February 9, 2010 – – New Bedford, MA – – Schaefer Marine’s patented articulating mast track has been installed on the mast of the 203 ft. sailing mega yacht “Athos”, which will arguably be the most notable launching of a new yacht in 2010. “Athos”, currently being built in Holland, is 203 ft. long, displaces 370 tons and draws 30 ft. of water with the board down.

Schaefer’s articulating sail track will allow the crew of “Athos” to furl her sails with full-length carbon battens, entirely into her boom. Fully battening a sail is normally only possible with the use batten cars. However batten cars cannot be used if the sail needs to furled into the boom, which is why Schaefer originally developed the technology for their own in-boom furling system originally designed for boats up to 53’ feet. With Schaefer’s system, when the sail is furled into the in-boom the bolt-rope and battens simply slide down and off the lower end of the articulating track extrusion and into the boom.

When underway, Schaefer’s entire track articulates so the batten ends and luff bolt rope move as one when the sail is trimmed. So the bolt rope, which otherwise would have been subjected to 750kg of forward thrust from the battens, is effectively protected by the batten ‘seats’ designed into the solid aluminum extrusion.

The owner of “Athos” successfully tested the system last year on the 108 ft. “Shamoun” which resulted in adapting the same system to “Athos”. More information on Schaefer’s articulating track and in-boom furling system is available at SchaeferMarine.com.

New mast being fitted out for the 203’ Athos to be launched

Prototype system previously tested on the 108’ Shamoun