be very interactive between the builder´s team and the designer and that has very much been the case. To our help we have on both sides collaborated with experienced French multihull engineers (Rivoyre) and  much recognition belongs to them as well.

The concept
The Ocean Explorer C-60 is on the very edge between comfort and performance. Going any more to performance the comfort would suffer as the hulls would become too narrow punishing accommodation volume. Going any beamier the performance would suffer.

Due to performance reasons the fixed keel was abandoned for curved dagger boards, running along the outer freeboards. They are lifted by pushbutton and the B&G system indicate at what level they are. Naturally there are back up systems, even for a case of system blackout.

The bow is reversed and sharp to reduce pitching in waves, as a true wave piercer. As a hidden safety feature the bows have crash boxes protecting the hull and structure in case of a collision. Each hull has 3 watertight sections.

Two very important features are the ability for shorthanded sailing and safety. Sailing is possible single handed out at sea, although in harbor area a deckhand would be of help for practical reasons.

As a part of the safety aspect for shorthanded sailing the galley is located up in the deckhouse. The windows are light grey allowing visibility through. The idea behind this is that a single watchman can prepare a meal without losing sight of the surrounding sea.

The floor levels onboard are kept very clean. The main deck one level, the aft cockpit, saloon and forward cockpit one level, and the floorboards down in the hulls one level.

Ocean Explorer C60
The C-60 is built as a semi custom, where the owner can play a more active role than in the serial production boat normally. The owner of C60-001 has been very active in the interior design creating 001 to a personal dream boat.

The interior chosen by the first client is Canadian ash. The interior surface panels are built superlight but appears in look like solid wood. Captain´s cabin has over/under bed configuration and the remaining 3 cabins have double beds. Each cabin has own toilet and separate shower.

The engine rooms are located midships inboards providing very good access for maintenance. The propellers are Brunton varifold on shaft.

Sailing
After having been out in in various conditions, we are pleased with the performance.
The boat accelerates well, is very stable and the reversed bows seems to work as the pitching motions is reduced. As a bonus from the stability and no heeling we found out guests onboard with a tendency for seasickness did not feel any illness at all. The client was real happy to find out the slamming they have experienced on other catamarans was not experienced now. “I can actually sleep in the forward cabin” said the owner´s wife while we headed upwind at above 12 knots.

The C-60 is a semi custom build based on a start up base specification as per the first C60 Like a Breezewhich has just finished 2nd multihull and 12th overall arrival of 226 starters in the 2013 ARC rally to the West Indies. Impressive statistics when you consider this was her first real outing.

Standard features are a carbon spreaderless mast by Lorima with a carbon park avenue boom. The interior layout is up to the Owner with the OQS and Frers design office interpreting and applying the Owners requirements to the build plan.

Sailing performance has been optimised by the use of carbon dagger boards that are incorporated into the outer hull form and are push button operated. The C-60 has a small forward cockpit accessible from the saloon with steps to the foredeck. Engine options include Steyr, Volvo or Yanmar, saildrive with stern fitting or shaft with midship, full height engine rooms. Watertight collision bulkheads are standard and carbon hull and decks are optional. Varying slightly from standard boatbuilding techniques is the deck house which OQS team has designed in Titanium. The strength to weight and stiffness of titanium has major benefits and allows the fitting of large areas of window. The 12mm laminated and tempered glass windows filter optimum light into the saloon and galley areas creating an ambience normally associated with large superyachts.

This Yacht is primarily targeted at Owners who appreciate comfort, safety and performance. The in house design team at OQS together with Germán Frers design office are ready to work closely with clients wanting to achieve the boat they require.

Specification
LOA: 18.5m (60.7ft)
Length Waterline: 18.1m (59.4ft)
Beam/Width Max: 9.08m (29.8ft)
Draft boards up: 0.8m (2.6ft)
Draft boards down: 2.0m (6.6ft)
Designer: German Frers
Builder: Ocean Quality Systems
Country Origin: Finland
Hull Type: Multi Hull
Hull Construction Material: Fibreglass
Deck Construction Material: Fibreglass

Engine
Engine Type: Twin inboards from 75HP to 110HP
Drive Type: Inboard/Shaftdrive
Fuel Capacity: 900 Litres
Water (Potable) Capacity: 700 Litres
Holding Tank: 240 Litres

Deck Gear
Anchor / Winch: Windlass Lewmar V4
Bilge Pump: Bilge pumps capacity 9000 GPH
Winches Harken 70,2 / 60,2 STEA

Mast/Rigging
Spars Lorima

Sail Inventory
Main sail area 137.0m2
Jib sail self-tacking 63.0m2
Gennaker C0 126.0m2

Electrics
Battery bank Li-Ion 800 Ah,
Shorepower 230V/25A,
Solar energy 400 W-1,5 kW, 24VDC

Electronics Navigation
Empirbus NXT Touch screen control Instrumentation B&G H3000 series

Watermaker / De-Sal
Watermaker 60 litres/h

Remarks
 Classification CE-Ocean A (DNV)