SpeedDream teams up with the Extreme Sailing Series

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We have really great news to report. SpeedDream has been invited to exhibit as part of the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul. Our fun, fast little rocketship prototype is currently in the hold of a ship heading across the Atlantic bound for Turkey. We have long been fans of the Extreme Sailing Series and admired how they pioneered the concept of stadium-style racing in Extreme 40 catamarans and taken it global attracting some of the very best sailors in the sport while at the same time attracting some brand name sponsors.

Showcasing the boat at the Extreme Sailing Series is just step one in an ambitious plan to develop a fleet of boats to race as an Opening Act in the Series. We plan to field at least four boats in the European venues of the ESS in 2014, and a full fleet of eight boats to race the entire international circuit in 2015.

Istanbul is also where our technology partner Yandex has a large presence and their local representatives are planning a huge media push inviting local celebrities and sailors to come out for a sail. 

Below is the full press announcement:

SpeedDream to be publicly exhibited for the first time at the

Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 4 in Istanbul, June 2013.

SpeedDream, the quest to build the world’s fastest monohull, has formed two strategic alliances to achieve this ambitious goal. First, recognizing that record setting is as much about radical design ideas as it is about pushing technology barriers, the SpeedDream team have strengthened their technological partnership with the Russian hi-tech giant Yandex and will be utilizing their enormous computing power to further refine the design concept.

Record setting is also about attracting the very best sailors and many of them compete at the highest levels of international competition in the Extreme Sailing Series, the original and global stadium racing circuit. To bring all forces together Yandex- SpeedDream will be exhibiting as part of Act 4 of the 2013 Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul, Turkey from June 20-23, 2013.

Having expanded its presence to Turkey in 2011, Yandex is Russia’s leading internet company whose search portal alone attracts over 55 million unique users. “As a company on the leading edge of technology we look forward to associating with innovative projects that push the boundaries and hosting SpeedDream here in Istanbul” said Yandex. Turkey Chairman Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ. “We will all benefit from an exchange of ideas with the common goal of being the best and fastest in the world; SpeedDream on the water, Yandex in search and browsing the web.”

Last October the SpeedDream team launched and tested a 27-foot prototype of what will form the basis of a larger record setter. While continuing to test the first prototype, the SpeedDream team have already started research and development for a second stage 50–footer that will enable them to test their design ideas in real ocean conditions.  A core of this program is Computative Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Research and Finite Element Analysis, which will be performed as a cooperative effort between SpeedDream designers and Yandex engineers.  

“This is a giant step forward for the project,” said Vlad Murnikov, Lead Designer and project coordinator. “There is nothing like being able to simulate a design in a multitude of conditions and our team plans extensive CFD and FEA analysis using the incredible computing power and expertise that Yandex and their engineers can offer. We will take the empirical data collected from our prototype, extrapolate it into a larger design, and then run a variety of simulations over the next few months.”

The Extreme Sailing Series is now in it’s seventh season and has set new standards, both in terms of high-level competition and sporting entertainment. The award-winning Series has attracted some of the very best sailors from around the world and has been on the cutting edge of corporate sporting hospitality and sailing innovation. “Part of the Extreme Sailing Series philosophy is to welcome other interesting and innovative concepts in to our Stadium - the SpeedDream project will create some interest for sure, and if they develop a class of these in the future we could imagine having them as one of the additional classes racing at the event,” commented Mark Turner, Executive Chairman of OC Sport, the Series organizers. “So we agreed to test it out in Istanbul, the meeting point for Asian and European cultures, and now the meeting point for innovation in sailing!" 

Yandex- SpeedDream will remain in Europe for the summer with plans to exhibit the boat in various locations where high performance, along with style and innovation are appreciated and celebrated.

SpeedDream's Wave Piercing Bow

Razor sharp and swept back - the bow on SpeedDream revolutionary on a monohull.

Any good yacht is a sum of its parts and SpeedDream is no different. Where it is different, however, is that all the important parts have been attacked with a fresh approach by bringing new technology and new thinking to proven ideas. The Flying Keel simply took the canting keel idea, which has been around for more than a decade, and with fresh thinking took it one step further. Instead of canting 40 – 45 degrees, the Flying Keel cants all the way to 80 degrees allowing it to fly clear out of the water. Same with the sculpted hull. The functionality and elegance of the SpeedDream hull is nothing short of exquisite and part of that hull shape is the long extended wave-piercing bow.

While wave-piercing bows have been around for a long time, most sailors regard them as the exclusive province of multihulls. They think of wave piercing as narrow, and the twin hulls of a catamaran are indeed narrow when compared to most monohulls. The problem with wave piercing is that it’s largely misunderstood. Yes narrow is part of it, but there is so much more.

Let’s start with one basic fact. Long, narrow boats slice through the water with relative ease and less resistance when compared to squat, beamy boats, and in many ways narrow boats are much more sea-kindly that wide ones. Despite this there has been a trend away from narrow to fat in large part driven by the water ballast craze that needed to get the weight as far outboard as possible. When water ballast gave way to canting keels the boat got a bit more slender, but not much. 

SpeedDream is unencumbered by rules and the keyword behind the concept is efficiency; in all areas. A narrow hull with a long, extended wave piercing bow is the most efficient way to drive a boat through waves. Yet the bow on SpeedDream is more than that and this brings me to the second, and most misunderstood part of a wave piercing bow. 

 

Short video illustrates hull form and wave piercing bow.

Take the V-shape of most conventional hulls. Narrow at the bottom; fat and flat at the top. Plunge this boat down a steep wave, and as it hits the wave in front of it, the bow digs in sinking deep into the trough ahead. There is plenty of buoyancy up front but the shape for recovering from a nose-dive is all wrong especially once the fordeck is buried. The flat deck presents a wide, unforgiving surface to the weight of water. Think of it as dragging your hand through the water, palm forward. There is a load of resistance. Turn your hand 90-degrees and it starts to slice through the water with very little effort. Now look at the bow sections on SpeedDream.

First you will notice that the forward third of the boat is inverted. The buoyancy is on the bottom, not the top. Granted there is not as much buoyancy as you would find on a more ‘conventional’ design, but this is a wave piercing bow, not a boring run-of-the-mill bow. Instead of being swept forward, or plumb like most boats, the bow on SpeedDream is raked elegantly aft. The rake is for practical reasons, not gratuitous aesthetics. You want to maximize waterline length and so at the waterline, where it counts, the bow is at the full length of the boat. But there is no need to leave any unneeded weight and windage up front, so as quickly as possible the bow rakes aft to a deck that it pointed, rather than flat.

Send SpeedDream down the front of large cresting wave and for sure the boat will plunge into the wave ahead. Being narrow it will, for the most part, simply slice through the wall of water. Should the bow, however, start to be forced down, the downward thrust will be arrested by the forward buoyancy. Furthermore, rather than fighting against the blunt sections of a flat deck, the entire foredeck of SpeedDream becomes a long extended sharp bow allowing the boat to quickly and easily slice back up through the water fully recovering from being forced to nosedive. 

So while YouTube videos showing knee-deep water cascading down the foredecks of Volvo 70s and IMOCA 60s are impressive to watch, think about what’s going on. The shock-loading on the mast, sails and deck gear spikes dangerously high when a boat surfing at 35 knots suddenly slows to 18 knots. The worst part is that designers and engineers need to account for these shock loads and in doing so they have to build a boat that is overweight for most ‘normal’ conditions, but able to withstand the sudden spikes. It doesn’t make any sense. Why not be kind to your boat and sculpt and engineer it to glide gracefully through and over just about anything the ocean throws at it?

Rigorous sea trials in Newport

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SpeedDream27 with Cam Lewis at the helm rockets down Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island

Place:  Newport, Rhode Island

Date: May 2–6, 2013

Mission: Rigorous testing of the SpeedDream27 prototype

A day after wrapping up sail trials aboard the SpeedDream27 prototype we are happy at what’s been accomplished and judging by the smiles all around it seems that a great time was had by all. Here is a report on what transpired and what was learned.

First of all Newport dished up some perfect weather. Locals say that early May is the best time for sailing there and now we know why. The ocean is still cold but there is strength in the sun and the land quickly heats up sucking in that sea breeze and providing steady 8 to 15 knots of wind. Inside the harbor the water is relatively flat, but we also took the boat out toward the open ocean to see how things would go in a bit of chop – and it all went well.

SpeedDream skipper Cam Lewis was in charge of preparing the boat and putting it through its paces. Cam is legendary for loving speed and was not intimidated by the boat which was important as there was plenty of speed to be had. The first day saw a steady 12 knots blowing across the harbor and it was the perfect amount of wind to test out the slightly updated keel canting mechanism and to get more of a feel for the boat. The sailing last Fall was limited and in light winds.

"This is a very interesting boat to sail," Cam said. "It's unlike most of the other boats I have sailed over the years. It's very responsive and very quick to accelerate when a puff comes. You have to be ready as within a split second the boat takes off, but like a high performance catamaran the faster it goes the more stable it feels. Once we refine things this boat is going to go even faster."

Keel flying and boat going fast

It didn’t take long to figure out two things; the new keel mechanism worked flawlessly but the rudder brackets were inadequate. It wasn’t long before the first bracket sheered off the transom and things came to a screeching halt. Fortunately there are two rudders and without much talk Cam tacked over, sheeted the mainsail on and literally flew down the harbor. There are no instruments on the boat yet, but the GPS app recorded a steady 16–17 knots of speed in about 12 to 14 knots of true wind. Unfortunately, before long, the second rudder bracket sheered off and it was time for a tow home.

Sail trials were conducted out of Newport Shipyard, one of the best service yards in the country, if not the world, and their machine shop had two new brackets made up by the next morning. With the weak spot beefed up it was time to really heat things up and that’s precisely what happened. Cam took the boat upwind, downwind and on various angles to the wind and on all points of sail SpeedDream performed spectacularly. It does not take much to get the keel flying and for most of the following three days the boat sailed around with the bright red bulb flying steadily in close formation alongside.

To save time and money, we equipped the SpeedDream prototype with a pair of the C-Class catamaran rudders generously presented by the Little America’s Cup gurus Magnus Clarke and Fred Eaton. These rudders proved to be a bit small for the boat and Cam spent some time playing with the mast rake to adjust the boat’s balance, but there’s still a good amount of weather helm left. It will be cured after SpeedDream gets her own set of rudders.

A number of top sailors were able to get a ride among them Nick Dana, a veteran of the last two Volvo Ocean Races. Here are his observations. "SpeedDream is definitely a concept to excited about. Joining the likes of the Moth class and an X40, the SpeedDream's innovative design represents 'what's next' in performance sailing. The spooled canting system is remarkable, and adds a new dimension to the skiff style boat handling needed for maneuvers. With a few slight tweaks, the SpeedDream concept could really take off."

SpeedDream is designed to sail at 15 to 17 degrees of heel. At that point the boat is sailing on the narrow horizontal flat planing sections port and starboard respectively. In simplified terms SpeedDream could be described as planing catamaran with the keel bulb serving as the windward hull. As soon as the boat heels to the appropriate angle and the keel comes out of the water, she really takes off.

During the sail trials Lead Designer Vlad Murnikov watched intently. "Designing SpeedDream we knew what kind of performance we should expect," he said. "Still, watching her now in action came as a bit of a shock. Witnessing a fairly small 27-ft monohull reaching 18.8 knots - which is our top number so far - in just 15 knots of wind while effortlessly flying a keel is a mind boggling experience."

And we are just at the beginning. The first five days of intensive sailing in Narragansett Bay became the boat’s first real test. We’ve already found some weak spots and we also have a better idea of how to greatly improve the performance of the boat. It’s a learning process and we have the full summer ahead of us to learn.

Test piloting the revolutionary mxNext

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Ripping it up with the spinnaker doing the pulling.

Every now and then something quite spectacular comes along and if you are lucky – and in the right place – you get to be a part of history. Since I have felt from an early age that I was born under a lucky star it came as no surprise that I was chosen to be the test pilot for the brand new mxNext. Well, it did help that I am in charge of PR and marketing for the boat and the only one willing to don a wetsuit and venture out on a chilly early New England spring day. It was, frozen toes aside, an awesome experience.

The mxNext is in many ways a mini SpeedDream yet built under license as a separate business from mxSpeedDream. It is a development of the revolutionary mxRay, a boat that almost two decades ago changed the way single-handed skiffs were designed and sailed. The mxRay was the first boat to carry an asymmetrical spinnaker and with it’s addition came new levels of speed and performance. Back then the builder of the mxRay was master craftsman Mark LeBlanc who turned out hundreds of the colorful boats. Mark left the sailing business for a while to pursue a “real” career but the call of the water was too strong and a year ago he approached his old partner and designer Vlad Murnikov with a proposal. “Why don’t we bring back a newer version of the mxRay?” he asked. Murnikov, not one to live with one foot in the past, was not interested in a revamped design. The mxRay was, after all, built out of that archaic material; fiberglass. Nope, the future was carbon and the future was far more ambitious. Before the conversation was over the idea for mxNext had been sewn.

Heading out of the harbor

Marblehead harbor is usually wall to wall boats during the summer months but on this spring day, save for a few lobster boats, it was empty. A sloppy sea rolled in from the northeast, a reminder of some foul weather that had recently passed through. We launched the boat courtesy of the Pleon Yacht Club and well kitted out, I tentatively stepped on board. The boat was a real live version of some computer renderings I had been admiring for months and it felt as if I was stepping into one of my own computer programs. That was where the similarity ended. I pushed off the dock, sheeted on the mainsheet, and felt the immediate acceleration. The mxNext quite literally took off.

The boat is designed with a slick looking, aft-raked, wave-piercing bow that was slicing effortlessly through the chop, but it was the wings that give the design it’s distinct futuristic look. Primarily used as a hiking platform that allows the sailor to get weight as far outboard as possible, the wings also serve another purpose. No, not to make the boat fly even though it felt as if we were flying; they are there to provide additional stability as the buoyancy in the leeward wing resists heeling. Hall Spars had spun us a nice carbon mast and Doyle Sails provided a generous amount of sail area so there was no lack of power as I sailed out toward the mouth of the harbor.

Bill Lynn from Atlantis Weathergear

Just as with the mxRay, the mxNext has an asymmetrical spinnaker that deploys out of a bag on the cockpit floor. In the short time it took to sail out of the harbor I felt that I was ready to give the spinnaker a go, but nervous at the same time that once the chute was up and filling the boat might literally take off. I bore away and felt the immediate acceleration, but once sailing downwind thing got a bit calmer and I hoisted the chute. It snapped full and the mxNext responded. The following five minutes were pure pleasure as we rocketed back into the harbor dodging mooring buoys and hanging on.

I can safely say that the mxNext is a stunning boat to sail, but of course I am biased to we asked our friend Bill Lynn, head honcho at Atlantis Weathergear, to take the boat out for a spin. Here is what he had to say.  “It was a lot of fun to sail. Fast, easy to handle, definitely athletic but once I got the spinnaker up it was like it was on rails going downwind. The mxNext really does have a future. This is an awesome boat.” This from one of the most successful small boat sailors in the US. Praise indeed.

Check out this very short teaser of mxNext sailing in Marblehead.

Remembering Magnus

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This great photo by Rick Tomlinson captures his amazing spirit. It also shows how long he has been on the scene - those are dacron sails...

The sailing community lost a true legend this past weekend. Few individuals have had such an impact on sailing as the irrepressible Magnus Olsson who died on Saturday from complications from a stroke. It really is hard to believe that he has sailed his last passage and that those of us left behind will continue to sail on without the sound of his laughter booming out from below decks. Life on the lip of a cresting wave will simply not be the same without Mange.

I arrived on the sailing scene in the late 70’s and heard talk of an immensely attractive Swede who somehow made a living as a ski bum in the winter and a sailing bum in the summer. I was intrigued and more than a little curious to know how such a life was possible, but when I met Magnus for the first time it became obvious. Here was a person who had such an appetite for life, such an amazing zest for squeezing every bit of juice out of living that it was hard not to wonder what planet he was from. Turned out he was from a suburb of Stockholm and his zest was genuine. More than three decades later, until just last week, that booming laugh, infectious smile and twinkle in the eye was there. His passing is truly a sad loss, not only for sailing, but for humanity.

Magnus played many roles in life - this time as Santa on board Drum in the 85-86 Whitbread

His first around-the-world race was on board Drum and one of his first sights of the boat was as it floated upside down in the Irish Sea after the keel had snapped off. Mangus was racing aboard another boat and was due to join Drum after the Fastnet race. As his friend and the navigator on Drum, Roger Nilson observed; “Most of us had lost all hope in starting the Whitbread only six weeks later. Magnus was supposed to join the project after the Fastnet and as things were, I was sure he would never turn up. I had started looking for work as a doctor again and felt out of energy for the project. But, before I left Falmouth, Magnus magically appeared at the dock, filled with his tremendous positive energy and that large familiar grin on his face. After taking a good look at the mess he exclaimed: "Guys, this is a great and interesting challenge. It looks pretty bad but I'm sure we can get her ready for the start." That in a nutshell was the man. Drum, of course made the start and Magnus went on to sail an additional five editions of the Whitbread, now Volvo Ocean Race.

I last saw him at the Legends Regatta prior to the start of the last VOR. It had been a while and a half million miles at sea had weathered his face, but his shock of blond hair had barely a trace of grey and that twinkle in his eye was as evident as ever. He gave me a bear hug, lifted me up and swung me around and then said; “Wow you’ve got a lot older.” He was right. We all have. I am grateful to have known Magnus back when sailing was an adventure and the world was flat. He will be sorely missed. They broke the mold when he was born. Sail on my friend.

Here is a great tribute video done by his friends at Volvo Ocean Race

It's an addiction no doubt about it

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Vlad Murnikov designed Fazisi - a wet boat making life below interesting

Have you ever wondered why some sailors get addicted to difficult and dangerous situations? Take for example sailors that have participated in a number of Volvo Ocean Races. There comes a time in every sailors lap of the planet when it’s so cold, so wet and so dangerous that they make a vow, either to themselves or publicly, that they will never, ever, ever under any circumstances ever do another Volvo Ocean Race FOR AS LONG AS THEY LIVE….. Yet, three years later these same, seemingly sane people are the first in line to sign up for another race.

I have done my fair share of making similar declarations. I remember in ’89 racing Drum through the Southern Ocean in an area where the Pilot Charts predicted a 90% likelihood of westerlies while we had been enjoying easterlies, as in headwinds, for ten straight days. To make it worse they were galeforce headwinds blowing cold and hard directly off Antarctica. Below decks was a wet, soggy mess as water sluiced down the companionway each time there was a sail change. The bilge water sloshed up the sides of the hull and reeked of a combination of diesel, slopped food and the sloughed off skin of 16 unwashed men. I think we all, at one time or another, vowed to never come back. NEVER EVER….! Three years later I was back heading merrily out of the English Channel, bound for cold waters.

 

Trying to stay warm and dry - aboard Drum in the Southern Ocean

The other night I was watching author Sebastian Junger on TV.  It was Junger who rose to fame after his book “The Perfect Storm” became a global bestseller. Junger’s beat has since moved from Grand Banks fishermen to war zones, a place where misery abounds and the soldiers live and survive under the most horrendous circumstances. Yet, as Junger eloquently pointed out, they all long for home ‘till they get home and then they can’t wait to return to the war. Notwithstanding the fact that there are no bullets flying past your ear in the Southern Ocean, the similarities are striking. Perhaps Winston Churchill said it best when he declared, “nothing is more exhilarating than being shot at without result.”

There is an addiction to that kind of lifestyle and it’s there on various levels. First there is the addiction to adrenalin, pure adrenalin shot straight into the bloodstream. That alone is enough to have you longing for more of the same. There are other aspects to it as well. There is the camaraderie, the bond that forms between people who have faced adversity and overcome. There is a common sense of purpose, a defined goal, a single objective. Most people flounder through life never experiencing the thrill and single-mindedness that comes with having a defined purpose. Read Steve Jobs’ biography and you are left in no doubt as to what drove him. It was the thrill that came with having a purpose.

For me personally, the reason I returned to do more around-the-world races was a combination of all of the above, but there was one thing extra. There is a purity and simplicity to life at sea. You are far away from the traffic and jams of daily existence. No outside clutter, just a sense of purpose, a challenge, a common goal, good exercise, decent food and the company of some good mates. It usually takes about ten days before those pervasive advertising jingles clear out of my head replacing the space with a sense of calm and good feeling. It’s no wonder sailors – and soldiers – find the lifestyle addicting. Or maybe, just maybe, all of this pontificating is just nonsense and we keep returning to dangerous places because the thought of getting a real job is more than we can deal with.

Fancy setting a new sailing record?

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Sailing aboard my Open 50 Great Cirlce

The longest single-handed passage I have done was transatlantic aboard my own boat, an Open 50 named Great Circle. It was not a long passage and I took the southern route from Europe to the US meaning that I had the wind at my back most of the way. Still, it gave me a perspective on what it means to be a solo sailor and I can attest that it’s a challenge. This is likely the reason that less than 200 people have completed a solo, nonstop circumnavigation. Contrast this with 530 people who have flown in outer space close to 2,000 who have summited Mt Everest and you can see that it’s a fairly exclusive club.

Lt Commander Abilhash Tomy

In fact the official number of solo, non-stop circumnavigations stands at 199 and is about to increase in the next month as two intrepid sailors close the loop on their circumnavigations. Lt Commander Abilhash Tomy of the Indian navy is set to return to Mumbai around the beginning of April after a lap of the planet that included rounding Cape Horn on January 26. Assuming he will be successful he will be the first Indian ever to complete such a voyage.

An ocean away to the west Chinese sailor Guo Chuan is in the South China Sea with just over 1,800 nautical miles to go to his finish in Qingdao. At his current speed he too should arrive around April 1 and if successful he will become the first Chinese person to complete a solo, nonstop circumnavigation.

Guo Chuan

These days it’s getting harder and harder to do something that has not already been done by someone else and sailing is no exception. What can I do that has not already been done?  Plenty I guess so long as I devote the rest of my life to achieving it which, by the way, I am not prepared to do, but some people are and their guts and determination is to be admired.

In the late 70’s I met an Australian who was competing in the same race as I was; the 13,000 mile Parmelia Race from England to Western Australia. Jon Sander was relatively unknown but soon after finishing the race he set off in pursuit of some sailing records. In 1981/82 he did a double solo circumnavigation; two laps of the planet without stopping. At the time he set a record of the longest distance ever sailed continuously by any yacht (48,510 miles) and the longest period alone at sea - 419 days, 22 hours and 10 minutes.

One would have thought that Sanders would be content with his achievements but four years later he set out again this time in pursuit of a new record; three solo, nonstop circumnavigations. Just under 659 days later he returned to Western Australia having accomplished his goal. It’s a remarkable feat even more so considering that his boat was just 47 feet long.

It would be a fair question to ask what all these records and accomplishments mean and I am perhaps not the best to answer it. I do, however, think that we as a human race need those among us who are willing to give it their all to push the boundaries and overcome our limitations. When Robin (now Sir Robin) Knox Johnston became the first person ever to sail around the world without stopping back in 1969 the world marveled at his ability to endure against such odds. Seventeen short years later and the bar had been raised to three nonstop circumnavigations.

Lt Commander Abilhash Tomy and Guo Chuan are perhaps lucky to come from cultures with little modern day sailing history allowing them to become the first from their respective nations to complete the voyage, but that should not diminish their accomplishments. It’s a mammoth task to conceive, plan and execute a trip that goes such a distance and lasts for many months knowing that along the way there will be a myriad unexpected challenges in additon to the storms and unpredictable weather. So let's salute all those brave men and women who are prepared to take up the challenge and set off in pursuit of new records. Our world is richer for your willingness to push the boundaries.