The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

Modern Yacht Design—What Do We Need?

I mentioned in my last posting that we had recently chartered a relatively up to date 40 footer for our basking shark survey in Scotland. As most of my sailing over the years has been aboard my own boats, either Pèlerin (built to go anywhere) or our old Frers cutter (tough eighties cruiser-racer), I thought that two weeks on the water and sailing on a daily basis would be a good introduction to where boat production has been going in recent times. And so it was.

A Good Example

The boat in many ways epitomized the average charter boat—huge accommodation, four cabins (three doubles), two heads and showers, linear galley and dinette arrangement in the saloon. Externally, she had a big cockpit, lots of freeboard, shallow canoe body and modest draught (1.55 m). The rig was conservative with heavily swept spreaders, but she had a nice fully battened main and roller genoa, and overall she sailed well in the conditions we had. Under power a good sized Yanmar engine that was smooth and quiet (despite plenty of hours) drove her along well.

She did everything we wanted, and was comfortable and roomy to live aboard, much more so than many older designs I’ve sailed. She felt solid, and there were no signs of flimsy construction, even after a good few years in a charter fleet in the Hebrides. Wear and tear, yes, but everything functioned more or less OK. For the job she had obviously been designed for—holidaying aboard for a couple of weeks at a time, in less than demanding conditions, with a full crew—she was a great boat, and entirely fit for the purpose.

Fine For Charter—But For Cruising?

But there were elements of the boat’s design that ranged between annoying and unworkable if she were taken outside her design brief and taken long distance cruising, in my opinion. Not that it couldn’t be done, with some modification, at least one eye on the weather and a capable crew, but things that simply annoy on a two week holiday or for general weekending would take on a whole new significance when lived with full time. But I’m not blaming the boat—she was designed for a specific market, and she fitted that design brief very well indeed. What worries me is that I keep seeing the same design features that are tolerable in a ‘holiday’ boat turning up on new models from some well established cruising boat builders, where I don’t think they belong—what’s going on?

What’s Needed

In my view, a cruising boat designed for offshore passage making should possess (at least) the following attributes as a minimum standard.

Under Sail:

Be easy to handle, with the ability to reef all sails quickly and efficiently. Be able to stand up to her canvas up to at least gale force. Have a comfortable motion, to avoid tiring the crew. Have a balanced hull form so she is not prone to rounding up, and is easy on the autopilot.

On Deck:

An anchor handling system and all ancillaries that is built to cope with really severe conditions. Sufficient winch power for all crew members to work the boat. Good shelter for the crew in rough seas. Be safe to move around on deck in all conditions.

Down Below:

Have sufficient locker space for the crew’s gear to be safely stowed when on passage. Have proper, safe, secure sea berths so that the crew can rest even in bad weather. A workable galley, so that hot food (not just snacks) can be prepared in rough seas. Be safe to move around in rough conditions.

Structurally:

Be durable enough to withstand a less than extreme grounding without structural damage. Have a simple, strong rig with failsafe capability. Have a robust, reliable steering system (including the rudder) with viable back-up in an emergency.

Time For A Review

Much of what I’ve outlined is by no means impossible to achieve, and is entirely in keeping with John and Phyllis’s mantra of What Really Matters.

Over the next couple of months I’m going to return to each of these points, enlarge upon them and look at ways in which I think we’re heading in the wrong direction. I’ll offer alternative ideas or ways in which improvements can be made, from my own experience and advice from others. And I hope you’ll be part of that, too, given the wealth of real experience that’s out there with AAC readers. So please contribute your thoughts, and hopefully a bigger, better-focussed picture will emerge.

Maybe we can come up with some timely reminders for designers and builders that the sea doesn’t change, offshore requirements are very different, and that fashion belongs in the high street—not in boat design.

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Viv and Mireille

Colin: Agree with all your points but the main one about the hull shape is something that I feel is very debatable (or should I say open to endless debate). From narrow to wide sleds to chine to flat fore sections, and pinched sterns, all have pros and cons. But all in all I think the balance of a sea kindly hull shape and a strong driving rig with lots of wind power is what makes a boat safe and a good passage maker.

Looking forward to your detailed analysis of the points in your posting. Incidentally, as a Frers fan, which one do you own? is there any information on it on the web?

All the best
Viv

Colin Speedie

Hi Viv

I agree that there are many different values with hull forms – after all, we sail an OVNI! What I hope to flag up are some of the extremes that don’t make sense for a cruising boat, offshore – or at anchor. And I’d agree with your definition of a good passagemaker. And that’s what I think those of us with ambitions to cruise long distance want, too.

As far as our Frers boat, I sold her after nearly seventeen years hard sailing to a friend who loves her just as much as I did, and who has refitted her to sail away himself. She was the first GRP Dufour 39, built in 1983, but we made many, many changes to her over the years. Suffice to say that I, and virtually everyone who sailed her, reckoned that she was the nicest boat to sail – a dream to helm, and fast in all conditions.

Hope you’ll stick with the series, and come forward with your thoughts.

Best wishes

Colin

Victor Raymond

Colin, Your description of the charter boat defines my first boat exactly. Many fine features, well thought out and executed but for a holiday boat not a cruiser. Sailing a sistership from Gibraltar to Cannaries last fall convinced me above all else that I had to have a different boat for my own piece of mind and comfort.
The Meta Dalu 47 is just that: a vessel that is defined by self sufficiency, maintainability and brute strength. Hopefully she will prove to be a good sailor too. I will sleep better too.

Colin Speedie

Hi Victor

Welcome back – it’s good to hear from you.

I’m glad you agree with my opening thoughts, especially as with your own experience of having owned a boat of this type, and having sailed one offshore you’re in a good position to judge.

And it will be really interesting to hear how your new boat compares once you’ve got some miles under your belt in her, as she is a serious cruising machine.

Best of luck with your new boat!

Colin

Victor Raymond

Colin,
Thank you. Looking forward to getting some miles on her myself. She certainly has a thick hull and seems well put together. How she sail on all points will be interesting and I am sure a big learning curve for me from the Jeanneau. I suspect, just as on your boat, sailing downwind will be the most comfortable point of sail. With double headsails and a cutter stay we will have some options.

Time will tell. Fortunately we will have some nice quiet areas in Venezuela to get to know each other before heading west and north.

Victor

Richard Elder

Always a topic that gets people’s arms waving in the air! I can’t resist!
A few features on modern boats I’ve sailed on recently—.

Deck Salons:
It’s great fun being launched from one side to the other of a 16′ wide living room because it is totally devoid of handholds. Ended up in the hospital in Bermuda with a goose sized lump on my elbow as a result. That particular boat, an Oyster 53, has an interior designed by someone who not only had never been to sea, but couldn’t even imagine what it might be like. The living room, er-salon has a curved settee that seats twelve and is impossible to sleep on when underway. Opposite side has a washer/dryer where a full length settee should be. Traversing this skating rink from the forward cabins requires a leap of about 5 feet between two inadequate and poorly placed handholds. Deck salons don’t have to be designed this way (Check out the Antarctic expedition yacht Seal designed by Ed Joy) .

Linear Galleys in the center of the boat:
Hardly needs further comment: Bob Perry may not have spent nearly as much time sailing as he has drawing boats, but he loves to cook and eat well. Don’t think he has ever designed a bad galley— too bad he hasn’t been appointed the czar of galley design.

Exit Chute Cockpits:
Take two million dollars and an ex-racing skipper and what do you get? Twin carbon wheels, no place to sit or hold on to, and a straight slide out the back to the swim step launching pad. A cockpit that feels insecure at night in 15 knot trade winds would be suicidal in a storm.

Shallow bilges and the hull forms that produce them:
Trade in your bilge pump for a sponge and a wife on her knees or become resigned to having everything in your lower lockers repeatedly dampened by residual bilge water. Of course the hull pounding will probably take your mind off a minor thing like a little water.

Seizure Furl mainsail systems:
The name says it all!

Enough ranting for one day!

Colin Speedie

Hi Richard

Yes, it’s a subject that often gets people going, but as your recent experiences demonstrate, for good reason.

What I’m hoping to do is to tease out ways that some of the less positive features can be improved, or at least their weaknesses reduced. After all, most of us sail the boat we have, which may well be what we can afford, or which is brilliant in many other ways. Every boat is a compromise.

So any thoughts you have on that front would be gratefully received!

Best wishes

Colin