Sea trial · first day foiling
True wind
12–13 kn
Wind angle
110°
Boat speed
27 kn
Foil lift
80%
PB72 · Foiling ocean catamaran

Engineered to fly
on the surface

A scientist’s
catamaran

Extreme H2O was not conceived by a sailor chasing tradition, but by a chemist and pilot asking a physicist’s question: how much of a 72-foot ocean catamaran can be lifted out of the water, and controlled?

Drawn from a clean sheet by Morrelli & Melvin and built in carbon by Persico Marine, PB72 is the answer.

The yacht

What if a 21‑tonne catamaran could fly?

PB72 · Principal particulars

Seventy-two feet of intent

Length overall
21.95 m
72 ft
Beam overall
9.5 m
31 ft
Racing displacement
21.5 t
Approx., as built
Air draft
37 m
32.3 m carbon mast
Crew per watch
4
To sail her fast · two watches offshore

Predicted top speed

40+kn

Velocity prediction program. In fourteen knots of breeze PB72 is predicted to sail at more than twice the speed of the wind. In early sea trials, with the foils still trimmed by hand, she has reached 39 knots.

Design & Technology

Fat birds
don’t fly

It was the first rule Morrelli & Melvin gave the project, and every decision since has answered to it. Carbon structure throughout, systems weighed to the gram. And a foil package designed not to assist the hulls, but to lift them.

01

The righting-moment foil

A curved carbon foil roughly 16 ft long and 3 ft wide, carried in a hydraulically raked case. It can lift the entire yacht clear of the water. It is among the largest foils ever designed for a sailing yacht.

02

Fly-by-wire flight control

Designed and built for fly-by-wire control of the foil and T-foil rudders: an aircraft’s logic applied to a 21‑tonne catamaran. Team New Zealand engineers program it once sea trials provide the full data.

03

Two foils per side

A separate centreline daggerboard handles leeway, freeing the lifting foil to do one job perfectly. As speed builds, the lifting foil changes rake and the daggerboard retracts. Infinitely adjustable, minimal drag.

04

Everything aft

Halyards run through tunnels in the structural cabin roof to a sheltered aft cockpit with four hydraulic winches. At 35 knots, nobody needs to work forward.

Design & technology
“This is a big bird,
but it does fly.”

Dr. Pat Benz, owner & founder

PB72 at speed, windward hull just clear of the water, the leeward hull skimming the surface
Skimming, not soaring

Fast, never frightening

Built to skim,
not to crash

Most foiling boats fly high above the water, and when they fall off their foils the crashes are spectacular. PB72 is different. She is a skimming boat: her foil carries 80 to 90% of her weight, but she is never lifted fully clear.

She stays low to the water, so if she comes down off the foil it is a gentle re-entry, not a wipeout.

“It’s fast, but it’s not scary, because you’re never way up off the water.”Kevin Miller, lead sailor
Watch her lift
Kevin Miller at the helm offshore

“Very experienced people are just blown away at what the boat does. It’s definitely a step forward. It’s a big step.”

Kevin MillerPB72 lead sailor · 3× Transpac overall winnerMeet the team

Performance

Twice
the wind

Below nine knots of breeze PB72 sails like a fast racing catamaran. Above eleven knots, the righting-moment foil takes over: at thirteen knots of true wind she reaches 24 knots upwind; at fourteen, almost 31 downwind.

  • Displacement sailing
  • Hull fly
  • Foil-assisted
  • Optimal performance
  • Speed managed for control
Extreme H2O / PB72 RMFoil-assisted polar speeds: boat speed by true wind speed and course angle, divided into five sailing zones
RMFoil-assisted polar speeds · VPP data, partially validated in sea trials
Ferdinand van West

“The yacht is really living up to expectations: smooth ride, stable foiling, and speeds fully in line with our simulation predictions. Even in freezing temperatures she was comfortably holding a steady 34 knots, both hulls just skimming the water with virtually no heel with the RMFoil deployed.”

Ferdinand van WestPB72 lead designer · Van West Naval ArchitectureMeet the team

Turnkey racing program

You race.
We handle
the rest.

Experience grand-prix offshore racing at the very top of the sport. Once sea trials are complete, our professional team will prepare, deliver and campaign PB72, with the whole crew aboard to race. One of our experienced crew will usually helm; experienced sailors can take the wheel themselves.

In sea trials. The program begins once sea trials are complete. Partners who join now help complete them and choose the first events.

The program
  • 01Campaign & program management
  • 02Professional race crew
  • 03Helm & trim coaching
  • 04Flight-control training
  • 05Race entries & rating certificates
  • 06Navigation & weather routing
  • 07Logistics & shipping
  • 08Maintenance & refit
  • 09Performance data & debriefs
  • 10Event management
  • 11Hospitality ashore & afloat
  • 12Media, content & sponsorship
The program

250 days
to Transpac

Pat Benz and crew receiving the Rudy Choy Trophy at the Transpac 2015 awards in Honolulu
The original Extreme H2O racing, seen from directly above
The 2015 Extreme H2O crew on deck

Transpac 2027 · Los Angeles → Honolulu · 2,225 nm

In 2015 the original Extreme H2O was the first multihull to finish and took home the Rudy Choy Trophy. Renamed Gaetana, she is still winning today. PB72 was designed to go much further. The 2027 campaign is open to the partners and owners who want to be aboard.

Transpac 2027

The races in reach

  • JanRORC Transatlantic RaceLanzarote → Antigua
  • FebRORC Caribbean 600Antigua
  • AprLes Voiles de St BarthSt Barthélemy
  • JulTranspacLos Angeles → Honolulu
  • JulRolex Fastnet RaceCowes → Cherbourg
  • OctRolex Middle Sea RaceMalta
Transpac 2027Race calendar

Experiences

Come aboard

From a single day under foil to a berth in an offshore race crew, these are the experiences we are building around PB72, each sailed by our professional team. They open once her sea trials are complete.

All experiences

  • 5–12 days

    Race Aboard

    Take a berth in the race crew for a Caribbean classic or an ocean race, with practice days, kit and full race support.

  • Half or full day

    Performance Sailing Days

    Helm time, a flight-control briefing and the moment the hulls lift. Filmed from the chase boat.

  • Season or event

    Owner Program

    The complete turnkey program in your name: a race-crew role to suit your experience, coaching and the full race calendar.

  • Day to week

    Private Charter

    Fast passages with real comfort: air-conditioning, proper beds and a galley built for fresh cooking at 30 knots.

  • Day or event week

    Corporate & Hospitality

    Client days, team experiences and dockside hospitality during regatta weeks, with branded content to follow.

  • Event days

    VIP Race Access

    Chase-boat access to the racecourse, a team-base tour and time with the crew and designers.

All experiences
Dr. Pat Benz relaxing on deck in the marina

The founder

Dr. Pat Benz, PhD

Chemist. Pilot. Inventor. Sailor. In that order.

An organic chemist by training, Patrick H. Benz, Ph.D., founded Benz Research and Development in 1983. By 1989 a third of the world’s soft contact lenses were made from its materials; by the time he sold the company in 2021, its polymers had become some 80 million intraocular lenses restoring sight to cataract patients worldwide.

He holds more than 25 U.S. and 100 foreign patents. He flies gliders, gyroplanes and seaplanes for the joy of it. PB72 is what happens when that mind turns to sailing: a yacht approached as an aerodynamics problem, with foils, flight control and fly-by-wire where tradition would put ballast and compromise.

Founded BRD
1983
Patents
125+
Lenses made from his materials
80M+

Why “Extreme H2O”?

It was the name of his contact lens, a material that never lost water or dried out on the eye.

In his own words

Pat on PB72

From Extreme H2O to PB72

A decade in the making

  1. The original Extreme H2O crew lined up along the lime-green hull
    2015

    The original Extreme H2O

    A rebuilt and re-engineered 66-ft catamaran becomes the first multihull to finish the Transpac and wins the Rudy Choy Trophy.

  2. Pat Benz at the PB72 design boards
    2020

    A clean sheet

    Over dinner at an Italian restaurant in Sarasota, Pat Benz, Pete Melvin and Ferdinand van West, one of the engineers, agree to start again, with no inherited limitations.

  3. PB72 general arrangement plan view
    2022

    General arrangement

    Three years and thousands of simulations later, the PB72 design is fixed: partial lift becomes full flight.

  4. PB72 in the build shed at Persico Marine
    2024

    Built in Italy

    Persico Marine, builders of America’s Cup challengers, laminate the carbon structure from PB72’s own molds.

  5. PB72 at speed during sea trials, windward hull lifting
    2026

    First flights

    Sea trials begin. With the foils trimmed by hand, she reaches 27 knots in 12 to 13 knots of wind on her first day on the foils.

  6. PB72 at speed, seen from the chase boat
    2027

    Transpac

    Los Angeles to Honolulu, 2,225 nautical miles. The race PB72 was designed for.

PB72 general arrangement, top view of the main deck showing the cabin, aft cockpit, nets and the deployed green foil
General arrangement · plan view · Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering

Partners

The best of the best

The data of the first Extreme H2O, a decade of foiling knowledge from America’s Cup designers, and the yard that builds Cup challengers. All combined in one yacht.

  • Naval architecture & engineering

    Newport Beach, California. Designers of America’s Cup yachts and some of the world’s fastest catamarans.

  • Lead designer

    Ferdinand van West’s practice. He led PB72’s design from the first simulations to her sea trials.

  • Builder

    Bergamo, Italy. Composite specialists and builders of America’s Cup challengers, including Luna Rossa.

  • Mast & rig

    Auckland, New Zealand. Designers and builders of PB72’s high-aspect rig and 32-metre carbon mast.

  • Flight-control engineering

    Designing PB72’s flight-control system with the engineers behind back-to-back America’s Cup victories.

  • Sails

    Ventura, California. The world’s leading sailmaker, behind PB72’s sail plan and the simulations that sailed her before she was built.

  • Commissioning & sea trials

    The New York Yacht Club’s America’s Cup team, working with Ferdinand van West on PB72’s commissioning and sea trials.

Enquire

Join the flight

PB72 is in her sea-trial phase. We are talking now with the partners who will help complete it, and with the owners and guests who want to be first aboard when racing programs, experiences and charter begin.