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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
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| Royal Huisman 295 |  |
Athena
is massive out
of
necessity, but graceful
for her
size. It
takes more than a zephyr to
move
her, a brawny puff
to heel
her, and a stiff breeze to
force her
shoulder to the
waves. But once she gets
moving, she
is electrifying.
Wherever you stand as
Athena is under sail,
you are
overwhelmed by a
sense of momentous
invincibility,
which
transcends any
consciousness
that she was
created by
mere
mortals and a
soupçon of finite element
analysis. But
let
the owner speak to this: “The
overriding
impression
in sailing
Athena is stability, of speed, direction
 Despite her weighty 1,000-ton-plus mass, Athena is remarkably agile under sail
once the weather breezes up and her crew can set all jibs and topsails flying. (Click image to enlarge)
and
heel angle.
Momentum slowly builds with any change of apparent
wind or sail
trim.
In twenty to
twenty-five
knots of
wind,
speeds exceeding sixteen
knots are
natural. There is a
minimum of
pitching and rolling
in all but the
roughest
seas. Inside, the
impression
is of no significant
motion.
Nothing compares with
sailing for
quiet, comfort and
efficiency. To be
so quietly
moving is almost
eerie.”
How
appropriate for a man of
Jim
Clark’s genius
to summarize five
feverish years of
spiritual
struggle with wood,
metal, and machine by distilling
it into a
hushed,
near-metaphysical
experience.
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