Feast your eyes on these sailing superyacht concepts. The future looks far-out, and it just might have sails, finds Sam FortescueFor decades the superyacht world has undeniably been dominated by vast, fuel-guzzling motor boats. And, despite the elaborate marketing spiel of their designers and builders, many of them look remarkably similar from the outside: there\u2019s a pointy end, a wedding cake in the middle, and pool and beach club at the back.
\nRefreshing, then, to see that many superyacht designers have neither given up on sail, nor on experimenting with form and function. When we spoke to some of the best-known names in yacht design, we received a very enthusiastic response.
\nFirst up, get ready to see a lot more catamaran designs. \u201cMultihulls are the future of yachting concepts, simply because of sustainability,\u201d says Espen Oeino, f\u00eated designer of yachts such as 182m\/600ft REV and 136m\/446ft Flying Fox.
\nPhoenicia has an articulated helipad that deploys once the curved boom is raised up against the aft mast
\n\u201cTo make something sustainable, you have to look at what you can do to reduce resistance and therefore power requirements. There the length-to-beam ratio is very important because slender hulls have a much better angle of entry at the bow, displacing water more efficiently.\u201d
\nFollowing this logic, the first of his new 35m\/115ft SpaceCat design is nearing completion in China, offering 300m2 of interior space and nearly 600m2 on deck \u2013 all balanced on lightweight, low-resistance aluminium hulls.
\n\u201cPeople\u2019s concept of what is beautiful is changing but it will need a bit of time,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere\u2019s an automotive parallel \u2013 it was the same thing with the first SUVs. In the end, though, a cat gives you a much better platform for coming up with interesting layouts.\u201d
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\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy these extreme multihull concepts could be the future of catamaran design<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs boats become ever more like homes on water, something else is changing: designers and builders have been turning their\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tVideo: See inside 9 of the most amazing modern sailing superyachts<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1. Aquarius The brief for Aquarius included that she should be, \u2018an elegant, muscular sailing yacht with a classic profile\u2026<\/p>\n
British designer Andrew Winch agrees on the point about sustainability. \u201cThe main focus of future sailing yachts will be minimising their environmental footprint to zero, to leave no negativity on the planet whatsoever,\u201d he tells me. \u201cThe faster and lighter construction of catamarans and multihulls is a huge benefit to the integration of hybrid and electric propulsion, something that will continue to see extended growth for the foreseeable future.\u201d
\nThe right image
\nMany designers believe the green agenda will ultimately bring wealthy owners back to sailing yachts. French designer Mathis R\u00fchl puts it like this: \u201cIn a world more and more threatened by climate change, debauchery and energy waste is negatively perceived. Wealthy people who care about their image and their impact have to deal with this paradox: how to enjoy the luxuriousness of the world without destroying it. Burning petrol must be avoided when the wind can be used!\u201d
\nHe also sees great advantages to the slim hulls of a catamaran or trimaran. It led him to design a 70m\/230ft yacht with a radical semicircular superstructure balanced across three hulls. A 20m beam gives Wave Motion plenty of living space, including a sky deck and open deck space.
\nMathis R\u00fchl\u2019s striking-looking Wave Motion trimaran features his own design of WM2 wing-sail
\nPerhaps most strikingly, he would power the boat with a 20m\/65ft dual wing-sail of his own devising, called the WM2. He has compared rig types including traditional flexible sails and the odd-looking Flettner Rotor for drag and efficiency and concluded that his design is the best performer upwind. R\u00fchl reports that it is more than three times more efficient than a standard non-rigid sail.
\nA number of concept boats have looked in detail at the rig and concluded that the best option is one that\u2019s already available. The Falcon or DynaRig is only really suitable for yachts over 60m\/200ft, but its ease of handling makes it exceedingly attractive. Just one person is able to set sail, reef, tack or furl the sails thanks to the modular design, which breaks huge sail areas down into smaller chunks, and total computerisation of the unstayed rig. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to start and stop,\u201d explains Dykstra\u2019s Thys Nikkels. \u201cThe percentage of time that you sail is much higher with this rig.\u201d
\nPhilippe Briand chose it for his mould-breaking 152m\/499ft trireme design, originally penned for a Russian client. So did Bill Dixon for his 70m\/230ft New Dawn. \u201cUnlike a conventional rig which requires a small army of crew, this vessel can be commanded and operated single-handedly,\u201d Dixon says. \u201cThe twin rigs offer a healthy sail area to displacement ratio and will assure an exhilarating sailing experience.\u201d
\nBill Dixon\u2019s New Dawn combines the features of a motoryacht with sailboat performance
\nNew Dawn is billed as a game changer, and not just because of her regeneration potential of 75kW under sail, 60m2 of solar panels, ballasted centreboard and ability to motor at 9 knots under purely electric power. Dixon says the real novelty is to combine motoryacht features with sailboat performance.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s clear that customers expect the comforts and space planning of motoryachts,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey want ample entertainment spaces, a pool and large tenders. We have created this design on this premise rather from a traditional sailing yacht design approach. This does not mean she is not an efficient sailing yacht, in that department there is no compromise. This is a project that appeases the environmental consciousness of a potential owner.\u201d
\nRoman galley roots
\nBriand\u2019s design is on another scale altogether. A key plank in the client\u2019s brief was to ensure there was a vast central gallery whose volume exceeded that of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles \u2013 something he has achieved with room to spare. An astonishing 725m2 of glass and openings surround the gallery, while no fewer than three owner\u2019s suites offer the choice between 180\u00b0 views from the glass bow; the full 20m beam amidships; or an aft suite perched 14m above the water.
\nThe brief for Philippe Briand\u2019s trireme-inspired superyacht was to have a vast central gallery bigger than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
\nLower deck beach clubs amount to more than 750m2 of real estate, plus room for pools, a helipad and more. Echoing the design of the Roman galley which inspired it, the yacht features dozens of hydraulically-operated \u2018oars\u2019 amidships, designed to move in time to the music on board.
\n\u201cIt is possible to imagine very different boats tomorrow,\u201d Briand explains. \u201cI foresee that boats will evolve towards even more efficiency, for sustainability\u2019s sake. Also hybrid boats. We will assemble different energy sources, and wind energy should be the first. Wind by sails, motor by engines today. Tomorrow it will be motor by electric or by hydrogen.\u201d
\nInterestingly, another designer has also drawn inspiration from the galley. Igor Lobanov\u2019s design is called Phoenicia and features the same reverse bow, sloping down to a rostrum-like point at the waterline; it also picks up the motif of the raised \u2018bowsprit\u2019 and \u2018bumpkin\u2019 and recreates the effect of two decks of oars by aiming 33 \u2018laser lights\u2019 into the water at night.
\nPronounced reverse bow and exaggerated \u2018bowsprit\u2019 give an unmistakably trireme look to Phoenicia
\nHer four masts drop down through a great glass-walled gallery that dominates the main deck. She also employs something akin to a traditional staysail rig, complete with gigantic fishermen sails. Used by schooners and ketches, these sails resemble inverted jibs strung between the masts.
\nDespite the veneer of antiquity, both yachts feature ample shell doors to enlarge deck and living spaces. Phoenicia even has an articulated helipad, which unfolds from the roof of the raised owner\u2019s suite when the curved boom is pinned up to the mast.
\nThis is designed, \u201cwith the intention of creating the feel of \u2018a house on the cliff\u2019, with a balcony and panoramic windows that surround the space, leaving the views completely open to the vast open sea,\u201d Lobanov explains.
\nHe thinks the yachts of the future will be more automatic. \u201cProbably there will be less crew on board, which may have a trickle-down effect on all the spaces, including water and food storage.\u201d
\nA key design concept in Phoenicia is the long gallery with its all-round glass walls. Special Venetian blinds allow a game of light and shadows to create an arresting pattern inside
\nInspired by nature
\nEven now, most yachts \u2013 whether sail or motor \u2013 are built using a linear arrangement of ribs, stringers, beams and plates, with the result that the space inside is often divided up into regular-shaped boxes. Some designers find this strange. \u201cIt\u2019s not a hotel!\u201d exclaims Ken Freivokh. \u201cWe\u2019re very retrograde in terms of the structure. The bigger [yachts] get, the more they rely on one of post and beam: just columns and beams, like buildings were built.\u201d
\nFreivokh, whose projects include everything from production sailing boats to the much-praised 107m Black Pearl, is desperate to get more organic forms and creative design into superyacht building. Taking an example from nature, he thinks that yachts could rely on the strength of a kind of \u2018exoskeleton\u2019, which would free up the interior to create more curved and open spaces without littering them with columns. Couple that with the emergence of structural glass, and you have a blueprint for a very different type of yacht.
\nBut the problem is not just due to conservative shipyards and cautious classification bodies, according to Freivokh. Part of it is the owners themselves.
\n\u201cIt is quite typical that most owners when they\u2019re briefing you make reference to existing projects,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you ask an owner \u2018why do you need a saloon on each deck? Why don\u2019t you have a single saloon with double heights, and totally unique?\u2019 Then the shipyard says how much they love the plans, but if we just did it like this\u2026 In the end, they point out it is \u00a32m cheaper to use an existing technical platform, and that\u2019s hard to resist.\u201d
\nBriand says that every one of his superyacht clients starts from an existing yacht, not a blank piece of paper. \u201cSometimes those boats have been designed ten years ago,\u201d he says. \u201cOf course, this is not very positive for pushing us towards new technology. You have to make a long and difficult speech in order to convince them that progress in terms of technology is possible.\u201d
\nDykstra\u2019s Exo concept borrows the idea of exoskeletons from nature to create wide open space below decks
\nDutch J-Class maestros Dykstra published an ambitious design a few years back which made use of another exoskeleton design in a 46m\/150ft concept called Exo. Produced as a collaboration with Claydon Reeves, it takes the root structures of a tree as its inspiration.
\n\u201cNot only does the long vertical trunk represent the mast, but the root ball forms the hull, providing strength and the support for the vertical structure,\u201d explains James Claydon. \u201cWe also considered the skeletal structure of small but strong creatures. In nature it is the exoskeleton, which provides the \u2018chassis\u2019 for these organisms.
\n\u201cThese exoskeletons do not employ straight lines but instead have twisting and turning curves which imbue the creature with optimal strength \u2013 their forms defined by millions of years of evolution. By setting aside some of the established thinking of past projects, we strived for a new aesthetic that was both attractive and buildable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exo\u2019s composite lattice enabled the interior to be completely opened up, with curved glass panels amidships to create a unique sensation of sitting on the waves. I asked Dykstra\u2019s Thys Nikkels why he thought the concept wasn\u2019t picked up, despite a positive reaction at the Monaco Yacht Show.
\n\u201cMaybe we haven\u2019t pushed the concept hard enough,\u201d he shrugs. \u201cIt\u2019s probably a piece of art in itself. That opened our eyes to what is possible in structures. I think the owners are ready for it, but are we as a market ready for it in a way the owner can contemplate it: ie cost?\u201d
\nSquares and polygons
\nThere is another design school which prefers brutally straight lines. Aspiring yacht designer George Lucian has garnered more column inches than many veterans with a series of increasingly radical designs, none of which have yet been built. The aptly named Origami is a sailing boat that is entirely composed of triangular and trapezoid shapes connected with hard angles, like the folds in a piece of paper.
\nFolded paper is the inspiration for George Lucian\u2019s Origami
\nThis is a concept, so there is no attempt to work out how this craft would actually function, but it involves acres of glass and huge fold-out wings to offer a helipad close to water level. \u201cI think the necessary technology and materials already exist, but all my projects would be very challenging to build, that is for sure,\u201d he admits. \u201cI really think that if one is going to put so much money into a project, it has to be recognisable, different, iconic.\u201d
\nMore recently, Lucian published a design for a motoryacht partly resembling a jumble of ice blocks, and making use of a kite to assist propulsion. Another headline-grabber put a 100m\/330ft airship at the heart of the design for a yacht shaped like a wedge, her lines angling out of the sea like arrows.
\nBeiderbeck designs in Germany has put more intense studies into its design for a gigantic 200m+\/660ft+ catamaran, named Galileo2. Capable of berthing an 80m\/260ft yacht alongside her beach club, the boxy cat includes a host of innovative features such as marine thermal energy generation, which exploits the lower temperatures far below the surface of the sea, and methanol propulsion.
\nGalileo2 is so large that it would have to be built in parts and assembled afloat. It has a 500m2 swimming pool, can carry 25 tenders, toys or submarines and can still do 22 knots
\n\u201cThis was a study to figure out what was possible; to figure out the step ahead of the next one,\u201d says partner Immo L\u00fcdeling. \u201cIt is a catamaran in a size that isn\u2019t built yet; its own shadow vessel.\u201d
\nGalileo2 is buildable now, but there were still unexpected design challenges. \u201cJust the routes to walk get quite long \u2013 from the beach club up to the upper-deck saloon, for instance. Galileo2 has lifts to the bathing platforms.\u201d
\nThe bridge was another problem area on a boat with an 80m\/260ft beam. \u201cOur bridge can fly from one side to another, like on a very large crane where you have the crane house moving from one side to the other.\u201d The boat is already sparking interest, including a serious enquiry about a smaller 120m\/394ft version. \u201cIt\u2019s half the size of Galileo2, but that means eight times less space.\u201d
\nAnother of Lucian\u2019s concepts involving trapezoid shapes
\nLimited only by imagination
\nElectric propulsion is one of the great hopes of the yachting world, but the question is how to get the power on board. In principle, methanol offers carbon-free electricity, although it is usually manufactured using fossil fuels. Stellar Dutch design house Sinot made waves last year when it published a design for 112m\/368ft Aqua, using the technology.
\nAndrew Winch, designer of monster yachts like 156m\/512ft Dilbar and 99m\/325ft Madame Gu, has taken a different approach in work with Royal Huisman for a super-efficient 30.5m\/100ft sailing monohull, where he favours using renewable energy. \u201cThe widened stern deck allows for increased underdeck storage in the stern-wings, allowing for the placement of fan-extending solar panels,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe concept also has twin rudders and a canting keel for maximum efficiency, as well as twin electrical propulsion that can be used for the regeneration of power at anchor or while sailing.\u201d
\nThere are as many different concepts as there are designers, and while they all have their own take on the yachts of the future, they agree on one point. It will take daring owners to push the boundaries and help these concepts off the drawing board and into the water. Or, as Andrew Winch puts it: \u201cThe only limitation is the imagination of the client.\u201d
\nFirst published in the October 2020 issue of Yachting World.
\nThe post These extreme sailing superyacht concepts prove that the sky\u2019s the limit appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Feast your eyes on these sailing superyacht concepts. The future looks far-out, and it just might have sails, finds Sam FortescueFor decades the superyacht world has undeniably been dominated by vast, fuel-guzzling motor boats. And, despite the elaborate marketing spiel … <\/p>\n