Olaf Harken's reply
Dear Brian:
Thanks for opening the thread on PROCYON and it was interesting to listen to some of the comments. By the way I am trying to find the boat and hope a reader has seen it and will let me know.
For those that are questioning the project and results I can only say that this project was designed to test new ideas since America was significantly behind Europe in innovative designs. We were not out to prove that a bi-pod mast or a canting keel or the other ideas were better, but to increase our knowledge to make sailing easier, faster, safer and more fun. It was an industry effort with a great core team and dozens of contributors of equipment. In general we were very pleased with the results, but certainly would make some changes if we did it again. (Note:Brian underlined these passages)
Here is a brief analysis of some of the main features:
Canting keel with wings: Very successful results and extremely simple, reliable and cost effective. We had a large Milwaukee Push pull cylinder that was not even visible in the boat, attached to a four foot long arm that was all hidden inside a foot wide bulkhead. Our original keel was a difficult 11.5 feet deep and we hit bottom so many times I was considering putting wheels on the wings (not really). The hydraulics never failed. Britt Chance said it was designed to hit a rock at 11 knots and not fail. He was right. The wings eliminated the need for extra foils which are not conducive to a cruising boat and the performance increase was some where between 1 to 1.5 knots on a beat or tight reach since we could add more sail with the keel canted. In very light air we would cant to leeward and normally we would let gravity cant the keel during a tack if we didn’t want to use power. Ten years ago this was considered unrealistic. Today there are a lot of new race boat designs incorporating canting keels such as the Volvo round the word racers. When a production builder does one with wings, I predict it will be as normal as a carbon mast.
One note: O.H. Rodgers designed a new 7.5 foot keel and added 500 pounds to the bulb. The old keel weighed 13,500 pounds (6,136 kgs). The new design for some reason did not lose performance which most likely indicates the old keel had more drag from the angle of attack of the wings.
Bi-Pod Mast: The idea was to have a clean entry into the wind like a jib, be able to roll the main up like a jib at the touch of a button, lower down the rig to go under a bridge and attach to the gunwales which are the strongest part of the boat. Because of the Inherent strength, a large amount of heavy stainless steel rigging was eliminated using only a backstay and head stay. Comparable carbon masts weighed about 0 to 10% more fully rigged.
The results were mixed but definitely worth trying again. Sail shape of the main was pretty ugly when rolled partially up, we had two disastrous failures that set the project back twice for a total of 14 months and took the steam out of the project. The first was a mechanical failure of bolts sheering off the aluminum bridge holding the pre-bent carbon tubes together at the peak causing the tubes to spring apart and come crashing down. The second was “the storm of the century in Miami with 100 knot winds which leaned the boat over so far the mast banged into a piling on the pier and eventually broke. The current mast is stronger, five feet shorter (from 90 feet to 85 feet) and we took the airfoil shape out since the boat wanted to sail all the time. With the new mast which has seen extreme weather, a mainsail built more like a jib, a simpler system for lowering the mast, an easier, lighter and less expensive method of attaching the boom and eliminating the boom pod would be desirable. It is a viable system and worth another try on a smaller boat to make the tests easier.
The Boom: It is not a wishbone as was originally conceived but a dramatic looking sculptured carbon piece of art that worked well. The vang was part of the structure and the goose neck and vang attached to a very strong 8” (200mm) diameter aluminum pod that went through the deck for attachment. It worked well because it was built so strong but not a great solution. I would favor the vang to be attached directly to the deck and the gooseneck to a cross beam between the mast pods.
Water Ballast: Very nice for upwind performance and more comfort in a seaway but not worth the complexity and cost unless one plans on long voyages. The hull shape is also a factor.
Interior: This was a love/hate interior. I asked Diane Attwood to design it since she had done some unique and unusual designs on power mega yachts. I did not want the same old stuff since that was not the purpose of the experiment and therefore stayed away from sail boat interior designers. It was basically a brushed aluminum interior with a lot of color accents in pillows and paintings and upholstery. Today it is a traditional wood interior with a spiral staircase.
Other: There were many other experiments like forward steering stations, the second Map Tech navigational system in the world donated by the late Land’s End founder, Gary Comer, only an alternator off the main engine to supply a massive bank of batteries, and total push button control of winches for main and jib and the furling systems all accessible from either steering system.
The core team was Britt Chance, naval architect, Eric and Ben Hall from Hall spars
Frank Butler and Gerry Douglas of Catalina Yachts who assembled the deck and built the interior. Charlie Miller of North Sails, Art Ellis and Dick McCurdy of Ockam Instruments. Diane Attwood designer of the interior and consultant to Britt on deck design. Amoco Chemical provided additional funding, materials and operational costs for the first year. I led the project and Harken, Inc. and our nervous banker financed much of it.
Our captain was Randy West who guided the boat for many thousands of miles from one venue to the other and entertained us all with his never ending stories. Procyon had over 20,000 visitors on board and many hundreds of volunteer crews. She was featured in almost all of the sailing magazines around the world and in Time, Business Week, Popular Science, and the New York Times in addition to dozens of trade publications.
It had its set backs but was and is a great sailing yacht and I hope I can find it.
Olaf Harken
