Xquisite X5 Plus. Tour, review, and ideas

2022 Xquisite X5 Plus

Xquisite: Phoenix Marine Manufacturing, Corner Johns van Niekerk and, Christopher Starke St, Atlantis, Cape Town, 7539, South Africa

From high above Vancouver, we head east across the continent, the Atlantic and all. The way across France to its Mediterranean shores and the home of last weeks guest Yacht the Gunboat 57 in picturesque La Grande-Motte. From here we head way South down to the Western side of South Africa and the yards of Phoenix Marine where each Xquisite X5 is born. Finally we head Southeast to the Stellenbosch wine region for our wine pairing this week, the Stellenbosch The Mentors Cabernet Franc 2018 by KWV.

With access to grapes from more than 50 farms and 400 vineyard sites across the Western Cape's Paarl, Stellenbosch, Swartland, Perdeberg, Malmesbury, Darling, Elgin, Robertson and Wellington regions, KWV's ability as a commercial producer to source the finest quality grapes for a premium expression of the Cape Winelands is unrivalled.

The winemaking team handle the grapes expertly before and during transport to KWV's cellar facilities in Paarl. This site covers nearly 32 hectares, at the heart of which stands KWV's imposing Cathedral Cellar, built in 1930.


Innovation Corner

Direct and indirect lightning prevention

Lightning is a natural phenomenon in which electrical charges that accumulate on the clouds, are discharged to the ground when the lightning strike connects to the mast (ascending leader) releasing an enormous current. This is called neutralization or instantaneous compensation of the electric field.

Traditional lightning protection tools use a lightning rod, cables and grounding materials on the bottom of the hull to try and conduct that huge amount of current to ground with as little damage to the vessel as possible.

But a direct lightening strike is only half the equation. The high frequency electricity that forms even an indirect strike near your vessel, can travel through the water and the air and still cause catastrophic damage to electronics and boat systems.

According to reports from our BoatUS Marine Insurance claim files, the odds of your boat being struck by lightning in any year are about one in 1,000. Some states, such as Idaho, have no lightning claims (no surprise). But for those of you with boats in Florida, nobody has to tell you that the odds there are greater. Much greater.

Thirty-three percent of all lightning claims are from the Sunshine State, and the strike rate there is 3.3 boats per 1,000. Not surprisingly, the majority of strikes are on sailboats (four per 1,000), but powerboats get struck also (five per 10,000). Trawlers have the highest rate for powerboats (two per 1,000), and lightning has struck houseboats, bass boats, and even PWCs. Lightning-strike repairs tend to be expensive and time-consuming, but there are things you can do to lessen the damage after a strike.

NOAA estimates a strike contains around 30,000,000 volts, and a quick zap to a 12-volt device will certainly destroy it. But lightning is like horseshoes: "Close" counts. There can sometimes be collateral damage when a nearby boat gets hit, either the result of the lightning's powerful electromagnetic field or the current induced by the field running through the boat's shore-power cord. This can create strange problems; some electronics may work fine, others that are adjacent might not, and still others may only work partially. In some cases, compasses have been off by 100 degrees.

Repair costs are significant and typical repair times are from six to eight months. Owners are without their boats for extended periods but continue to pay crew, dockage, insurance and other ongoing expenses.

DDCE Lightening Strike Prevention and Indirect Lightening Strike Damage Protection

As opposed to trying to control or redirect the massive energy of a direct lightning strike, the DDCE lightning suppressor is designed to prevent the direct impact of lightning on the protected boat.

Theoretically, it does this by collecting the positive charges that flow from the surrounding area and from the grounding plate on the bottom of the unit, and the negative charges from the atmosphere on the upper part of the unit. Both positive and negative charges are neutralized gradually sending a weak current back to the grounding plate.

Art of The Region

For our art of the region this week we have Errol Boyley's "Fishing"

Errol Boyley was a well-known South African landscape painter who primarily worked with oil paint. He was born in East London, South Africa, on 31 May 1918 and studied at the South African School of Arts. After completing his studies, he began a career as a commercial artist, which he pursued for several years before turning to painting.

[navalgazingatcampdavid]

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[RGF]

Great video .
I cannot believe how you and others like Nick from Ruby Rose get so hung up on the exterior arch when the boat kicks arse in so many other areas .

[billdowney-copj]

Another informative and entertaining vid!

Thx,

Bill

[garyr]

Fantastic video, loads of detail and good commentary with plenty of humour. Good job sir.

[ikeanyanwu-ebo]

Great explanation of the impact of lightning and the DDCE protection system. Definitely worth the investment for anyone with a boat and not a lot of money or time to spare dealing with the aftermath of a lightning strike. As always, great video, Dave!

[PaulKling]

Loved your explanation Lightning protection. The Sailing Dauntless crew recently installed one but didn't do a great job explaining how it work. Thanks for great explanation.

[Capitalist_Pig]

I liked your video again. I’ve made remarks before about hundred percent for triangle needed for apples to apples comparison. In this one use Genoa area versus the Chip area for the Xquisite. I’m not sure why you didn’t use their Genoa so it would be an even comparison between everybody if you did, I think it would blow even the wave away on performance. I’ve asked Thomas about getting polar diagrams and things and he says he doesn’t have them though he does have them for his 60 footer.

[constantinealexandrakis]

The X5 plus is a beautiful catamaran but if you are the kind of person who can afford to spend $1.8 mil on a boat you could probably pony up another $0.5 mil and go for the Privilege 510 or another $1 mil and get the Garcia Explorer 60 (monohull) so that on the way back from French Polynesia you could take the scenic route around Cape Horn instead of the Panama Canal.

[bjornholmberg]

Lightningstrike can be redirected simply by a Cooper rod on top of the mast and a Cooper tube Down the wire and a cable to Water. The alu mast has high resistance and the ion build up start passning to Water. Also a set of fast release contactors on battery cut the path to Electronic devise. But then again saltwater can be highly conductive and all the saltwater on the hull surface Will make a path to ground. Cupper is faster :) likeyour videos :)😅

[giampaologiardina]

Interesting episode, as usually. Since you have presented boats that are not yet built (see Portofino 47), why don't you analyze also the Xquisite 60 solar sail? That one is a boat that "ticks" all my requirements for the ideal catamaran, although unfortunately with a sail away price very close to the Privilege 580

[bjornholmberg]

Som other fact is that Nicolas tesla potential mesured 100 volt / meter elevation above ground. A mast 27 meter is already att 2700 volt. Aluminium makes the volt/ampere wave even stronger. New alu wire in the industry has to be upsized to cary the amp and still they get warmer...cupper is best. But use ceramic insulator and a cupperod on top of the mast and a path to water. With a groundfault breaker u could then release contactor on the battery and no path Will given exet thru the cupper wire on the mast.

[FXR]

for cruising cat, xquisite x5 plus is nice to have ....
for the performance cat, outremer 55 is good choice

[scottkircher]

Will you be getting around to having a Fountaine Pujot on your list

[mikecasista]

How did the base price of the Xquisite (in cdn) end up more expensive then sail away??

I think your exchange factor changed between the two calcs

[Capitalist_Pig]

Is the DC E lightning protector $55, 000 or $5500?

[infiniti]

I have to tell you something my friend you have to move camera very slowly it is to much moving.