Getting Bigger

by John Curnow on 5 Dec 2016 Not all that long ago, 40 feet was a big vessel. Then it was 50. Now 60, or thereabouts, has a certain ring to it. That is a lot of craft, and it is not just monohulls doing it. The cats have been steadily pressing 150% on the photocopier too. Their already voluminous spaces are becoming more art gallery by the moment.

In those days, a boat of such proportions had gear that was commensurate with its mass, which really meant that you had to have crew not only handle the boat itself, but also the sails, anchoring, tenders and the like. If your intention was to go two-up for your grand voyage of exploration, then having extra souls on board, just to get around, was not part of the plan.
No. You wanted extra space, so that when you had guests or family, everyone could relax and have a place to call their very own. Taking up that additional space for crew accommodation was a bit of an oxymoron.

Yet it was not to be all negative. LWL meant pace was on offer, and if you’re about making passage between locations, rather than just the journey counting in the end, then it was to be a double boon. Doing 9-14 knots is way better than 5-8 under that criterion. Doing more than 15 is fun, but spray starts to invade everything, and you cannot rely on FRED, or whatever acronym you give your autopilot, to be always up to the task. That means hand steering, and weren’t we meant to be relaxing?

So what then was the one thing that offered this newfound increase in physical presence on the world’s waterways? It was technology. In all it’s myriad of forms too. Think about it for a second. LEDs are brighter, have lower power draw, last longer and are more durable than incandescent globes. An utterly brilliant achievement all on their own.

Yet it is when things like that are combined with new battery materials and light, flexible solar panels that it becomes totally awesome. During the day you watch one gauge go up and up, then at night, you watch another move slowly, slowly down and you’re running the radio, chartplotter, lights and fridge! If you were plugged in at the quay you’d be asking for a rebate on your berthing fees equivalent to what you were putting back into the local grid.

Then there is the standing and running rigging. A carbon spar means a bigger stick for light air performance, and also has less weight upstairs and less interference with righting moment. Powered winches and furlers take care of sails that have terms like tape drive and taffeta, in a way that needs the adjective, aplomb.

The vessels themselves are designed by renowned Naval Architects, under the rules of computational fluid dynamics, and constructed more and more in vac-bagging processes in CNC milled moulds. Interiors are created by design studios and have both presence and comfort, along with great use of space and innovative ways to store things or be used in for multiple purposes.

Much like a home, you literally drive the tender into the garage and then when you need it again, back out. No need to rig a kite pole and hoist it back onto the foredeck. Those days are gone. Also like a home there are electronics in the form of pop up TVs, sliding windows or companionway hatches, and then Nav Desks where you can run both your ship and your company with ease.

In the multis you have things like Outreymer, Gunboat and Tan. In the monos there are the soon to be with us Bavaria C57, Beneteau 62 Yacht and things like the Dufour 56 Exclusive that was launched at Cannes in September. Now the cats have gone for the wave piercing (or Dreadnought) bows with fuller sections in the first third to increase buoyancy.

The monos have plumb bows, beamy tails and distinct chines, so that knuckle to transom offers the greatest possible sailing waterline, whilst having the smallest possible wetted surface area. Safety and comfort are also enhanced in this way, thanks to the inherent form stability. Apart from looking powerful, this new crop is also aesthetically pleasing, and as part of the continual racing/cruising two-way crossover of technology, they all have integrated bowsprits with bobstays. It really is enough to make you say, bigger is better.

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