Pink Gin is the world's largest custom sloop built in carbon fibre and launched in July 2017 by the Finnish shipyard Baltic Yachts. It required a complex programme of construction, precision engineering and weight control to take carbon fibre superyacht construction to a new level. This is the 2nd e largest yacht built by Baltic Yachts in 44 years of history after the Baltic 152 Pink Gin. A yacht that had been a great success and served as the design basis for the Baltic 175 Pink Gin, while improving and developing it. These developments also enabled this 53-metre sloop to win the title of "Best Pink Gin Yacht in the world" Sailing Superyacht of the Year 2018 .
This 175-foot (53.34 m) long sailboat with a silver hull blends the past with the present with a straight bow and a classic stern design with a sloping transom and a long canopy while she has a lifting keel with a torpedo-shaped bulb. Among its most striking features, two side balconies at the front of the boat and one in the centre to access the main room, required specialised engineering, for which the shipyard collaborated with Gurit in the construction of this complex structure.
The design team that worked on this boat is the same one that had already given birth to the Baltic 152 Pink Gin. The architecture was designed by naval architects Judel/Vrolijk & co while the interior and cockpit design was created by Design Unlimited.
Pink Gin has many innovative features and stylish details designed and built by Baltic Yachts, such as its 67.9 m (223 ft) high carbon fibre mast and 1,322 m2 sail area for a maximum speed of 30 knots, its 71 ton lifting keel allowing the draught to be reduced from 7 m to 4,50 m, a steering system - Force Feedback - specially developed by Baltic Yachts, accommodation for 10 people in six cabins or its hull made of carbon fibre sandwich and foam, built in 3 parts and assembled with the utmost precision. The weight was also heavily worked on as the hull weighs only 18 tons - a fragment of the total displacement of 250 tons.
Another complex engineering feature is the swim platform at the stern and the companionway that folds down into the transom. Returning to the Force Feedback technology developed by engineers from Baltic Yacht and Esoro, a Swiss engineering company, it allows the helmsman to have a better feeling at the helm and to see how the boat reacts. With its size and displacement, Pink Gin requires an electrical navigation aid. The Force Feeback mimics the loads and movements caused by waves and lateral forces and transmits them back to the helm, giving the helmsman a realistic sense of how the yacht behaves. Its 1400 hp engine gives it a cruising speed of 13 knots.
The interior design and styling is by Design Unlimited, who has worked with the owner on a number of projects. The materials have been carefully selected to produce an interior that is both elegant and vintage at the same time. In terms of deck layout, the cockpit has 3 distinct areas e a large sunbathing and relaxation area, with a companionway inside the boat, a helm station with two steering wheels, electronics and piano, as well as a large dining area forward of the cockpit.
