3D Scanning the Baltic 111 Raven: Precision Engineering for a Record-Breaking Superyacht

Raven was conceived as a fast, stylish day-sailing superyacht capable of completing high-speed offshore passages. Her unusual combination of performance, comfort, and technology makes her difficult to place within an existing yacht category.

The yacht’s concept and exterior and interior styling were developed by Finnish designer Jarkko Jämsén. Her naval architecture was completed by Botin Partners, a design firm with extensive experience in high-performance racing yachts. PURE Design & Engineering handled the structural engineering, while A2B Marine Projects represented the owner during project management.

Baltic Yachts brought the concept to life using advanced composite manufacturing methods and an unusually disciplined weight-control program.

Raven has an overall length of 34 meters, a beam of 7.4 meters, and a draft of 4.8 meters. Her light-craft displacement is approximately 55 metric tons—remarkably low for a fully equipped sailing yacht of this size.

By comparison, many luxury sailing yachts of a similar length displace considerably more. Raven’s low weight allows her foils, sails, hull, and appendages to work together more effectively, resulting in faster acceleration and higher sustained speeds.

Achieving that weight required examining practically every component aboard the yacht. Baltic Yachts constructed the hull and deck using carbon-fiber prepreg materials with lightweight honeycomb cores. Exposed structural elements also became part of the interior design, eliminating the need to cover every surface with conventional decorative materials.

Lightweight bamboo, rattan, carbon framework, and carefully selected finishes helped create a comfortable interior without undermining the yacht’s performance goals. Even small items, including fasteners, brackets, adhesives, coatings, and pipe clips, were evaluated for possible weight savings.

The result is a superyacht with genuine offshore accommodations built around the priorities of a high-performance racing machine.

Raven is equipped with two large T-shaped hydrofoils mounted on hydraulically controlled arms on either side of the yacht. Unlike a fully foiling race boat, Raven is not designed to lift her entire hull clear of the water and fly continuously above the surface.

Instead, the leeward foil provides lift and creates a tremendous amount of righting moment while the hull remains largely in contact with the water.

Righting moment is the force that resists a sailboat’s tendency to heel under the pressure of the wind. Increasing that force allows a yacht to carry more sail power while maintaining a controlled sailing angle.

Raven’s foil system can support a substantial portion of the yacht’s displacement. Combined with her wide beam, pronounced hull chine, fixed keel, and movable water ballast, the foils give the yacht the stability needed to maintain extremely high speeds.

The system provides some of the performance advantages associated with foiling while retaining the predictable behavior of a monohull. If a foil loses lift, Raven can continue behaving like a more conventional sailing yacht instead of suddenly losing all support beneath the hull.

Her fixed keel includes a precision-engineered fin approximately five meters long and a ballast bulb weighing roughly 9.3 metric tons. Vertical interceptor trim tabs at the transom can be used to adjust fore-and-aft trim as speed and operating conditions change.

Every one of these components interacts with the water. Small changes in geometry, position, alignment, or surface transition can influence lift, drag, stability, steering response, and overall efficiency.

That is why accurate as-built data is so valuable.

Raven’s design was validated on the world stage during the 2026 RORC Transatlantic Race.

Skippered by Damien Durchon, Raven raced approximately 3,000 nautical miles from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to English Harbour, Antigua. She crossed the finish line on January 18, 2026, completing the passage in 6 days, 22 hours, 27 minutes, and 47 seconds.

That performance established a new monohull race record for the Lanzarote-to-Antigua route.

Raven also claimed Monohull Line Honours and received the International Maxi Association Transatlantic Trophy as the first maxi yacht to finish. She crossed the line at approximately 30 knots, bringing an already remarkable Atlantic crossing to an appropriate conclusion.

This was not simply a matter of reaching a high peak speed for a few minutes. Offshore racing performance depends on maintaining speed for days while managing waves, changing wind conditions, crew fatigue, equipment loads, and the constant possibility of component damage.

Raven demonstrated that her foil-assisted design could deliver sustained speed and stability over an entire ocean passage. During the race, she maintained speeds in the 25-to-27-knot range for extended periods and recorded a 24-hour run of approximately 550 nautical miles.

Completing an Atlantic race in less than seven days also required the crew to understand when to push the yacht and when sea conditions demanded a more conservative approach. At these speeds, the size, angle, and direction of the waves become major factors in navigation and risk management.

Raven’s performance proved the underlying concept, but it also generated valuable new information for continued development.

Before setting her transatlantic record, Raven had already received international recognition for her design and engineering.

At the 2025 BOAT International Design & Innovation Awards, she won all four categories in which she was eligible:

• Outstanding Exterior Design
• Best Interior Design
• Best Naval Architecture
• Innovation of the Year

These awards recognized more than Raven’s appearance. They reflected how successfully her design team integrated naval architecture, structural engineering, hydrofoil technology, weight reduction, functionality, and luxury accommodations into a single yacht.

One of her most distinctive features is the protected guest cockpit known as the “bird’s nest.” This observation area allows guests to experience the yacht’s performance from a sheltered position while remaining close to the sailing action.

The structure reportedly takes inspiration from the tubular framework of the Maserati Tipo 61 race car, which was famously nicknamed the Birdcage. Raven’s version uses lightweight composite construction and carefully designed glazing to combine protection, visibility, and low weight.

Features like this illustrate the philosophy behind the entire yacht: every element must serve its purpose without unnecessarily compromising speed or efficiency.

Even when a yacht begins with highly developed engineering models, the finished vessel can differ slightly from its original CAD geometry.

Manufacturing tolerances, composite curing, finishing operations, assembly procedures, adjustments, repairs, and real-world loads can all influence the final shape and position of a component. These differences may be very small, but on a vessel engineered to operate at extreme performance levels, small differences can be meaningful.

EMS 3D scanned Raven’s keel, rudders, side-mounted foils, and their critical connection locations. The objective was to capture the components as they actually existed on the yacht—not merely as they were originally designed.

A professional 3D scanner collects millions of individual surface measurements to create a detailed digital representation of the physical geometry. This data can document complex curves and transitions far more comprehensively than traditional hand-measurement methods.

The process is especially well suited for yacht appendages. Foils, rudders, and keel surfaces contain continuously changing profiles that are difficult to measure accurately with calipers, rulers, templates, or a limited collection of discrete inspection points.

By scanning the complete surfaces, EMS created an accurate digital twin of the existing geometry.

Connection areas were also important. When a redesigned component must attach to an existing structure, measuring the mounting interface can be just as critical as measuring the component itself. Accurate connection geometry helps engineers evaluate clearances, alignment, installation requirements, and how a proposed modification will integrate with the yacht.

Raw 3D scan data is not automatically the same as an engineered CAD model.

A scanner initially captures a large collection of measured points. These measurements are processed into a polygon mesh consisting of millions of connected triangles. The mesh provides an accurate visual and dimensional representation of the physical part, but it may not contain the mathematical surfaces and structured features required for design changes or manufacturing.

Depending on the project’s objectives, EMS can use the scan data as a reference to create smooth, editable CAD geometry.

For complex marine surfaces, this frequently involves advanced surface modeling. Engineers create controlled curves that follow important edges, profiles, and changes in surface direction. Mathematical surfaces are then constructed using techniques such as lofting, sweeping, boundary surfacing, mesh fitting, trimming, and blending.

The newly created CAD surfaces can be compared directly against the scan data using three-dimensional color deviation maps. These maps show how closely the CAD model matches the physical component and help identify high areas, low areas, asymmetry, distortion, or other differences.

This approach provides both accuracy and design control. Rather than creating an automatic collection of surface patches that reproduces every imperfection, engineers can build intentional geometry suited for analysis, modification, and manufacturing.

One of the most valuable applications for Raven’s scan data is computational fluid dynamics, commonly known as CFD.

CFD software allows engineers to simulate how water flows around a yacht’s hull and underwater appendages. It can be used to study pressure distribution, lift, drag, turbulence, cavitation risk, flow separation, and the interaction between neighboring components.

The quality of a simulation depends heavily on the quality of the geometry used to create it.

If the CFD model is based only on an assumed or outdated shape, the simulated results may not accurately represent the yacht’s current configuration. Scanning establishes a reliable as-built baseline. Engineers can then compare the existing design with proposed modifications under controlled virtual conditions.

For example, a design team may evaluate changes to a foil profile, rudder section, keel shape, leading edge, trailing edge, or transition area. Multiple concepts can be tested digitally before committing to tooling or manufacturing.

This does not eliminate physical testing, but it helps the engineering team focus that testing on the most promising designs.

Manufacturing large, high-performance marine components is expensive and time-consuming. A design error discovered after a new keel, rudder, foil, or mold has been produced can lead to substantial delays and additional costs.

Combining 3D scanning, CAD modeling, and CFD analysis creates a more controlled development process.

The workflow allows the team to:

• Establish an accurate record of the yacht’s existing geometry
• Identify differences between original CAD and as-built components
• Measure alignment and connection locations
• Develop new or revised CAD geometry
• Simulate hydrodynamic performance before manufacturing
• Compare multiple design alternatives
• Verify that proposed parts will interface correctly
• Reduce the likelihood of tooling and installation problems
• Preserve digital data for future maintenance and development

Most importantly, it allows engineering decisions to be based on measured real-world information.

Raven is already an exceptionally fast and successful yacht. The purpose of continued development is not to correct a failed concept. It is to refine a proven platform and identify opportunities for even greater performance, efficiency, control, and reliability.

At this level, improvement is often found in small details. Precision 3D scanning gives designers and engineers the data needed to investigate those details with confidence.