Marine design
The Wild South project started from discussions around creating a modern and practical displacement cruising launch: fast, safe, very comfortable, extremely economical and offering a long range without refuelling Experience shows that the main obstacles to cruising under power are typically comfort on board, especially under way, and fuel costs. We wanted to create a package that […]
Wild South 37 The Wild South 37 was designed and built as a concept boat for something that is quite radically different and superior to what the market has to offer. Over the years, a lot of considerations were discussed: larger and smaller vessels, same hull with a different look and appearance, different layouts… In […]
Habitability Visitors on board are always surprised to find all the main conveniences of a home readily available: good size cooking range, oven, refrigerator, freezer, warm shower, heating, an owner’s cabin with double bed, three single bunks… It is a small home on the water with fabulous sea views. The elevation retained for the windows makes […]
The sloop Nordkyn is a 13-metre (43′) round-bilge alloy yacht with a displacement of about 8600kg half-loaded in cruising trim. It features a fixed bulb keel with a draft of 2.35m (7′ 9”) and a single deep spade rudder. The alloy construction is very robust without being heavy and the deck is integral to the aluminium […]
The keel and rudder arrangement was also constrained by the intended use for the boat. In the Foveaux Strait and Stewart Island area, dealing with floats and lines on the surface is not uncommon, especially when picking up cod or crayfish pots. This prompted for extending the keel underneath the propeller and bridging the gap […]
The 13-metre alloy sloop Nordkyn is the outcome a personal design and build project. In short, I wanted a new ocean cruising and voyaging yacht suitable for the type of sailing illustrated by the voyage of the sloop Yarra. The project had a long gestation period and involved development far beyond what would have been […]
Hull shape is the largest contributor to success or failure in yacht design. Appendages can be replaced, rigs modified, but a bad hull is usually where the buck stops. It is just as true for motor vessels. The design of the Nordkyn hull was underpinned by two key objectives: exceptional seakeeping properties and excellent light […]
Seaworthiness Considerations The key design objectives for the project were seaworthiness, comfort and efficiency, i.e. low fuel consumption Seaworthiness encompasses good stability and flawless seakeeping. On a motor yacht, this relates to hull shape and – to a lesser extent – propulsion and steering arrangements. There are two primary contributors to vessel stability: hull shape […]
Sailing over 55,000NM in seven years on board the 9-metre sloop Yarra between the Arctic and the Antarctic resulted in a fair share of strong winds and rough seas at times. I managed to wear a set of hanks on my storm jib and pull my new #2 jib out of shape. Even so, wind […]
Transverse stability is the ability of a vessel to resist and recover from heeling over. It important in the sense that this is what prevents a vessel rolling over and capsizing. For sailing vessels, stability is also needed to develop power under sail other than downwind. Stability is a force moment, i.e. forces separated by […]