Speed Dream 27 Prototype

OK guys, enough said,
It's your turn now...
But be forewarned - from now on I will be reading your comments - and comment on them.
Before now I had no time, and you felt free to post any nonsense.
But it's winter now, and I've got a bit of free time to follow this discussion.
I think it could be fun...

 

Hi Vlad,
My question is simple. At what point is the Speed Dream now? Do you have a working prototype?

Edit:
Ok, prior to writing the above question, I had seen your site with iPad - and Apple devices can't visualize Flash sites. So I couldn't see that there actually are photos of the scale model sailing. Evidently, there is a scale model, so please disregard the above question. Instead, could you please tell us how does it behave in water, what further development or refinement points did you identify through the tests?

Another question - this photo:



What happened there? Is it just an instant when it encountered some waves and buried the bow, or is it due to an excessive pitch-down moment from sails, which the bow couldn't handle?

Thanks,

Cheers

 

Vlad,

First, thanks for jumping in and "setting the record straight" for the incorrect posts from the negative crowd.

This crowd really does frustrate me. A lot of these guys are pretty good at spotting stuff that may be worth mention. I just do not understand why they do not keep it positive (provide suggestion for improvement) or neutral (a simple "not sure about..." type statement).

Secondly, I am not so sure about some of your claims, but fully support your approach. You are pushing certain concepts farther and/or harder than has been done before. On the water and in the chop is the only way see how these concepts will pan out.

I would make a suggestion for your swinging keel. If and when you start doing the engineering for a real offshore version, please be honest about the risks and keep the safety aspects as a top priority. Mother nature can be pretty mean when she wants to and frequently we humans seem to just make things worse (i.e. the mostly submerged junk in the ocean).

The keel needs to be very durable, immune to external jamming and for the primary positioning mechanism, you probably need a back-up/redundant driver.

As a safety measure, also consider a "diverse method" to get the keel back to straight down. Consider that you may need to implement this diverse methods in really bad conditions. I am thinking along the lines of "can't fail" disconnects for the primary linkage with pre-staged rigging (chain falls or the like) and connection points.

There is quite a bit of not so good "Operating experience" with swinging keels. Do not take the "It can not happen to me" attitude.

 

Hard to say.... I cant quite see the tell tales on the foresail , nor the bubble wake of the boat, but it appears the bow is down because the boat has altered coarse upwind, overpowered, to pass by the photo boat.

Looks like when the photo was snapped the helm is up to bear off. downwind and keep the lead bulb from puncturing the photo boat

 

I'm sorry but your brochure does say that it will be, quite simply, the fastest of it's size on the planet. Not that the goal or quest is to be the fastest. Your blog says that the boat has only been sailed 3 times in light air. I applaud your effort, it's a bitchin' looking boat, I'll be curious to follow it's progress. But your brochure makes a declarative statement that I can't see how you have enough data to support. Your boat might end up being the fastest, but then again it might not.
File Type: pdf SpeedDream27_brochure.pdf

Rather than get into a bitchfest over this I would be more interested hearing your comments about the last pic posted on this thread and any updates on the testing. Did the boat go to Florida?

 

Hi Vlad.

Did you ever think of putting Speed Dream on foils?

That would seem to be the next step.

Once up on foils, the ballast strut could come clear out of the water.

The foils could be smaller as this is a fast hull to begin with.

Just thinking.

 

The designer should first try to answer the question, at what rate will float a boat, and then to build, not vice versa.

There is a lot of tank-testing series of hulls with and without steps. It works with fr=4.5 and more... It stupid to believe that your boat will go about this number of froud most of the time. If you do not understand this, you can create a VPP based on high-speed tank testing series for predict the speed.

I dont see "reducing the wetted surface" but i see very big resistance on the pictures and there is another important mistakes with your idea.

IMHO your CFD is not more than advertising, we can see it on the movies where fixed boat go through the waves with unbelievable speed.

(Sorry for my english)

 

Your English is OK , it's your comment that's stupid. It looks like you do know something, but not enough to comment coherently.

 

Thank you for your concerns. That's purpose of the prototype - to develop, test and refine all the systems, first of all canting keel, to make sure everything works reliably.

 

This is certainly something we are considering... But let's not forget that SpeedDream is a prototype for offshore record-setting boat, and foils are very tricky in rough condition's.
L'Hydroptere has been seriously damaged even without really going into the ocean... And then last summer they were in San Francisco waiting for the weather window to cross Pacific, but it never came... We are trying to find more reliable solutions.

 

For those that don't know Williwaw sailed around the Pacific years ago. Hydrofoils can be quite reliable. David Keiper did over 20,000 milles in his hydrofoil trimaran. I think Vlad is doing the right thing-one step at a time-no pun intended. Vlad, you will buy me a diet coke when you do put foils on one of the test boats, right?

 

thank you!
i do not understand the hype about foilers in this forum...
in the big wide ocean, foils surely can give advantage, but not all of the times...

DSS and all the other solution are an striking idea, but you cannot rely on them because a boat tends to heaeve, pitch and roll, foil effect gone, what then?...
the (DSS now) foil comes out of the water, it's effect is gone, stability (if calculated that way) compromised, capsize a very good option...

and besides - who wants to go around the world on a flying fish?

 

Doug, you know everything - it's quite amazing!
Can you fill me - and everybody here - about the Williwaw? I have to admit my total ignorance...

As for the coke - it's your as soon as we put on the foils. Perhaps even something to go with coke, if you'd like.

Cheers,
Vlad

 

Let's keep an open mind about this... Foils are attractive and have potential, and I do have an ocean foiler concept in the works, actually.
We don't know what is going to work best, so let's not discard any interesting idea.
In any case I wish L'Hydroptere team all the best... Let's follow their progress and reserve our judgement until they have a good try.

 

What you see, is wave-piercing bow in action.
You can find more on this and other SpeedDream features in our blog on www.SpeedDream.com