Sodebo-Design Innovation

[Doug Lord]

Check out how far back the bows of the amas are compared to the main hull:
BYM Gallery - Sodebo/Thomas Coville's Sodebo
Address:http://www.bymnews.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=338&pid=40552

[Robin Larsson]

Thats one weird looking boat;) But probably rather effective, dont you think?
But why have it like that? Feels like the rig is way back to, is it for stopping pitch poling?

Thanks for the links Doug, always nice to see what the big guys are doing:)

//Robin

[catsketcher]

Hello all,

I got to look over Sodebo for an article to be published in Multihull World magazine in Australia. She certainly is a very interesting boat. The bow section is a wave piercing shape and helps to increase longitudinal stability. Going wider and more powerful is unhelpful for a singlehander sailing such a large boat.

There are other interesting features such as the chines running along the float and main hull, the canting mast, the well protected cockpit and those carbon fibre winches!

cheers

Phil Thompson

[rob denney]

Definitely a cool boat and I look forward to the article Phil. Just got the latest mag with your article on duflex. Any chance of you getting up to the KSS workshop in August to see a cheaper, lighter, quicker way of boat building?

regards,

Rob

[Chris Ostlind]

Just when it looks like something is gone off on a new direction for trimarans....

A good deal of these form studies were done back in the early 90's by Jim Brown and John Marples with the Windrider 16 trimaran. Take a look at Brown's take from 1995 with the first of the Windrider trimarans from Confluence Watersports.

Confluence is the same company that developed the Rave foiling trimaran and then later, the Windrider 10 and the Windrider 17. The same parent company originally got into the game as a kayak manufacturer called Wilderness Systems and grew with the boom in kayaking back in the 90's.

You see the wave piercing bows, the raised deck splash deflector and many other design cues that made the Windrider such a unique boat well ahead of its time. Not to detract from the work of the Sodeb'O team, as they have taken the cues to a whole new threshold.

Should be an interesting series of comparisons between Thomas Coville's boat and the new IDEC for Joyon, which launched just mere days before the Sodeb'O hit the water. Both boats will be going for the all-out, round the world record and it looks like we've got ourselves a race, ladies and gentlemen.

[Otter 33]

Cool boat! Looks like an Orma 60 with wave piercing bow extensions... and application of what has been learned in the A-class catamarans to larger boats. Can't wait to hear how these perform.

Does anyone know the beam to length ratios of the hulls in comparison to the Orma 60's?

What do you think is the purpose of the chines- slightly above waterline on all bows? Do you think this is only for spray deflection? Can it create some dynamic lift when entering large waves.

Also, does anyone know if they use curved lifting foils in the ama's of these boats?

[catsketcher]

Hi Chris,

Great minds must think alike,(or is that fools never differ?) because in my report on Sodebo I liken the bows of Sodebo to the Windrider. I loved the Windrider when I tested it about a decade ago and Sodebo's bows look just like the wave piercing Windrider design. In some ways the boats are a little similar. They both have are underpowered for their length, they are both narrow sideways and they both need to be easy to sail for their crews.

I think the chines are mostly for structural reasons. In B and Q the hulls had rip stop sections where the foam laminate has the inner and outer skins joined to stop any delamination from tearing across the hull panel. These chines may do the same.

When the article has been published - in a month or two I may be able to put it on my web site so you can read it.

cheers all

Phil Thompson

[Chris Ostlind]

I made a structural observation about the chine build effort over at the Multihulls@Steamradio site. In addition to your observations about the rip-stop panel concept, chines add huge amounts of structural rigidity. The ridges act like beams in the structure giving enhanced longitudinal and surface stiffness. That they also help shed wave drag inducing splash is a big bonus to the potential speed of the boat.

Between Joyon and Coville, there's going to be some very fast boat speeds over very long distances for the next couple of years.

Chris

[Chris Ostlind]

This just fell into my email box from a good friend in Noumea, New Caledonia.

Thomas Coville's trimaran Sodeb'O has made a stopover at this South Pacific island, well off the Northeast corner of Australia, on its way to France.

http://www.sodebo-voile.com/