Interesting new tri in the UFC'12

SOS and crew put together a really neat tri for their Ultimate Florida attempt. It features a "cabin" and some of the most interesting amas I've ever seen. Photos can be seen on the watertribe web side and SOS's blog..some on Sandy Bottom's blog as well. It's so fresh off the build that they stayed on the beach for over a day after the start and continued to rig and build. Now that they've finished the EC, they have the rest of the keys, the whole East coast of Florida, and either a hellacious portage or brutally low water on the river sections.





Wow!

Dan

 

Mosquito

Spectacular pictures , thanks! More on the boat here: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/al...-county-park-mullet-key-3-3-2012-a-42106.html

 

they planned on using the "no boat switch rule", the original rule but because of the low water other options were formulated for this year.

I'd like to know just how they were gonna portage this thing over 40 miles.
I hear they are gonna try one of the other options.

I'm building a boat for the next EC and then next UFC per the original rulz so I can fully appreciate what that hike is gonna be like toting a boat along.

 

I sure hope SOS will join the forum and talk about his boat. This looks like a boat I have daydreamed for 30 years. I can't wait to understand why there are no transoms on the Amas. Second question is why line for the waterstays. Third is tell me everything about the boat!

How did they get to the first check point? Same question asked in another thread about the Tornado.

 

The amas are designed for two levels of buoyancy. Underway, the ama provides enough buoyancy to support the whole rig when heeled in gusts. If there is a problem and the boat capsizes or swamps and stops, the open transom allows enough water to enter to cause the leeward ama to sink. This makes righting the boat with no outside assistance possible and safer. The ama is divided into an upper open (through the transom) volume and a lower sealed volume by an interior deck. This system was used in a tri we built locally for the 1988 World 1000 race.

A wheeled dolly for portage is broken down and stored in a forward compartment in the main hull. The shape of the ama bows is to make surfacing easier when they are rammed under waves.

 

Tom,

Do you have any physical dimensions? length, overall width, ama length, sail area?

Thanks for the comment about the open transom. Which boat was that in the World race? Did the system ever get tested for righting - actually? It looked like the ring frames would retain a lot of water?

 

I think I see scuppers at the bottom of the ring frames, correct?

 

Tom,
I think you're holding back with us man, come on bring it out!

Yeah, some build pics were shared but not the details of just what makes this beast tick. It's a UFC boat, it's a TRANSFORMER! What are it's tricks? It's got to have too much beam for some of the bridges right? And then there's the portage so what? Complete disassembly?

Stage 4: this is what separates an EC boat from a UFC boat, the Rivers and portage. What is their other mode of propulsion other than sail?

Since they spent a day on the beach at the start sorting out various details I doubt they had much time for other testing such as the portage. I'd sure like to see them in portage mode! Please someone have a camera ready for that if they happen to see this!!

As I mentioned before, I too have a UFC boat in the works, and the whole engineering part of this event is a competition in itself, just getting to the start line, even if you leave a day late! But unlike the others in this (for some reason) "secret society" I got my ideas up and out there to share and co develop various designs. It's not like there's any money in this race to win so ........ anyway, I hope there's a few more UFC types out there getting ready for the next one. It just isn't fun to see just one boat smoke the course as it is to have an actual fellow competitor duke it out with them.

Weather, South Padre Island, Texas just got hit with another front from the north and it's a chilly one. I'd think that most of the EC will be complete by the time it reaches Florida but it will hit the UFC so it'll be interesting to see what happens! Good luck guys and gals!

 

While I have been near this boat a number of times from the beginning, I don't have specifics at hand. I'm very reluctant to offer any speculation to an overabundance of guesswork that always seems to get into the web. I can say that some details are bound to be worked out underway in such a new project. The complexity of such a project always grows more than originally thought and time always runs out. The frames do have ample limber holes in the bottom edges. As for human propulsion, Allan's mother Dawn (crew) has done the EC in kayaks several times and they will paddle when necessary.

The name of our boat in the 1988 World 1000 was The Oriental Express. It was 20' LOA, 19' beam and the wingmast started out as 40' tall. It had dual tandem centerboards in the main hull with the aft one used for adjusting sail balance. The mast was 3mm plywood and 15" chord by 5" width with double diamond struts. Sidestays were adjustable to help in capsize recovery with a sealed mast for flotation. It carried both masthead and approx 3/4 hounds asymmetric spinnakers although the masthead chute was not used because it was just too much and would easily cause a pitchpole. We had curved lifting foils for each ama but did not use them in the 1000 because of time to test problems. We sealed the bottom slots for the race. We did use them in a later local race against a large mixed fleet of monohulls and they worked well although the stress was greater than they could have borne in high wind. We did not need to use the capsize recovery feature and were unable to test it because we had to make a determined dash to get to the starting line on time with an untested boat. That seems to be normal with a new one and some don't even get that far in the EC.

A major problem with such boats is that they do cost a lot of time and money with nowhere to go after the specific event they were designed for is over. The Express was a team effort and never would have been possible otherwise.

 

Tom do you have any pictures of the Oriental Express-sounds like an extraordinary boat.

 

I do have some photos in a box somewhere and will look for them when I get the chance. The boat had potential but all new ideas need time to mature and we were not fully competitive with the Tornados and NACRAS because of a succession of issues. Best finish was a third in the leg from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout. The event had an international flavor with teams from the UK, Australia and Russia. Acceleration could be a surprise and one had to hold on to avoid being dumped off the stern in a gust. All up boat weight was about 450#.

 

Maybe them holes in the ama's are for sub woofers...

 

so I'm guessing SOS named his boat after the wooden British de Havilland Mosquito of WWII? Kinda has the same tri-ish look to it huh?

 

Nope, Named after the mosquitos that sacrificed themselves to the varnish. Full name is Mosquito Magnet.

 

Mosquito Magnet

Tom will the Mosquito fly the main hull w/o flooding the ama? Thanks for the info-very exciting design....