Combine flying with sailing

Kukai, which will be on show at the Viaduct next month, is owned by a prominent Japanese businessman. Photo / Supplied

Helicopters on superyachts and large passagemakers may be no rarity, but one on a 14m powercat certainly is.

Those who attend boat shows primarily to see what's new and different are likely to be satisfied on both counts with the latest offering from local designer Roger Hill.

His just-launched "heli-cat" Kukai is likely to be one of the main drawcards at next month's Auckland International Boat Show in the recently revamped Viaduct Harbour.

Kukai, with its Robinson 66 turbine helicopter perched on its unusual flat roof structure, will be hard to miss. Moored in the shadow of the new Viaduct Events Centre, it will also be clearly visible from the new Wynyard Crossing, the lifting bridge that now links Halsey St, the Events Centre and the new Wynyard Quarter with Te Wero Island and downtown Auckland.

As marine journalist and the show's media co-ordinator Rebecca Hayter points out, it is appropriate that Kukai will make its first public appearance at the show.

"After all, that is where she originated," she explains.

Kukai's owner, Soichiro Fukutake, is a prominent 65-year-old Japanese businessman who reportedly discovered the joys of flying relatively late in life, securing his helicopter pilot's licence just five years ago.

He now combines that love with his passion for boating, owning a production-built Lagoon powercat that has been modified to carry a helicopter (mainly so he can explore his "playground", the inland sea of Seto, by air as well as by sea).

After the success of that venture, he decided to replicate it here and asked his personal assistant, Naoe Hashimoto, to find him a suitable designer. She began by attending the Auckland International Boat Show, seeing an impressive power catamaran and following the trail back to one of New Zealand's most prolific sailing and power catamaran specialists, Roger Hill.

Hill then recommended that Tauranga-based Dave Pachoud be commissioned to build the boat. Structural engineer Nina Heatley was also employed to ensure that the helicopter would sit securely on the deck and be able to be safely strapped down while under way.

Kukai must surely be the smallest craft in New Zealand - and possibly much further afield - to have been purpose-designed and built to carry a helicopter. Yet, as unusual as its role as a flying mini heliport undoubtedly is, there is far more to this vessel than that.

Capable of accommodating up to eight people for an extended cruise, Kukai boasts four double cabins including the owner's stateroom (forward and to port), with its double berth, and an additional single.

Hill describes his latest creation as a good, strong boat built in economical materials. Hull construction is wood composite with plywood core and structural inner and outer skins. Not surprisingly, there is substantial reinforcing in the heli-deck.

"The hulls are reasonably large volume," Hill explains. "This means that they are still planing hulls but are able to take the extra weight of the helicopter."

Powered by twin six-cylinder Yanmar engines that develop 500hp at 2900rpm, Kukai uses vee drives to hit a top speed of 27 knots and cruises comfortably at 20 knots.

It is basically a single-deck design and those on board the powercat clearly enjoy a great flow from the compact boarding platform (still big enough to accommodate the ship's tender), through the relatively open cockpit and into the saloon-galley area.

There are other unusual experiences awaiting guests, too. The ship's heads, for example. These are not the run-of-the-mill marine toilets we have all come to know and love (or should that be loathe?). These are the most top-of-the-range, high-tech toilets it is possible to imagine being installed on a 14m craft. As Hayter is keen to point out, they offer a whole new experience in spending a penny.

With eight push-button options, each labelled with little cartoon icons of human anatomy, there are choices for female wash, male wash, front wash, back wash, drying and massage.

Of course, Kukai's guests also get to enjoy one of the most unusual, if not unnerving, experiences one can have on a vessel of this size: having a helicopter land just centimetres above their heads.

Hayter, one of the few to have undergone the experience, says it is easy to forget that there is a helipad overhead.

"Then the boat's skipper starts talking on the radio to the helicopter pilot about wind strength and direction," she reports.

"Next one or two crew go up the cockpit stairs to the vast expanse of the upper deck and remove the fence around its edges.

"Then the radar tower and helmseat tilt forward to lower their profile and a large orange windsock is mounted on the bow. Suddenly, we're a tiny floating airport."

Hayter says that, whether one is viewing the whole thing from the bow, the cockpit or peering up through the hatch in the saloon ceiling, it's a "weird feeling" to have the "whirling machinery of a helicopter land just above you".

On this occasion, the helicopter, a SkySales Robinson 66 turbine, landed so gently that those on board felt no movement of the boat at all as the touchdown was completed.

Nevertheless, with the chopper weighing a tonne, the deck has been engineered to safely cope with a "bumpy" landing.

And, as one would expect, accuracy is just as important as smoothness; the pilot needs to place the helicopter correctly over the "H" if the powercat is to maintain its correct fore and aft trim.

After the show, Kukai will remain in New Zealand; its owner keen to explore some of the country's best cruising grounds: the Bay of Islands, Great Barrier Island and Abel Tasman National Park, to name a few.
Kukai

LOA: 14.1m

LWL: 12.37m

Beam: 5.67m

Waterline beam: 1.45m

Draft: 1.17m

Displacement (fully loaded): 18,000kg

Construction: Wood composite (ply w/structural glass)

Engines: Twin 500hp Yanmar diesels

Top speed: 27 knots

Cruising: 20 knots

Fuel capacity: 2800 litres

Water capacity: 800 litres

View at: Auckland International Boat Show

Where: Viaduct Harbour

When: September 15-18

More information: aucklandinternationalboatshow.com