Less is More

Less is more

I'm lying here in my old Mini Transat, dedicated with tenacious mental effort to the "dolce far niente"

Dolce far niente - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolce_far_niente

Beside me are Schopenhauer's "The Art of Life" and Roger Taylor's "Ming Ming" (Sun Moon: clear, brilliant, evident)

As a fervent prophet of Minimalism, which i embraced through the harsh twists of fate... I want to say that now my scientific and practical conviction is absolute: if Lady Luck were to make me a millionaire again, i would never sail on 45-foot yachts again

Here i summarize and present the complete argument:

A) The sea
B) Speed
C) Safety and
D) Much more

 

Roger Taylor, Ming Ming

"Despite a lifetime's advocacy of minimal ocean cruising, I could still be caught off-guard by the reality of a tiny boat sailing effortlessly in massive seas"

 

A) The sea

A1) A sailboat navigates in a field of variable vertical pressures

Tiny sailboats navigate surprisingly well because they sail in the same area of the same wave

To visualize it simply: imagine a column of water 5 x 5 meters that rises like an elevator or a hydraulic piston—never better said—raising an entire small 5-meter sailboat, while affecting only the bow or stern of a 15-meter sailboat

A2) The orbital currents of the wave

the tiny sailboat navigates in the same area of the same wave; a large sailboat can have its stern in a current and its bow in a still area. This alone is enough to cause problems if we bother to do the calculations carefully, and it can get even worse: the stern in a current and the bow in a countercurrent

A3) A tiny sailboat tends to sail on top of the water rather than in it, and if a sailboat is small and light is equivalent to a tiny sailboat: lateral pressures are small = the Munk Moment (the hydrodynamic yaw moment of the hull) is small and easy to control

These three reasons combined (A1 + A2 + A3) are sufficient, and the argument could end here.

 

B) Speed

Speed improves everything immensely: comfort, pleasure, and safety

It's not the same in terms of comfort, pleasure, and safety to sail at a speed of 0.30 Froude as it is to sail at 0.40-0.50 Froude

And the law of the square and the cube is relentless

(here i deviate from Roger Taylor's approach)

470 dinghy with Japanese crew: 50 square meters per Ton without (!) spinnaker

Heavily loaded Mini-Transat for crossing the Atlantic: 30 square meters per Ton

3-ton sports yacht: 20 square meters per Ton

4-10 ton cruising yacht: 10 square meters per Ton

200-foot clipper sailing in 1888 from Hong Kong to London: 1 square meter per Ton

Speed is a joy

B1) Allows you to fly over the bow wave

B2) Stabilizes the sailboat, minimizing Roll

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At the other extreme we have a slow yacht sailing at 0.30 Froude which, when accelerated, crashes into the large 0.40-0.50 Froude slope, and on top of that, it's wobbling in Roll's hands

 

C) Safety

Passive safety basically involves two things: impact with an object like a semi-submerged container or an Orca, and the impact of a rogue Wave

Sink resistance improves dramatically with a small boat

And whether a sailboat rights itself after capsizing doesn't depend on the amount of static transversal stability

The amount of static stability isn't a safety measure for objectively small (< 30 Tons) sailboats because it only indicates the amount of sail it can hoist: "Stability under canvas" (Scott Russell)

John Scott Russell - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scott_Russell

 

A yacht can capsize in five ways:

1) hydroDynamic capsizing due to its hull-and-keel. Solution: a good surfboard

2) Capsizing due to being stationary in a poor orientation relative to the waves: The newly launched IMOCA "Hugo Boss" capsized off the coast of Galicia. Solution: rudder blades out of the water and sea anchor

3) Capsizing due to falling into a hole created by an underwater mountain: Class 40 "Pinocho" returning from a regatta to the Azores: the stern struck the mast, trapping the life raft on the stern

4) Ocean wave that feels the bottom: the two Nordic couples who, ignoring the warnings of the locals, drowned one autumn after setting sail from Peniche in Portugal the day after one of the biggest storms of the last ten years

5) Wild wave that appears out of nowhere: countless cases

I mean, a small yacht of 1-10 tons has to be prepared to capsize

And its righting doesn't depend on the amount of static stability.

A yacht that can hoist 100 square meters is no safer than one that can hoist 20 square meters.

 

Let's compare Robert Manry's tiny boat with the horror stories of capsized yachts that won't right themselves.

And let's compare this tiny foam-filled boat with yachts that sink simply from a leak after a blow to the rudder.

 

D) much more

1) On a one-ton boat, handling the sails is more enjoyable, and its functionality and versatility is very similar or practically the same as on a dinghy.

2) The propeller: it's incredible how many things get caught on it, both while sailing and in port, especially when you're maneuvering. With a small outboard motor, it's a minor inconvenience. A small outboard motor is a marvel of simplicity in operation and maintenance

3) General simplicity, and therefore freedom. A German doctor told me in the Caribbean: At home, I lived like a king; here on my yacht, I'm the janitor

4) A small, efficient sports boat, a civilized mini-transat greatly improved in comfort and safety, an efficient 1-ton windSurf board, would allow us to redefine cruising: she (or he) travels by bus, train, or plane without having to put up with our antics.

I assure you, although I know many won't believe me, that there are big Waves at sea, and that on a sailboat, it's not necessary to carry your house on your back like a snail.

 

Small sailboats of around 1 ton have enormous potential; they are a diamond in the rough.

 

In the residual drag curves, we can graphically see the bow wave (the water piling up at the bow and building a small mound) and the stern sinking into the hole created by the displaced water

In other words: uphill

The typical cruiser sails slowly relative to its length, due to its size and because it's cumbersome to raise and lower large sails

If it's sailing at 0.30-0.35 Froude, it has the steepest slope directly ahead: the 0.35-0.50 zone

If a wave lifts the stern, the drag is the same or even increases as the bow sink

It's not the same for the bow to dip (from +3° to +/-0°) as it is for it to sink (from +/-0° to -1°)

If a small, lightweight (=< 150 D/L heavy loaded) sports boat (=> 20 sqm per ton) is sailing at 0.50 Froude and a wave lifts its stern ... then the drag decreases and it accelerates to 0.60 Froude, reaching the launch ramp in the case of large waves, and in any case the boat glides smoothly

 

In a small, light, and sporty boat, every wave coming from astern, instead of being a complication, is a delight to enjoy, whether it's a small wave or a large ocean wave

And

In a small, light, sporty boat, the effect of loading seawater and thus moving the center of gravity as in a dinghy, is monstrous: Force, Power Upwind



(In reality, the best course of action would be to yield 5° and sail at 6 knots instead of 5 knots very close to the wind)

 

Hull: 400 kg, i think it can be achieved with a combination of woods

Keel: 270 kg with the center of gravity @ 1.5 meters, equivalent to 400 kg @ 1 meter of draft

Mountain of equipment to install and carry: 200 kg

1 crew and their belongings: 100 kg

Food and drink for 3 (!) months, 2000 kcal per day: 170 kg

Total: 1140 kg
LWL: 5.99 meters

D/L heavy loaded = 150

 

Webb Chiles carries freeze-dried food, an idea that originated in the high mountains melting snow; but i don't understand it on a sailboat

And Roger Taylor carries 'British cuisine'

I mean, from a French, Italian, and Spanish point of view, this is neither humane nor civilized.

 

Another succesfull "race", with again, no losses or incidents. Must be some sort of record for a 5m dinghy-cruiser of Atlantic crossings. Maderski Setka 5m.

 

0.5 Froude

490 k euros
150° TWA
around 20 knots TWS
a Hull as thin as cigarette paper
And
a giant A3 gennaker of astronomical size

Let's suppose, even if it's a big supposition, that a crew of 65-75 year old retirees have hoisted that gigantic, astronomically sized A3, and now the wind picks up to 25 knots with gusts of 30 knots and waves of 4-5 meters, we already have guaranteed 'fun'

A small, lightweight, sporty 1-ton boat would carry a small A5