The REICHEL/PUGH-NAUTA 154 NILAYA, the newest superyacht flagship from Reichel/Pugh, has finished sea testing in the North Sea and was delivered last week. The next iconic luxury global cruising boat capable of podium results at the major superyacht regattas was created by Reichel/Pugh with the help of builder Royal Huisman's revolutionary comprehensive FeatherlightTM building technology. Reichel/Pugh has been designing yachts for four decades. The overall idea, external design, and interior design are the responsibility of Nauta Design. Founder Mario Pedol reported back from the sea trials of Nilaya that, “Royal Huisman masterfully succeeded in engineering and building the yacht, fulfilling the Owner’s request in terms of robustness, reliability, quietness - and last but not least amazing performance under sail, thanks to super high level Naval Architecture by Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design.”

Reichel/Pugh has been creating legends since 1983. The renowned yachts 147' Visione, 112' Nilaya, 200' Hetairos Ketch, and 130' My Song are just a few of Reichel/earlier Pugh's superyacht designs that were ground-breaking. The Superyacht Regatta's St. Barts Bucket has been won overall by Visione, Nilaya, and Hetairos, respectively.

Nilaya 154 Sea Trials June 2023 ⒸRoyal Huisman Tom van Oossanen

Reichel/Pugh’s Design #283, the Reichel/Pugh-Nauta 154 NILAYA, was a first and very welcome opportunity to work with builder Royal Huisman whose 'Tradition for Excellence' goes back to 1884 and "with a passion for perfection that matches Reichel/Pugh’s decades of yacht design experience," reflects Jim Pugh. "For Nilaya, Reichel/Pugh leveraged the latest CFD Hydro Technologies to further advance performance superyacht design with improved seakeeping and motion characteristics both upright and heeled, answering the owners request for 'a powerful performer with easy-to-helm responsiveness.'"

“For such a large yacht, the acceleration is exciting as she rapidly reaches high speeds,” says Nigel Ingram of MCM Newport, who served as owner’s project manager and was aboard during sea trials. “Twin rudders and the light, positive steering give superb maneuverability and she has reached all her project targets with ease. Rondal’s sailing systems enable fingertip control of the massive loads involved.”

With her low profile, straight bow, broad transom, and twin rudders, the new Nilaya significantly improves on the appearance of her owners' previous, extremely successful 112' blue sea cruiser, which was also created by Reichel/Pugh and Nauta. The 112' Nilaya, which also won the St. Barths Bucket, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Superyacht Challenge Antigua, Loro Piana Caribbean Superyacht Regatta, and Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, just won her class at the 2021 Superyacht Cup Palma.

Nigel Ingram of MCM Newport is the owners’ representative for the Reichel/Pugh-Nauta 154 NILAYA as well as the owners’ previous 112’ Nilaya, which he describes as “a really happy boat.” That yacht won nearly every regatta she entered. “The owners wanted a powerful performer with easy-to-helm responsiveness; basically, all the good habits of the last boat, but with more comfort and less noise.” Nilaya, after all, means “blissful home” in Sanskrit.

Throughout the year-long design process, the overall plan for the yacht changed little, John Reichel said, except for becoming one meter longer, the length distributed mostly at the ends. “Weight distribution is critical for assuring comfortable motion on a cruising yacht. We gave the shipyard team a weight study early on, not just for the total but for balance and maintaining the proper center of gravity. “Royal Huisman responded with extensive Excel sheets showing the weight of every element. That’s a process typical of the highest end racing program construction.”

In order to enhance the yacht's seakeeping and motion characteristics, the naval architects gathered substantial wave data from the owners' preferred windy cruise areas and created new hull shapes to run through the RANS CFD system. While Reichel/Pugh enhances the performance of their superyacht designs, they are aware of the necessity of enhancing the seakeeping qualities in waves while using either sail or power. Using a Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) for the best designs revealed that the boat was shaping up to be an extraordinary performance versus top scorers in the maxi yacht fleet as the strong sail plan was developed in collaboration with Rondal and Doyle Sails. Even in a 10-knot breeze, the VPP forecasts that the boat can get upwind faster than the windspeed while using only the main and jib.

Finite Element Analysis (FEA), a design process with roots in aerospace technology, is used in the project's comprehensive low weight approach. FEA is a sophisticated geometric mathematical calculation used to forecast how a component or the complete product will respond to stresses like load, force, heat, vibration, etc. When a part is seen in three dimensions, it is possible to forecast how the part will respond when the same forces are placed on its nearby sections, which can help designers discover any potential weak or susceptible areas. Imagine it as a type of digital prototyping that is considerably faster and more precise. Without creating and putting through testing new physical models, solutions can be applied.

To increase hull stiffness while reducing overall displacement, several construction materials, Alustar aluminium plate thicknesses, and frame spacing were chosen thanks to FEA modelling. The strategy was all-inclusive, covering mechanical systems, insulation, and lighting. All interior structural parts made use of lightweight foam coring and were the beneficiaries of meticulous weight analysis. The displacement gap between yachts made of aluminium and carbon composites was reduced by this all-encompassing strategy.

“Royal Huisman used Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of Nilaya’s 3D model to fine-tune the engineering to “a much higher level,” according to naval architect Jim Pugh, adjusting plate thickness in the computer and predicting longitudinal stiffness or deflection without so much as touching that first piece of material. “Bringing in the mast and sail designers early in the process has significant advantages,” said Jim Pugh. “From the aero CFD side, Rondal and the sail designers shared high quality data about sail forces and sail loads that we integrated into the hydro CFD studies of the candidate hulls. This markedly improved the quality of the CFD hull testing and the resultant performance prediction. The mast and sail loads were then input into the hull and deck’s structural engineering,” said Pugh. “These studies are applicable to any design whether Featherlight™ or heavy, no matter the thickness of the plate or weight of the composite, such a study will yield remarkable results.”

The Reichel/Pugh-Nauta 154 NILAYA superyacht is the first to make use of Royal Huisman's revolutionary FeatherlightTM design and construction technology, accomplishing the company's aim of shedding 11% of the weight of its normal advanced aluminium cruising boats. With the newest carbon technology combined with over 60 years of expertise building aluminium yachts, Royal Huisman's FeatherlightTM approach offers the best of both worlds for a hybrid boat without compromise.

Royal Huisman CEO Jan Timmerman used the occasion to highlight both the innovative construction methodology and the latest milestone for the Reichel/Pugh-Nauta 154 NILAYA: “The success of the innovations with Nilaya paves the way to use this bold new approach for future builds...The owners deserve congratulations for pushing everyone to achieve just a little bit more and for encouraging innovation at every step. Nilaya will be the world’s lightest aluminum sailing superyacht for her length: she rewrites the script for high-performance superyachts.” The robust characteristics of an aluminum yacht are now a viable option for owners seeking true sailing performance.

Discover more: Reichel/Pugh