Composites, Boat Building & Performance Sailing
Our 42ft Catana catamaran, Paikea, is undergoing a full composite rebuild: infused flat panels, corrected bulkhead laminations, structural stiffening throughout the boat, done to a standard you’d expect from a grand prix raceboat not a 30+-year-old production cruising cat.
The biggest single piece of that work is the interior — replacing every timber floor and piece of furniture with lightweight composite panels. On top of that, we’re sourcing salvaged components from some of the most advanced sailing campaigns ever run and adapting them to fit Paikea. Her rotating wing mast is Rig #12 from Team New Zealand’s 2000 America’s Cup campaign, rescued from a forgotten corner of a Valencian boatyard. Her bulkheads incorporate structural components from the Alinghi 5 AC catamaran. Her front beam and longeron are fabricated from salvaged America’s Cup mast sections, and her sail inventory includes sails recut from a Mini Maxi 72, RC44s, a Carkeek 47, and the earlier America’s Cup Campaigns .
Once the work is finished, we expect Paikea to be at least a full ton lighter and on a performance multihull where weight is everything, this will be a game changer. Not only do we improve the cosmetic appearance of Paikea but her sailing performance will also be measurably better, especially in light airs. What does that mean for us? It means we don’t have to go chasing those grey clouds and lumpy seas to get somewhere quickly. Instead, we can easily sail 200+nm days in light airs and comfort.
We’re Shayne and Anna. Shayne is a composite engineer and rigger with over 25 years across Southern Spars, C-Tech, High Modulus, two Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, an America’s Cup Challenger campaign, and ongoing grand prix multihull work. Anna is a NorthSails-trained sailmaker and rigger with the same 25+ years across America’s Cup, J Class, and Volvo Ocean Race programmes. Between us, that’s 50 years of professional experience — and this website is our technical resource, and we’re sharing what we know with you.
Here’s some of what you’ll find on our website:
Boat Building & Composites Hub — working with composites
Paikea’s Refit — every modification to our Catana 42
Performance Sailing Hub — how we sail performance multihulls
Latest from Youngbarnacles
- When an Infusion Runs Short: Repairing a Dry Panel Mid-Build
This content is for Youngbarnacles members. The technical library, forum, and downloads are available to members only. If you’re not a member yet, here’s what you get access to — 25+ years of grand prix composite and rigging knowledge documented in depth, one new members-only video every month, and a… Read more: When an Infusion Runs Short: Repairing a Dry Panel Mid-Build
How It Works
Watch free on YouTube
Follow Paikea’s transformation and learn alongside us. Every video has a supporting blog post with references and further detail. No algorithm padding, no lifestyle filler.
Explore free resources
A curated library of professional references, technical guides, Paikea’s complete systems breakdown, and sailing resources we actually use. Genuinely useful, no sign-up required.
Join the membership
The YouTube videos show you what we did. The membership shows you why — deep dives into composites, rigging, foil design, and sailmaking, plus behind-the-scenes footage, 3D print files, and direct access to Shayne and Anna in the forum.
Free Resources
Not ready to join? Our free resources library is genuinely useful on its own. The complete Paikea systems breakdown documents every piece of equipment we run — navigation, power, sails, deck hardware, design software — with honest recommendations and links to detailed blog posts. Alongside that you’ll find curated composite engineering papers, offshore regulations, sailing technique guides, and our daggerboard placement video series. All free, no sign-up required.
What’s Inside the Membership
Inside you’ll find videos covering resin selection, infusion technique, failure analysis, and weight optimisation, documented from Shayne’s 25+ years of hands-on composite and rigging work across Southern Spars, C-Tech, High Modulus, and two Volvo Ocean Race campaigns. Build series on composite rudders, carbon chainplates, and structural beams fabricated from salvaged America’s Cup carbon. The unfiltered build diary for our Team New Zealand mast conversion. A technical deep dive into Gunboat 68 deck hardware and load management. Feature video on the mast jack — the most precise tuning tool in a rigger’s arsenal. And Anna’s sailmaking knowledge, built over years at NorthSails NZ and America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, applied directly to Paikea’s grand prix sail inventory.
We add a new video or resource to the technical library every month. Behind-the-scenes project footage, downloadable 3D print files for parts we’ve designed and built ourselves, and a technical forum where serious questions get serious answers.
$20/month or $180/year. No sign-up funnel, no upsell ladder — just the library.