This is the story of how we became involved with this World famous yacht, and how we transformed her into a sleek, green, clean sailing machine.
Telefonica is a Volvo ‘Open 70’ or sometimes referred to as ‘Ocean 70’ ocean racing yacht. She was built in New Zealand at a cost of over 10.5 million dollars to compete in the 2008/9 Volvo Ocean Race. She has a fully carbon fibre monococque hull and mast, and many other carbon fibre major components. In current trim she displaces 17 tonnes (7 tonnes of which is the keel). She is 21.5 metres overall length, with a beam of 5.7 metres (over 18 feet!), and a draught of 4.5 metres.
She competed in the 08/09 Volvo Ocean Race and finished overall in 6th position, winning the final leg into St Petersburg and skippered by Fernando Echávarri.
Volvo Open 70’s held many speed records over the intervening years, and for 7 years she held the 24hr sailing record of 596.6 nautical miles, only being surpassed by Supermaxi Class ‘Comanche’ in 2015.
Telefonica is now owned and manged by a consortium and provides ocean racing experiences and ‘mile building’ opportunities for amateur sailors and seasoned yachtsmen/women alike. You can visit their site and book your own journey here: www.fearlessprojects.co.uk
May 2020:
Claire (PR) and Lance (Skipper) of Fearless Projects approached us with a tentavive enquiry as to whether a silicone antifouling film could be a possible addition to their BIG yacht. We were asked all about MacGlide and what it could offer them as an addition to Telefonica’s impressive specification.
Soon it was apparent to the Telefonica team it was something they VERY much wanted, and it was clear to us this was a project we wanted to be involved in. And so our collaboration began.
The whole project has been a joint-venture between Fearless Projects and Mooving Marine. Telefonica gets to sail the World with her new sleek, clean and green fouling release film, never poisoning a single millilitre of sea water again. She also gains speed over her competition in the process, and Mooving Marine benefit from the publicity and exposure an installation on such a famous prestigious yacht brings. All work was carried out at Port Hamble, in the UK. The crew there were very accommodating with our installers.
See their yard facilities here: Hamble Yacht Services
For more information on MacGlide fouling RELEASE film, click here