In build for 2033
S/Y Lingzhi is being built now and joins us in 2033: a 24.24-metre sailing catamaran for ten guests, designed around solar power rather than having it added afterwards. These photographs are of her design — the boat herself is still taking shape.
She carries my wife's name. Everything else about this boat — the years of planning, the drawings, the decisions still ahead of us — follows from that.
Where most catamarans carry a few panels on the bimini and call it solar, Lingzhi wears it. The photovoltaic surface runs down the hull flanks and covers the whole coachroof, which is what allows the systems aboard to run quietly and, for most of a Caribbean day, on sunlight alone.
Power from every surface
The dark panels set into her topsides are not trim. Together with the roof array they feed the house systems through the day, so the generator stays off at anchor — no hum under dinner, no diesel haze across the cockpit, and nothing to wake anyone at two in the morning.
Built around the cockpit
The cockpit runs the full beam and seats the whole party at one table, with the galley and saloon opening straight onto it so nobody is shut away while the food comes out. Behind it the transom steps down to the water for swimming, diving and the tender. Sail handling lives up on the flybridge, clear of where everyone else is sitting.
There is a great deal still to decide, and we will add to this page as she comes together. If you would like to hear when Lingzhi is available, say so and we will keep you posted.