Growing story – Part II
Concluding our update on the Dynamic Stability System, we invited some of the designers who’ve committed to DSS to summarise their thinking
60FT AND COUNTING – Britt Ward, Farr Yacht Design In early 2015 we met Gordon Kay of DSS to look at opportunities to collaborate. At FYD our offshore
canting-keel designs
were already showing the performance advantages available by harnessing appendage-generated ‘displacement reduc- tion’ (vertical lift) and dynamic righting moment. We were interested in exploring the DSS approach because it appeared to be a logical extension of our own research. While the general idea of DSS is pretty straightforward, we felt it important to refine our understanding of the system’s performance impact and implementation before incorporating it into our designs. To be able to better understand the performance and handling effects of foils we invested in internal research and imple- mented a series of VPP enhancements as a way to understand the intricacies and pit- falls of foil effects. This work immediately began to show us the potential advantages of the DSS concept; not just the significant speed improvement potential but in reduced
44 SEAHORSE heel angles and pitch motions.
Foiling multihulls have shown some of the performance advancements. Our analysis demonstrates that the use of foils on monohulls is equally dramatic and primed for widespread adoption. FYD has entered into a technical development agreement with DSS and is now in a unique position to provide fully developed DSS-based solutions to our clients. Somewhat independently of the DSS research, we had begun work on a succes- sor to the Cookson 50 – targeted at offshore IRC and ORC races and incorpo- rating all of our accumulated knowledge from our experiences with Imoca 60s, VO70s and the VO65. After interviewing owners and sailors, examining race results and fleet compositions and looking carefully at specifications and operating budgets, we focused on the 53ft size range. To succeed the new boat needed to be a good all-rounder – easily driven to avoid a rating penalty from a large sail area, a canting keel to maximise sailing stability while keeping displacement down and a single daggerboard and rudder to minimise component count and complexity. As the DSS studies proceeded and our discussions with Gordon Kay advanced it became clear that the addition of DSS to the 53ft concept could provide significant advantages in offshore conditions. Our brief for the 53 also fitted well in concept and philosophy with the Infiniti 46. The Infiniti 53 was born.
Rather than just adding a DSS foil, we
re-optimised the entire design to develop a fully
integrated product positioned to
maximise performance potential. Finding the right interplay between hull shape, form stability, canting keel size, bulb weight and sail area along with the correct sizing and positioning of the DSS board is a complicated optimisation challenge that has taken considerable effort to under- stand. We have found that adding the DSS foil has a big performance potential in its own right; but when the entire design is optimised in concert with DSS there are even greater advantages within reach. While the major DSS implementations to date have been on high-performance racing yachts, we strongly believe that the advantages are not just confined to speed. A reduced heel angle and improved pitch motions present a significant opportunity in the high-performance cruising market. As an initial step into this arena we have also been working with Infiniti Yachts to develop a new DSS-equipped 60ft high- performance racer/cruiser reflecting the latest in high-tech construction methods and
design technology. We are well
advanced in the conceptual design of the Infiniti 60 and hope to be moving into final build specifications in the next few months. The concept features a modern layout, expansive teak-lined deck and an open, modern interior. The design is targeted at premium regatta sailing and coastal racing, but is also well positioned to perform in marque distance events such as the Middle Sea Race.
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