The Yacht · Life aboard

Thirty knots,
espresso in hand

Racing boats strip everything out. PB72 kept what matters, and engineered the weight out everywhere else.

“Air conditioning, hot showers, real beds, a nice galley… but I still want the fastest boat.”

Dr. Pat Benz · On comfort and speed

The conflict

Comfort
has weight

“That’s a conflict with any racing sailor,” Pat says. Air-conditioning, a hot-water system, real mattresses and a working galley all add kilos to a boat designed to fly.

The answer was not to compromise the comfort but to over-engineer the lift, and to make everything else as light as it could possibly be. The structure is carbon; the fittings are carbon; even the head is carbon. What remains is a yacht you can live aboard between races, sail fast on a delivery and share with guests who have never set foot on a racing boat.

What comfort costs

Less than
1.5 knots

Racing sailors assume comfort costs speed. So during sea trials the team ran the numbers.

They added the weight of everything that makes PB72 comfortable to the calculations: the real beds, the air-conditioning, the full galley, the coffee machine. That came to around a ton and a half, perhaps two. The result: less than 1.5 knots of boat speed, and only before she starts foiling, when she might take a knot or so more wind to get going. Once she is flying, the difference all but disappears.

Pat explains it with an airliner. Fly a 747 empty, then fly it fully loaded. The loaded one needs a little more speed to take off, but in the air both cruise at exactly the same speed. The wing, not the weight, decides how fast it goes.

That is why sailors struggle to categorise her. In Pat’s words: “It can’t be a race boat, it’s too comfortable. It can’t be a cruiser, because it’s too fast. Well, what is it? It’s a boat that flies.”

PB72’s saloon looking forward: galley, helm and seating beneath the wraparound windscreen

Living space

Space to live,
light all round

The saloon brings the galley, a dining table and a lounge together on one level, wrapped in near-panoramic glazing. It is the heart of the boat on a passage: a place to cook, eat and rest while the sea goes by outside.

Warm timber, soft furnishings and air-conditioning make it feel like a home, not a race boat. The weight was taken out everywhere else.

And yes, the galley has a beer tap. Pat’s plan is to keep it connected to a keg of Total Domination, a favourite from a brewery he loves, for pouring after a race win.

The saloon

A windscreen
built like a 747’s

At foiling speeds the apparent wind on deck can reach thirty or forty knots. So the cabin was shaped like an aircraft windscreen: low, streamlined and enclosed, with near-panoramic glazing.

Inside, the saloon stays dry and quiet while spray streams across the glass. It is a place to cook, navigate, rest off watch or simply watch the sea go by at speed.

Inside helm

Sail from
indoors

A full navigation station sits forward in the saloon, with the instruments, autopilot and flight-control displays in reach. On a passage the watch can be kept from inside, out of the wind, while the boat sails herself.

  • Air-conditioning throughout
  • Hot showers and real beds
  • Galley built for fresh cooking
  • Automatic espresso machine
  • A beer tap in the galley
  • Two 35 kW electric motors for silent manoeuvring
A double cabin with a wide berth and hull windows
A light hull cabin with a berth and reading lights

The cabins

Real beds
below

Down in the hulls, the cabins have proper mattresses, storage and hot showers: the comforts Pat refused to give up on a boat built to fly.

Off watch on an ocean passage, or at anchor on a charter, there is a real bed to come back to.

See inside PB72

“We cruise along at twenty knots… on autopilot if you want. Start cooking pizza.”

Pat, Brittany & crew · On PB72 at cruising speed
The aft cockpit with the helm pedestal, winch and table

The aft cockpit

Everything
within reach

The halyards run down the mast and through tunnels in the cabin roof to a station behind it. The sheets come to four hydraulic winches. Nobody needs to go forward at speed, and guests can stay in the cockpit, sheltered by the cabin, right in the middle of the action.

Fast passages
in real comfort

Private charter

NextGallery & film

Private enquiries

PB72 is in sea trials. Partnerships, racing programs, experiences and charter are discussed personally with our team.