MX Next-new dinghy design

MX Next

MX Next / facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MxNext

 

I'm not entirely sure posting a link to their facebook page is going to convince us it's a valid design - it's still a rendering which any number of teenagers with simple software could produce. (perhaps an attempt to change the subject - oh look, something shiny..)
I am a fan of the MX-Ray, it was a cool design that got built, sold and sailed, until this does so it remains a concept design. (And it was yellow, which made it extra-cool).
I have another unanswered question regarding the speeddream idea, now that they have built the 27ft prototype and have done some sailing - we've seen photos & video of it sailing in moderate conditions and it looks really impressive, slick shape and all pretty carbon and all that, but how does it really perform ? I've seen no GPS data to verify the design lives up to it's brief, is it MUCH faster than any other 27ft keelboat design, if so, by how much ?
If it can do 16knots downwind and 12knots upwind in 12knots of wind, and max out at 20knots downwind in 18knots of wind, it may very well be as fast as my 1966 designed 16ft plywood catamaran, all while costing as much as the entire fleet at our last National titles. I'm not sure this takes the design concept into the multihull-beating category that it was advertised as.
I have the feeling the reason we haven't seen impressive GPS claims, is due to the fact that they are not as impressive as they were hoping - please prove me wrong, nothing would impress me more than to see this design really work as advertised.

 

MX-Next

1) Whose trying to convince you its a "valid" design-not me-thats already been taken care of. I just update info as I get it....
2) 27 proto: What makes you think there should be results now? It took Sail Rocket 11 years and 2 1/2 prototypes. It took Hydroptere over 15 years, several crashes and rebuildings....
-There are pictures of the MX Next tooling hanging around somewhere...

 

Nothing "valid" about the MX Next, it's still a concept.
I'm thinking that possibly the reason there is not more news on the Speedream 27 is that they were sailing in ME, it is now cold and unfriendly. I read that they are shifting to FL, I'm sure that will take a while. I wonder if they're shipping Cam Lewis to FL?

 

The MX-Ray had a particularly high hype:delivery ratio. One of the highest I can recall. Time will tell whether this is any different.

 

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Seem to be a lot of people who also speak highly of that boat....

 

Lots of hype in all cases.
At one point Vlad asked us about building the MXRay.
We sailed it against a Laser and the Laser kicked its *** so bad we decided not to tough it.
Boat went through the water fast on the runs, but had trouble beating the Laser VMG to a leeward mark. Upwind they were on different continents. So i could never see one even coming close to sailing a coarse faster than a Laser even if a GPS said the MXRay had achieved a higher top speed.
Then there are actual fast singlehanders. Once again I don't see how the boat in the rendering is going to come close to an IC, which is longer, lighter has the same sail area and probably twice the righting moment. I don't think there will be any less wetted area, so what is there before you double the sail area on the run?
It's an attractive rendering, but it looks difficult to produce as understand these things, will be slower than ICs Musto Skiffs, RS700s etc. Which are all slower and harder to sail than A Cats.
Maybe there is a market for these boats, but the ground has been gone over pretty thoroughly by lots of pretty smart people, so I just don't see innovation that is going to break through any performance barriers. So there has to be another reason for the design. Is aesthetics enough?
SHC
SHC

 

That "awful lot of people" is quite elusive, judging by what comes up when you Google the MX Ray. Some loved it, but more people say it was over-rated, sometimes using very harsh terms about it. Yachts and Yachting/Daily Sail's very experienced journo Peter Bentley, for example, called it "simply horrible to sail upwind" while (EDIT....beaten to it by the man himself!) Steve Clark said that "a Laser kicked it's *** by so much upwind that the MX Ray couldn't catch up downwind."

The hype, such as the claim that it was twice as fast downwind as any other singlehanded mono, and to be "one of the fastest of all small boats" and "the fastest singlehanded monohull in the world" was over the top given the results.

 

This is interesting poop. We saw the marketing stuff when this design was offered, but we never saw any of them out here. Never heard much about big NAs or Worlds fleets.

If it was in fact slower than a Laser then I understand why we never saw any of them...

 

If more than a handful were built I don't know where they were sailed.

 

I've raced against a couple in the UK.

They were as slow as Steve Clark says

But I think it's claim to fame was that the MXray was the first singlehander to sport an asymmetric. The Blaze was designed for one (hence the dished foredeck) but it was never fitted

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.small-boat-designs.com

 

MX-Next

Mention of the Next in the February/March issue of Professional boatbuilder, pgs 26 & 27 along with some new details. The first boat has been built and will be sailing shortly. Mark LeBlanc is the builder.
An interesting note: Vlad Murnikov did the conceptual design and Rodger Martin and Ross Weene did the final detailed design and engineering.
Boat pictures soon ,I imagine.

 

Hi All,

I've just found this thread and want to take part in discussion.

But first I have two questions:
-Why do you think this forum get full of wining and grumbling posts as soon as discussion turns to something cool and innovative?
-Who is Paul B, why he's so jealous and what qualifies him to judge other people accomplishments?

Cheers,
Vlad

 

TO Richard Woods:
The fact that you sail slow, doesn't make the boat slow.

 

Hey Steve, let's be clear, when I talked to you back in early 1990s about building the Mx-Ray, there were no boats yet, just a design concept. You told me it would never work - one person won't be able to handle an A-sail. I proved you wrong. As for comparing Mx-Ray and Laser - your opinion doesn't mean much because of the conflict of interest.