More of this Feature • Part 1: Valkyrie • Part 2: Valkyrie continued • Valkyrie Specs • Valkyrie Deck Plans • Valkyrie Photo Gallery
Related Resources • Megayacht Feature Index
Elsewhere on the Web • Crescent Custom Yachts

In Norse mythology, a Valkyrie was one of the beautiful maidens of Odin who hovered over the field of battle, choosing those to be slain and conducting worthy heroes to Valhalla. In her more recent incarnation, as a magnificent sportfishing yacht, Valkyrie plies the offshore battlegrounds as her owner pursues a prize catch, perhaps some worthy specimen destined for the fishbox beneath her cockpit sole.

Measuring an impressive 120 feet overall, Valkyrie is clearly not your run-of-the-mill fishing machine. Capable of around-the-world voyaging on her own bottom, she's a custom raised-pilothouse motoryacht with a luxurious interior designed by Robin Rose & Associates. But she's also fully rigged for sportfishing, complete with outriggers, fishing cockpit, and custom fighting chair. Her cockpit is the same fore-and-aft length as that of the owner's prior yacht, a 72-foot sportfisherman. And though the 120-foot Valkyrie might not be as nimble, full walkaround side decks mean the owner can work his rod all the way around the yacht while fighting a fish. And just forward of the cockpit, a wide California deck lets spectators watch the action in comfort.

What's more, on her flying bridge Valkyrie carries a 28-foot fishing boat, a Kevlar and fiberglass catamaran that weighs in at nearly 7,500 pounds. I'd think twice about calling it a tender. Perhaps worthy of a story in its own right, the "small boat" is a Kevlacat, built in Australia and powered by twin 125-hp Yanmar diesels fitted with MerCruiser Alpha stern drives. So efficient is her hull form that relatively modest engines easily drive her to a 30-mph cruise speed while delivering a 250-mile range on only 140 gallons of fuel.

But launching and retrieving the nearly four-ton boat proved to be an engineering challenge. Valkyrie's owner was concerned about handling the tender offshore, especially the possibility of the boat swinging into the deckhouse during launch or retrieval in marginal weather and sea conditions, so he specified that the davit must be able to handle the boat on either side of the yacht or over the stern. To meet the requirement, Nautical Structures provided a davit rated for 8,000 pounds with a 27-foot reach, the largest-capacity double-extending davit the company ever built. But that was the easy part.

A tougher challenge confronted naval architect Jack Sarin and his team. With the davit extended, its long arm was like a lever that amplified the weight of the catamaran, producing huge loads in the bridge deck and its supporting structure. The initial calculations showed that if the davit were to be supported in the usual way, by a single standpipe, it would require a steel column two feet in diameter rising up from the main deck. How could the davit be supported without a massive foundation that would compromise the aesthetics of the yacht?

Next page > Valkyrie continued > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5