|
|
|
Software mogul Jim Clark challenged Royal Huisman to expand the limits of its capacity and creativity in building his impossible dream: tremendous three-masted schooner Athena.
by Jack A. Somer
photography by Stephane Bravin, Franco Pace, Hans Westerink
03/01/2005
|
| Royal Huisman 295 |  |
To
manage
machinery and support
systems for 12 guests
and 22
crew,
Huisman assigned to trusted
subcontractors (who
normally
deliver only
components) full
responsibility
for design,
fabrication and installation of such
essentials as
air-conditioning,
hydraulics
and
piping. To sustain this
staggering
change,
Huisman wisely
revised its planning methods
and
adopted
“concurrent
engineering” and 3-D
“relational” software to
coordinate the
shipyard’s
and subcontractors’
activities,
thereby
avoiding collisions – where a
space is earmarked for
more than one
installation at the same time.
Huisman also
opened a
new
state-of-the-art
woodworking hall in
autumn 2000.
Yet, even with
added
carpenters and more
efficient equipment,
it
met its schedules only by
assigning Struik &
Hamerslag
to build
the crew
quarters. Even
Rondal,
Huisman’s rig and
sailing-gear
division, experienced time
pressures as
it
fabricated
Athena’s hatches, winches, booms, deck
gear
and
60-meter masts
while
moving to new
quarters on Huisman’s
campus.
 Photography courtesy of PSIHOYOS.COM (Click
Image to
The shipyard was severely tested
in another way
halfway
through the build. Wolter Huisman –
who, Clark says,
“is
the Royal
Huisman Shipyard” – suffered
enervating
health problems that forced
him
to retire from the
daily grind. This required a further management
reorganization, with Wolter’s eldest daughter, Alice,
named
managing
director.
All these
events,
coming at
a time when
such an immense and
intricate
yacht was
under construction,
constituted a
monumental
experiment for
Huisman, one which
has
succeeded
exceptionally well:
Athena is a stunning
masterpiece of the
yachtbuilder’s
art.
Clark – who
throughout the
complex process
had total
confidence in Beeldsnijder,
Dijkstra, the shipyard and project manager
Allan
Prior – was
able to step back a bit
himself. “We were
fairly
exacting with the
specification of Hyperion,” he says,
“so I
spent a
lot less
time on Athena,
because the
shipyard
already knew the standard
I
wanted.” This
included, for
example, more or less adopting
the
joinery style
Beeldsnijder had developed for
Hyperion:
using light
mahogany in the crew
area and dark mahogany with inlays in
the
owner
and
guest accommodations.
|
|
|
|
|
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Email This
Printer Friendly Version
Reprints & Permissions
Most Popular Searches
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();){kind=link}