Sailboat building in the blood

Founded by Hannes Waimer, Premier Composite Technologies (PCT, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) is the latest incarnation of a family enterprise that has built Farr One-Design boats for more than 20 years.

“Sailing is more or less in our blood,“ says Max Waimer, PCT’s marine technical director and Farr 400 project manager. “Our dad used to take us sailboat racing when we were kids, and we’ve been involved ever since.”

The Waimers first formed SPEEDWAVE (Jettigen, Germany) in 1987. In 1988, with the help of aerospace-industry connections, they built a titanium rudder for the 80-ft/24m Grand Prix racer Windward Passage II, an unprecedented feat in sailing technology at that time. Exploiting the Waimers’ access to aerospace-grade carbon fiber materials and technology, SPEEDWAVE began to produce high-performance carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) components for a wide range of racing sailboats, including the first CFRP spreaders and rudder for Stars & Stripes, Dennis Connor’s 1988 America’s Cup challenger.

The Waimers then formed DK Yachts (Melaka, Malaysia) and built many Farr 30, Farr 40 and Farr 52 One-Design racers, as well as larger one-off boats, using only advanced composites in the hull, deck and most of the components.

They established PCT in 2006 to take advantage of the unique composites construction expertise they amassed through SPEEDWAVE’s completion of 27 sliding domes for the Holy Prophets Mosque (Madinah, Saudi Arabia) and the impressive Emirates Palace dome (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; also see "Besting Big Ben ...." under "Editor's Picks" at top right). PCT pursues a wide variety of composites projects, including marine and other transportation applications.