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Kraken Yachts: 18,000-mile test drive for the shipyard's flagship

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Kraken Yachts president Dick Be aumont set off on an 18,000 nautical mile voyage aboard the yard's 66-foot flagship, named White Dragon. Starting «for the new boat at», Beaumont plans to sail to Hong Kong and finish in the Mediterranean.

Beaumont and his four-member crew plan to visit Indonesia and Christmas Island, then travel across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar before heading to Cape Town. By now, the 20-meter yacht has reached Borneo, Malaysia.

The Kraken Yachts CEO himself has extensive sailing experience with one of his 58-foot Moonshadow yachts alone, which has logged more than 100,000 nautical miles. White Dragon was built at his request and was the first boat built by Kraken.

Kraken Yachts is a young brand founded by British businessmen and yachtsmen from Hong Kong. They are semi-custom boats designed by New Zealand based Dibley Marine and built at the Xiamen Hansheng Yacht Building in China.

The company has positioned itself as a manufacturer of ocean cruisers with a high level of safety and affordability.

The main distinguishing feature of its boats, including the White Dragon, is a unique keel system «Zero Keel», so named because no bolts are used to secure it and it «has zero risk of detachment from the hull».
«The Kraken hull and keel are one piece. They can't be separated»," Beaumont comments.

In addition, the keel, designed with input from America's Cup designer «» Laurie Davidson, is extended in length, encapsulated with lead and reinforced with Kevlar. This not only gives the boat increased stability in all types of waves, but it also provides reliable protection during underwater collisions.

Kraken is also making extensive use of hydraulic actuators in the production of its models to maximize automation of the vessel's operation. On the K66 for example, they control all sails, the bow thruster, windlass and even the watermaker.

White Dragon is equipped with capacious fuel tanks of 2200 liters total capacity which give her a range of approximately 1400 nautical miles at cruising speed.

Kraken Yachts is presenting its new Kraken 50 at the Düsseldorf Boat Show these days, and it has become one of the most anticipated sailing novelties of the show. Kraken Yachts has also developed a new project entitled K58.

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