100' Supermaxi

Okay then, how about this, one central gen-set, canting keel, winches, propulsion and everything else driven by electric motors.

Yoke.

 

"Catamaran-A boat with two hulls, thereby two times more likely to hit a submerged object but will take two times longer to sink after hitting said object."

The catamaran typically has much less draft than the monohull, making it less likely to run into shoals, which are more common than floating objects. Even if one hull of the cat is holed, in general, the other hull can survive intact so often the boat won't sink at all.

 

The beauty with multihulls, and something that confirmed mono-hullers often don't fully appreciate the dangers of, is that they don't have a big freeking sinker attached to the bottom. If you're really worried about it, just bump up the core thickness to where you have enough volume entrained to float the boat.

Yoke.

 

It was a joke. I sail a lot of cats myself.

 

What is your goal? Win 2006 Hobart Race? Set 24 hr mark? Set TranAt record? Win major inshore races?

The design will have to be tailored to what you want to achieve. Regardless of what wins this year's Hobart race, it might not be the best solution if your goal is to set the 24 hour record.

 

Probably the goal would be win the Sydney Hobart, as the 24 hour speed marks are usually set in relatively flat seas while reaching. The sydney hobart requires more from the boat and crew. in theory this thing would be our weapon in the supermaxi arms race.

 

Dunno what it will be like, apart from extremely damn expensive. That's assuming it will follow the normal route of unrestricted classes - bigger and bigger rigs, with more and more righting moment. So goodbye to the days of successful smaller boats that traded off size for efficiency (Ragtime/Infidel, Ballyhoo, Merlin, Xena) or the cool boats that had some dual-purpose application but still traded races with the best (Leopard, Nirvana) and hello to the days of even more expensive big boats. Also expect for the overall numbers in the fleet in some races to shrink (like it has in the Hobart as the boats have got bigger) unless some of the clubs wake up to the fact that no-one likes finishing 3 days behind the line honours winner.

And all this to go a knot or two faster, thereby finishing earlier (these guys must hate sailing if all they want to do is get the race over) and reducing sponsor's exposure - when all the time going much, much slower than a 100' multi......not that the mega-multis have been a raving success as a class.

Why they couldn't just admit that no leadmine is really fast, and just stick to 70-80' as the top limit, is beyond me.

 

if its not a cat its a dog... (or if its not a skiff maybee)

 

Too costly this project is becoming. Hmm. A costal racer, should we create. No longer than 50 feet, think I. Sorry, Yoda-voice reared its ugly head.

 

ok how about we build upon the 'cone of silence" idea? Only with a 45-50 footer.

 

I believe it is called the TP 52 Class.

http://www.transpac52.org/home.htm

Not totally open, but that keeps the boats closer in speed, eliminates the "bigger rig, more RM" issues that 249 mentions, and keeps the last generation from becoming obsolete too quickly.

Although you could do something faster for the same length, these things are pretty darn fast without complexity of moving ballast, extra foils, etc.

 

Im not sure anything for the same length could be faster than a TP 52 unless you went multi-hull. TP 52's can do 12 knots upwind and have been planing downwind at a steady 22 knots.

 

I don't think a good design studio would have any trouble doing a 52 footer significantly faster than a TP 52. If you had the cash and went to BFA, or J/V, or R/P, or any one of 10 or 15 others you could have it done. The better ones might ask you "WHY".

For inshore racing I think the current Libera Classe A boats (less than 13 meters) should be quicker around a sausage course. But it might be a bit hairy doing something like a Bermuda race or Transpac on one of those.

http://www.classe-libera.de/

 

Well, I'm pretty certain that inshore racing is not the goal. LEt's go for something smaller than a TP 52. Maybe a 32'? Big difference from original thread. What do you all say?

 

its getting smaller and smaller! pretty soon we will be designing a turboed Optimist dinghy.