Thus says Elida V’s naval architect about the ship:
“The new Elida is not a schooner. She is what you would call a performance mega yacht – i.e. a very large and fast-going sailing yacht. It is more modern than classic, it is new thinking, it is groundbreaking – it is the future!
Elida will become the first glass fibre ship in the world, sailing with many passengers on all the seas of the world. We chose the glass fibre because of its strength in comparison to its weight. The new Elida is somewhat larger than Elida IV but weighs only half as much, and this is where we should look for the speed we guarantee.
The inspiration is, not surprisingly, taken from the many Volvo Ocean Race projects that we have helped assist over the years.
The hull has everything a modern hull should have considering performance and manoeuvrability. The ship is actually ultra-modern in all of its thinking. This is, and will be, a pearl. As an architect, I would like to show her to all of my friends and colleagues.
Elida V will be large – she will be enormous! In reality, not much larger than Elida IV, but again, because she is created more like a sailing yacht than a schooner, her proportions will seem different and very remarkable. She will radiate strength.
Not one but two masts, which can hardly pass under the Älvsborg Bridge, yield an enormous sail area, which especially in open angles and downwind gives the ship a speed potential that not many other ships can match.
Under deck, the contrast between a typical mega yacht and Elida IV is striking. Marble floors, leather and mahogany are exchanged for – practically – nothing. The ship is even under deck equipped as a racing boat.
In this case, though, it is not the racing boat that has been the source of inspiration but the classic sail training vessel, which with minimal luxury focuses on the one thing important: the sea, the travel and the fellowship. Where the luxury vessel has comfort, we in the design team have instead thought of security, physical teamwork and simplicity.
Also under deck, the grandeur of the ship is displayed. Show me the mega yacht that can gather more than a hundred people in one space. The answer: Elida V.
Elida V will be a spectacular and, for sure, a welcome sight along the Swedish coastline, as well as along other and more continental coasts.
It is a powerful feeling to explain to people that this ship comes from one’s drawing board. Even greater the feeling will be when sitting, in a 15-knot wind, on the foredeck’s leeside and watch the sea, which meets ship in absolute stillness and incredible speed.”
/Jacob Vierø, Naval Architect, Denmark