Explore The Intriguing Ideas Inside This Amazing Yacht

Can a design drawing inspiration from imoca 60s meet the unforgiving demands of high latitudes cruising? David Glenn sails a yacht that aims to achieve just that

- David Glenn

If there were an award for brutalism in naval architecture Qilak would surely be on the podium. Her stark, purposeful, bare aluminum features look ideally suited to her owner’s plan to seek out high latitudes expedition adventure. But that’s only half the story behind this fascinating yacht.

Qilak will spend the northern hemisphere summer in the Arctic then make a 12,000-mile dash south to Antarctica via the Cape Verde Islands and Montevideo to take advantage of the austral summer. En route, she will undergo a refit and bunker the special regulation diesel fuel needed to operate in those waters.

She’ll undertake this programme with up to eight paying guests and four crew including ice pilots and other specialist guides when required. For any yacht, it’s quite an ask.

So to complete what owner and skipper Philippe Carlier calls Qilak’s ‘ice to ice’ delivery, speed is of the essence. And it is the combination of speed and the ability to survive the hazards of high latitudes sailing which presented Qilak’s designers and owner with the challenges that define this yacht.

The 66ft/20.07m Qilak – her name is Inuit for the sky or celestial sphere – was built by KM Yachtbuilders in Makkum in the Netherlands. The company specializes in tough, uncompromising, custom-designed yachts for long distance cruising and has attracted many experienced clients.

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