Big… Really, Really Big

Global BSI, which is a Danish firm that specializes in the engineering and manufacture of premium rod rigging systems for large sailing vessels, has announced that it has ordered the world's largest cold-heading press for Superyacht rigging applications. The new press, scheduled to be ready by November, is capable of heading larger than dash eleven hundred (-1100) rod.

For those that don’t know what that means, which includes the Curmudgeon, dash eleven hundred rod exceeds three inches in diameter and has a breaking load of 1,100,000 pounds. While they don’t say how heavy it is, you got to think it is pretty heavy. Their website lists that dash 540 (-540), which is two inches in diameter, weighs 10.73 pounds per foot. This is all pretty big stuff, and opens our eyes a bit more to the world of superyachting.

Following on the heels of the Global BSI announcment was another by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) in Porto Cervo, Italy, who have teamed up with Boat International Group and Rolex to organize a new event for sailing superyachts. The Rolex Boat International Superyacht Regatta will see the world’s biggest sailing yachts coming together to compete on the beautiful waters off of Porto Cervo on June 23rd to 26th 2008. The racing format will be pursuit-style using IRC handicaps, with participating yachts having a minimum LOA of approximately 28 metres. We thinks that the Curmudgeon has space in his calendar for this one.