[JimMcGee]

Here are two interesting new designs.

The first is actually being built. It's fair to say they'll be out of the price range for most of us.

How many of the ideas here could trickle down in some form to production boats over the next ten years?

Love them or hate them, Beneteau changed things up quite a bit with the Sense models and you'll see some of those ideas show up in other manufacturers boats. And those ideas began on mega yachts.

.

 

[JimMcGee]

The £10 million Fresnel Hydrofoil Trimaran features retractable sails made from Carbon Fiber and Kevlar. The sail rotates around the mast and has a series of motorised creases to catch the wind.

Energy is collected by the solar panels on the wing sail, with a combination of fresnel lens and holographic film clad on the outrigger, projecting more of the sun's rays onto the panels.

The boat will have retractable hydrofoils that lift the boat out of the water at speed allowing it to reach 40 knots.

This boat is being built. Construction starts this month.

Plans for energy efficient yacht revealed - YBW

Fresnel Hydrofoil Trimaran TRIMARAN yacht comes with solar panels | Daily Mail Online

 

[JimMcGee]

The second boat is a concept boat names SALT from designer Lujac Desautel. It's a 180 foot boat with a glass cabin and fold down topsides.

Stunning glass yacht concept connects sailors with the sea - YBW

 

[tdw]

Don't know about you Jim but I don't see either of them in my future.

 

[Markwesti]

I was gonna make a sarcastic post to this , but I've already been banned twice .

 

[capta]

Is ugly a prerequisite for new designs?
Old Nat and Phil Rhodes must be turning over in their graves, to puke!

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

The drop down topside are getting quite common in super yachts where the side is hard. A bit more difficult where the side is 3 wire lines. It adds lots of space utilizing previously unused vertical wall.

Sailing boats have it as they get bigger with an aft lazarette door/swim platform.


I love innovation. What is just for the rich this year is for everyone next year.

 

[PaulinVictoria]

The trimaran is quite stunning I think, I love it, looks like something off the cover of a 1970s sci-fi novel. The other thing, ummm, no thanks, ugly on a scale of that monstrosity that Jobs had built.

 

[dylanwinter1]

no

 

[capecodda]

Two interesting ideas:

1. Solar panels built into sails.

2. Combining a super yacht and a pop out camper.

But man, the esthetics just don't work for me and the complexity of these proposals is off the charts. Better sail with an engineering staff, machine shop, computer programmer, rigger, and a guy who knows how to keep water out of moving topsides. How many motors are in that sail to make it do it's thing, and how do you open the topsides and keep it structurally sound and water tight. On the other hand, at these prices maybe that's not an issue.

Glad it's not my money, but also happy someone's wiling to push the envelope, something might trickle down

 

[JimMcGee]

Honestly I don't care for the aesthetics in either design, and it's a good bet these boats are priced higher than most of our budgets.

But ideas do trickle down from these yachts. Fold down transoms would have seemed exotic on a cruising boat 10 years ago, today they're common. The Beneteau Sense models feature toys like motorized televisions that rise out of a table. Catalina has "spa style" heads in mid-30 footers.

I happened to see both of these articles on the same day and it started me thinking.

Will prices on high tech carbon sails drop to where they are affordable?

Could flexible solar panels incorporated into sails become common?

The idea of a fresnel lens to concentrate solar energy and make solar panels more efficient - that's interesting.​

No matter how you feel about these boats aesthetically if you read the articles there are some cool ideas. So what do you think might trickle down to production boats?

 

[JonEisberg]

The Beneteau Sense models feature toys like motorized televisions that rise out of a table.

Now, THAT sounds more like "The Future of Sailing", to me...

Seems to me that The Future of Sailing lies in advancements in mechanical propulsion, and advancements in electric power and stuff like fuel cells, more than anything else...

Could flexible solar panels incorporated into sails become common?

Hmmm, perhaps that might inspire people to sail more? "Honey, how about we unfurl the sails, to make sure we have plenty of juice to binge-watch HOUSE OF CARDS tonight?"

Given the issues I've had with delamination of high-tech sails like North 3DL Marathon, and the delamination problems with flexible solar panels installed on boats like the Lyman Morse NEW MORNING and the Gunboat 55 RAINMAKER, I think I'll pass on serving as an early adopter of the combining of those technologies...

 

[JimMcGee]

Seems to me that The Future of Sailing lies in advancements in mechanical propulsion, and advancements in electric power and stuff like fuel cells, more than anything else...

I think you're right. A friend of mine has been toying with the idea of pulling his diesel and replacing it with an electric drive for a couple of years. This winter he decided the technology was mature enough and took the plunge. All the parts arrived last week and his O'Day gets an electric drive this spring.

Now imagine solar/battery technology that could keep up with the demands of that drive allowing you to silently motor long distances when there's no wind...

Given the issues I've had with delamination of high-tech sails like North 3DL Marathon, and the delamination problems with flexible solar panels installed on boats like the Lyman Morse NEW MORNING and the Gunboat 55 RAINMAKER, I think I'll pass on serving as an early adopter of the combining of those technologies...

I'm not an early adopter. There are always bugs to be worked out of new technology. But it is interesting to think about where some of these ideas could take us in both performance and comfort.

 

[Dave_E]

There have been a couple different attempts to re-invent "wind powered" vessels with vertical windmills and fixed wings. Sails catching the wind has been around since the beginning... I think it's safe to assume they will be around for a long time to come. Some one draws a picture of the "Jetson's" car and all of sudden we're going to have flying cars within 50 years. Oh wait, we're past the 50 years.

 

[JonEisberg]

I'm not an early adopter. There are always bugs to be worked out of new technology. But it is interesting to think about where some of these ideas could take us in both performance and comfort.

I agree, it's certainly an interesting concept...

But one of the bigger hurdles to making such solar sails effective, would be to compensate for the very shallow angle they might often have to the sun... In my experience, solar panel performance is hugely dependent upon orienting the panel as close as perpendicular to the sun's rays as possible, and the reason why fixed panels without any articulation on boats are mounted horizontally... The generally vertical orientation of sails would seem problematic at precisely the times of day where solar power is usually most productive, and the more desirable angles would only be likely achieved later in the day, as the sun sets lower...

I can also foresee "Honey, how about we head for Hyannis today, instead of Nantucket? The angle of the sun is gonna be all wrong for the latter..."

 

[JimMcGee]

There have been a couple different attempts to re-invent "wind powered" vessels with vertical windmills and fixed wings. Sails catching the wind has been around since the beginning... I think it's safe to assume they will be around for a long time to come. Some one draws a picture of the "Jetson's" car and all of sudden we're going to have flying cars within 50 years. Oh wait, we're past the 50 years.

LOL, Dave the difference is they're actually building one of these designs.

Rather than a Jetson's car I see these more like a concept car from an autoshow, where individual ideas from the concept may find their way into production. I'm not suggesting either design is ideal, just that some of their ideas are interesting to think about.

 

[ccriders]

None of this stuff is going to make it to my boat, just like none of that America's Cup crap will be mine. But then my boat is 39 years old this month and the only additions I've made are a GPS (handheld), electric bilge pump, a holding tank and an am/fm stereo. Just keeping up with the rather robust original equipment seems to be a full time job. Can you imagine what it will take to keep one of these going for twenty, thirty years?
And on the second design. Look at all of that open space and nary a hand hold in sight. It just screams "flat water ten knots wind". Or maybe "Honey, let the crew take the boat home, we can take Lear."
I cannot even make out the hull configuration on the first design. Looks like one would be sailing in a plasma bubble with a truly giant sail. I guess if you don't sail when the wind is more than ten knots it just doesn't matter what you design/build.
I guess one begins to loose interest in future-rama at some point down the ages.
John