Wild Oats XI-One of the Greatest Ocean Racers of All time!

Here is a simply spectacular video of this magnificent sailboat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wgO9JJ4s-o#t=373

 

Possibly the fastest motor sailer ever built. What else can you call it. It runs a 150 diesel and if it breaks down the race is over. They can't even sail without the engine. I know it pushes boundarys and brings in new technology but it is not in the spirit of yacht racing imo. I would to see the sydney to hobart go back to wind power only. Oats is a spectacular example of what a lot of money can do .

 

Wild Oats XI

Calling Wild Oats XI a "motorsailer" is hilarious.........

 

Hilariously accurate. Whitepointer is correct about the boat being inoperable without the engine. I'd also like to see the Sydney-Hobart go back to wind power only.

 

don't get me wrong doug, I love technology and watching oats blast through waves but it is what it is.

 

Yup. She is spectacular to watch under the right conditions, but it would be nice to see the same amount of development going into boats that were only powered by the wind and the crew. I'm betting the results of that would be pretty impressive too.

 

Wild Oats XI

That kind of silly argument is unfortunate.Wild Oats is doing the same thing a 49er does-move ballast side to side. But because it's 100ft long the ballast requires hydraulics as do the sails. No way, in any reasonable approach, can that boat be called a motorsailer. It's motive power is 100% from wind acting on sails. Twisting the facts around to satisfy some purest outrage is your choice but frankly it's just ridiculous-and hilarious- especially after watching that video.

 

if you have to have a diesel engine running in order to sail what else can you call it, a hybrid. a motorsailer is a hybrid.

 

Oh goody, we have purest outrage in the thread. I love me some purest outrage.

I'm not "outraged" by anything. You seem to be outraged by people having a differing opinion. Nice day for it.

The boat cannot be sailed without the motor running. Yachts of 100 feet and up were regularly sailed for years without even having motors, therefore it is possible to do so. They were also impressive under sail, and with modern developments there is no reason why even more impressive results should not be possible.

Yes, Wild Oats is impressive under sail too. We all agree on that. However, watching the video and getting all excited does not invalidate the point that this yacht requires a 150 hp diesel to sail anywhere.

 

With less horsepower, would the hydraulics operate too slowly to be safe?
It is probably outputting much less horsepower most of the time. There might be other ways to store energy for a burst of power. Although I don't know that any energy storage would be less objectionable on principle.

 

It can't sail without the engine running. It's a power assisted sailboat. It's not a sailboat.

No matter how much you'd like to deny reality, Doug, the fact is that WOXI isn't a sailboat if it can't sail without an engine running.

I propose that we allow all boats in a race say 20 litres of fuel to use as they wish. Let's see how WOXI goes then......

PDW

 

Could the mods move this to the motor sailer forum? Just for a bit of fun?

 

I noticed some water coming out of the transom of VOR 65 boats in the latest in-port race. I guess they were using engines as well. How much diesel they have on board for longer legs? How much are they allowed to use during the race? I guess they only need power for the keel and instruments.

Is WOXI using it also for winches etc?

I also just looked at the 24 h world records. VOR70 has the 596 nm monohull record. But Leopard 3 also has a monohull world record. It is for 21.c power assisted category. And it is only 496 nm. How much has WOXI done? Keel power assistant is allowed for the normal monohull category. What is the record for boats using RRS?

 

super cool video

 

I rather like the idea of using systems similar to the AC, where the hydraulics are powered by humans. It'd give the crew something to do apart from sitting on the rail, and would mean you could throw out the massive diesel and save some weight.

Any energy storage that is ultimately powered by the crew would be totally fine by me, providing it wasn't used to actually propel the boat via a prop or jet or dirty great windmill. In fact I can even see this resulting in useful spin-offs for cruisers.