Sportboat! Why another one?

- From where inspiration comes from?

- I have been a long-time admirer of Ray Hunt Designs, be sailboats or powerboats. One is 110 Square/Foot Class, born with the desire to turn affordable racing with the speed and performance offered by more sophisticated and expensive models. Got me thinking of going out of the box of a 110 to come up with the Garage Rocket of similar length but oriented towards the Sport Boats of our era.

- So what is it, what to do?

Then, I got to think about 747, the David Raison Mini Transat with her Scow bow. I duplicated the design for R&D observing that at a sailing angle of heel, the hull presented a large increase in wetted surface compared to the more "normal" Mini Transat that I used to compare with. The wetted area is the main ingredient of friction at low speed before wave resistance takes over. Then, I realized that all this surface is actually an elongated waterline with a high aspect ratio and prismatic coefficient, therefore a more efficient hull shape. Furthermore, this form with the given displacement distributed over the length on a shallower midship section has the ability to create lift over the whole waterline.

                                                                                              

                                                                                      Fish View @ 20 deg. of heel.

Steel Boat 12 M. Launching.

                                              A 12M. (40') MBCC ( Modern British  Channel Cutter) built in Turkey.

The series name goes under "L' Oceane". She is part of a long line of MBCC's sailboats from 26' to 52'. They have been built in wood, aluminum and steel. Pure Offshore Boats they feature long waterline, absence of overhangs, plenty of beam, moderate draft and they are cutter rigged.

Chorus Demi-Coques.

- This is talent ! I had the nice surprise this morning to receive a canvas of a Two-Tonner I designed in 76 Scaramouch for Mr. Merle Hallett of Handy Boat Works in Maine.

IMOCA 60 Shape and America's Cup 2013

                                                   
- Ellison: "Sailing has been changed forever".
When sailing is more like flying, with such sophisticated machines, how are the technologies adaptable to more mundane venues?
America's Cup boats have a way to continuously improve elements of sailing, and even cruising. But, when we have all of sudden such a leap forward, where new boats; catamarans, wing sails, and foils are thrown into the mix, what is going to happen?
The obvious is that the benefits are going to go to cats and trimarans. But, what about regular sailboats? I will leave alone the articulated wing sail, they are not manageable, because of reefing problems, but I think there are possibilities in the foiling area.

Dick Carter. 1928-

- I could not believe it today. I went with my daughter to the crowd gathering at the New York Yacht Club to celebrate the many accomplishments of Ted Hood, the sailmaker, entrepreneur, and yacht designer.

- One is dead the other, Richard E. Carter is resurrected.

Newport Boat Show 2013.

View of the Newport Brokerage Boat Show at the Shipyard.
Few places in the world where you can see so many boats with very tall masts; all painted white.
I think the Sail and Power Boat Show was smaller this year, not too surprising, while the second hand market was full of very large sailboats for sale, not surprising either. Quite a display as a matter of fact and I had the pleasure to see again old Brokers friends pushing hard quality  merchandise.
I am not fond of Boat Shows for new boats; it is actually depressing. The present form of going on the water is more alike buying a condo, yes here and there you pick one idea or two, mostly from a construction detail which I like, but the rest is plastiky. It might  also be because I do not have boats in shows anymore, yes this must be it!
A little side story.
After a Newport Show, taking slowly the boat back to my mooring under power and reaching a point  half way in the harbor, my eyes caught something white bobbing around in the water. Approaching, I notice a mooring buoy with its pennant obviously separated from its supposed  location. Surprise, my number 722 displayed on the side. Now it is clear that given a few hours one way or the other this incident could have turned into a disaster. Luck, destiny, what?

Porto Cervo 2013.

 Ran, the Mini Maxi ran the clock with Rolex on this event. Photos by Dominique Tanton.

A little side story.

In 1973, yes you read well! Porto Cervo was the brand new resort created by Karin Agha Khan on the Northern tip of Sardinia. With a man who receives his weight in gold each year (a religious thing); Porto Cervo is to this day, the ultimate resort in the Med. That year the One Tonners gathered there for their World Championship. I delivered one of the Carter 43 to this amazing place to cover the event and serves as a base. Our own Ydra, a Carter One Ton was the boat to beat, having won the previous year. We know the story. Ydra won again, but a small boat Ganbare stole the show with a newer concept about designing boats to the relatively new I. O.R rule. That is not the part I want to write about.
Sailmakers have been influencial to direct potential clients to boat designers. They needed boats for their product. But, none did better at it than Lowell North of North Sails, a relatively small outfit at the time, soon to become the one Logo to have aboard. Here in Italy, rubbing shoulders with Ron Holland (with no boat there, but having just won the 1/4 Ton Cup) and Doug Peterson we could sense the wind of changes. Hood did too and certainly at Carter offshore. North Sails created the marketing momentum, to push customers for Doug, Ron, Dubois and others with talent, to deliver new boats with large inventory required to sail those I.O.R boats and in the process, establishing a new era with new blood.

Les petits Bateaux..

- qui vont sur l'eau.

- If the emphasis of TYD is to concentrate on the custom aspect of the boat design business, nevertheless there is also room to capitalize on dozens, maybe hundreds of boat plans that can be sold to amateurs, individuals, or companies.
Within the past few months, several of those "old " drawings have been purchased, amongst them:

- A steel 37' Pen-Gwyn in Texas.

-
A 33' Steel Green Peace in Canada.

- The drawing is about the Marconi rigged "Belle Ile" built-in Switzerland for a German owner.

- TYD#225 Wood to Turkey.

- TYD#229 Steel to Turkey.

              

                                                                         

- A 33' Steel Iletan to New-Zealand.

- I encourage you to inquire about purchasing plans at a very reasonable price; what I call "for food money". Heck!  some of the frames for my oil paintings cost more than a complete set of drawings. In other words, you are not paying for the drawings, but for a lifetime of consultancy coming with the Plans!

- Want to see more about the body of work? Drawings, pictures, renderings, etc. see:

boatdesign.net  50 pages (600 illustrations) at the Gallery. Click on Top Poster bottom right.

- Google and Bing. Yves-Marie Tanton. Images. (countless).

- On this Blog Search: The List.

- Do not hesitate to contact me for more information.

tantonyachts@aol.com
Just mention what you are looking for.



Fastnet Race 2013.

Source: sailingscutlebutt.com

- Open 60's rock the Fastnet Race. August 14, 2013. Hiding the big monohull finishers that arrived into Plymouth this morning, in the 611nm. Rolex Fastnet Race, the closest was between the top Imoca 60s Vendee Globe winners Francois Gabart and Michel Desjoyeaux on the former's Macif nipping her sistership Maitre Coq by just 57 seconds. Most impressively the 60s beat the leading Mini Maxis, Bella Mente, and Rana, as well as two VO70".

- Photo: Dominique Tanton. Bella Mente
- Rendering: Yves-Marie Tanton

Mud Bug.

Well, I received this invitation in the mail. By reading it, I assume (always a bad idea). that the invite is extended to everybody! Oh well, here it is. Who is in trouble?

 

Tanton Offshore Yachts, T.O.Y. The concept; the project.

= I am at it again! If you have followed the Cat-Ketch rambling below, you know that I had in mind to revisit the concept. Adding and subtracting elements to present an updated versatile version of this animal. Nobody called on this one. So why?

= When conventionally rigged sailboats are considered superior and when the cutter or sloop are the mainstays in the industry. A designer can argue all day long on this or that, but certainly, the client has ideas about aesthetics, appearance and taste when considering buying a boat. Or is he simply following the followers?

- Despite the reputation gained by designing quite a few selves standing rigs, the basis for the office work is far wider than simply relying on the design and construction of such boats. But I am trying to constitute syntheses about what has been learned over the years in a package brought up to date and hopefully with the construction of a prototype for a production run.

- The first consideration is to define the function of the boat. The environment is dictated by the dual purpose of offshore sailing and life-aboard. Those notions will dictate the interior design while the above deck is dedicated to sailing. Furthermore, performance under power has to show good speed. The design is voluntarily limited by characteristics inherited by experience and therefore I have decided upon the following parameters.
L.O.A 40'; draft 5'-0"; Rig: Cat-ketch. Accommodation cruising comfort for four. Headroom 6'4".

- Protection and safety a must. L.O.A to 12M. to be on the safe side of regulations limiting the length of a vessel to a certain category. It is always tempting to add to size but, I am forcing the issue here. Also in view of the larger 45 and 43's with the 37 somewhere, I think I'll try 40'. For the really Big Boat, I'll wait until someone comes with the Big Money.

- Of course, by limiting the length on deck, I have to maximize the length of the waterline. With the current, and also very old fashion of designing plumb stem and stern, the result is pretty straight forward and I end up with a D.W.L of 38.5'. This is the starting point for what I have in mind, with the always present gnawing need to constantly think about gravity, volume, square footage, stability and comfort, and safety; the whole scenario "a la" M.G.M.
- Length is followed by canoe body depth and overall beam. When it comes to the Midship Section, with a keel draft limited to 60", I restrain myself to go over 24" below the waterline for a proper hull deadrise. This in order for the fin keel to work as efficiently as possible with what is given. Past the length issue, the beam is where more room, inside and outside can be had. Therefore, going with a tolerable length/beam ratio of 2.5 at the deck level, I streamline the hips at the waterline.

= Recent commission prevents me from spending time on this project so: to be continued...

On the Blog, see also: Swing keel, centerboard.

Cat-Ketch if you can.

Tanton 43 Amelia. https://youtu.be/EzloxgfwEEI

TYD#875. America's Cup Project. 1987.

Ted Hood 1928-2013

I have known Ted Hood since 1966, when I first met him at the London Boat Show. Further then on the race course in Denmark where competing in the One Ton Cup. Being involved with 12 Metre boats, it was hard not to be aware of the hegemony of Hood sails over everything and anyone else canvas. Still later on at Carter Offshore, we had a Canada's Cup boat who was beaten by Dynamite. Of course his strings of Robin were always in competition and racing a lot myself I have been  around many of them. My own Marrakesh Express one ton design was equipped with his mast and sails. So was Circus Maximus.
I recently saw Ted in a very different circumstance. Visiting someone at the local clinic about six months ago, this person mentioned that Mr. Ted Hood was hospitalized in the next room. So I went to visit. The gentleman was laying down in bed wearing his blue blazer, quite thinner that I could remember, he was peacefully reading a newspaper. After presenting myself, he recognized me after a moment and a short discussion ensued. I asked what he was in for not thinking for the worse, his simple answer was:" I don't know".
He was the giant in the pleasure boat industry, touching so many venues with unprecedented success. Sail, making, mast making, deck gear, yacht construction, yacht sales and of course yacht design.

A little side story.

Back in 1979, I was building with Don Schiavone a bunch of boats, including a 54' sailboat literally designed around a wheel chair for the paraplegic owner. I used to travel early in the morning from my office at Newport to what is now the complex of N.E.B and Hinckley/ ex Hood's Little Harbor. At the time, there were only run down WW11 vintage Quonset huts and empty fields. Bend boat basin was located where NEB is now and we were building the boats next to what is the present Melville Grill. So, was is not my surprise that by a miserable very early morning in November with wind, drizzle and cold and barely enough light for visibility, I could see in the middle of the field someone that I believe is Ted Hood junior; the son. I stopped the car at some distance to observe and wondering what would someone be doing at this time of the day, trampling the grass under the rain, in the middle of nowhere.

Well it took another ten years or so before Little Harbor moved from Marblehead to Portsmouth RI.

Was Ted Jr. looking so far ahead for his Dad? I never approached the subject with him, but maybe someday I will.

North West Passage; the Film.

                                                                              Other Side of the Ice. June 28.
- The Story; 8500-miles journey through the  treacherous North-West Passage by Sprague Theobald.

- New England premiere, shown at the Newport Jane Pickens Theater this coming Friday.
From Newport to Seattle over the Arctic Circle. Adventure, drama and beautiful footage from the deck of the 57' Nordhavn Began.
http://janepickens.com

- The evening was a success; full house. Very proud father of Chauncey and Dominique Tanton.

I found myself smiling for one hour and fifteen minutes. Good feeling.

- Read the book "The Other Side of the Ice" available at http://amazon.com

 and all bookstores etc.

Class 40, Atlantic Cup 2013 Newport

Atlantic Cup. After Inshore races at Newport.

40 Degrees Owen Clarke Design.

Bodacious Dream. Farr Yacht Design.

Dragon.  Owen Clarke Design.

Gryphon Solo.  Marc Lombard.

Icarus. Rodger Martin Yacht Design.

Lecoq Cuisine. Guillaume Verdier.

Pleiad Racing. Marc Lombard.

                        
                   When are we going to see a ScowTa?

- With the success in the last Mini Transat of the scow bowed 777, I am wondering if the same approach could be adapted for the 40 Class.

- Last year, for the purpose of assessing the possibilities, I reverse-engineered David Raison's Mini to explore what he was doing?

- The rules for 2013 have been changed to avoid the adoption of the Mini's bow to the class 40, by the control of a maximum width of 450mm. at deck level located 200mm. aft of the stem. By dropping the width almost down to the waterline the volume is redistributed in a different way and this is the Class 40 version with the killer whale bow I am coming up with.

My Fleet of Class40. Of which 2, are either in the construction stage or still on the drawing board for clients.

Spring-Newport-Boats

Most people do not realize that just about every boats in the North East are out of the water during the winter season. May first arrives and the moorings have been serviced, taxes paid and ready to go. The ritual of getting the boats in and out is a serious business with a captive audience to please.
Then there is the arrival of the ones that have spent the winter down South, be Florida or down the Islands. They start to migrate back after the last hurray of the racing scene at Antigua.
I took the photo yesterday and the Newport Shipyard has already quite a few boats to be seen.

Belle Ile 10M. Cruising Boat.

Once in a while, I have a good surprise to receive photos and now often videos about boats I have designed, some a long time ago. This is the case of "Belle Ile", this nostalgic "Colin Archer" built with steel with the twist of having twin keels limiting the draft to 4'-3".

 

As a coincidence, I just sold a set of plans of this seaboat, the 34th. to Canada. I wrote in a previous article about Belle Ile, that in times of trouble people are again attracted to simple, solid, safe, and not so slow type of escape machine.

PalmaVela 2013

Bella Mente Ran the Show.

                                       

 Last pictures after the final race. Hap Fauth with Ran's owner-driver Niklas Zennstrom. Bella Mente won the event.                                                                                           Photos by Dominique Tanton.

Antigua Race Week 2013

         John Raby and Don Ritter Circus Maximus 67' in 1978.



Well I missed again one of the best organized sailing event in the world; Antigua Race Week is a lot of fun and actually quite different from the other venues of St. Barth and St. Martin. I guess it has to do with the Island being more "British" with the Admiral Nelson's legacy hovering the docks and Shirley's Heights. I raced there a few times on different boats

John Tuttle and the 57' U.L.D.B Desperado.

We had Tee shirts reading " The 25 Knots Club". At he time it was seldom to see boats making that kind of speed, especially for boats designed under the I.O.R rule. 

                                      Hans and Gisela of the S/V Cat-Ketch Tunnix  from Venezuela.
They had one of my first Cat-Ketch T.43 built in Taiwan. They had sent a Fax to the office inviting me to race the Sailing Week and I replied yes, I would. So the next thing I know I am in Antigua, taking a launch to get to the boat. I could see her free standing masts 1/2 a mile away and as I approach, it became clear that no one was around. I jumped aboard and waited. After a while I see a Zodiac coming towards me then suddenly taking at distance a wide circle in a slow motion. Finally the two occupants came alongside to take a long look at me. A little puzzled, as much as I was by their initial reaction, they explained later that when they invited me, they had no idea if I were Chinese (Taiwanese), A girl, (Yves first name pronounced Eve), young, old or an  intruder. I did not have the same problem withe their appearance. More blond, more German, you could not find, even from Venezuela.


Christian Quoniam's Magie Noire 66'.
Incongruous to come to the starting line with a free standing rigged Cat-Schooner. A charter boat, M-N. was no match to the Maxis Kialoa and others engaged in the race. We had a great time though. This was my first sail on the boat built by the owner in La Rochelle, France. The unconventional sailboat featured wing sails, wing keel, water ballast and is very easy to sail.