The hull shapes of the America’s cup challenger BMW ORACLE Racing and defender ALINGHI didn’t go unnoticed and will make a lot of ink flow. Both are using wave piercing bows.
The radical
Aeroyacht 110 catamaran designed by
Gregor Tarjan and engineered by
Morrelli & Melvin had, since the beginning - reverse bows. Pete Melvin, from Morrelli and Melvin, who took part in designing
BMW ORACLE, and Gregor Tarjan founder of Aeroyacht International, tell us why?
Morrelli and Melvin 60 ' Mala Conducta - Photo Credit Billy Black “Reverse bows make the water think the boat is longer. A regular shaped bow will make the boat hobby-horse because as the boat is dipping into the sea the shape of the stem will force it back up quicker than if the stern is allowed to pass deeper and more gentler into the wave resulting in more comfort, safety and yes wetter. I think reverse bows are the future for small racing boats (where a wet ride is secondary) and large yachts over 60 foot.” Of course the potential clients for a luxury super catamaran like the Aeroyacht 110 will be interested in performance but this single argument might not be enough to convince him to go for reverse bows. That is what Gregor Tarjan and Pete Melvin both answer when a potential client asks them why his yacht should feature a wave piercing shape.
F 18 - Photo Crédit Pierrick Contin
“To make it short and simple, wave piercing reduce pitching motions and hull resistance though waves. Pitching results in motion discomfort for passengers, increases hull resistance and reduces sail efficiency. We’ve been designing wave-piercing bows for quite a few years now both for racing and for cruising multihulls. It is quite interesting to see that
Alinghi have developed a hull and bow shape quite similar to the A3 A-Class catamaran we developed in 2003. There were other wave-piercers prior to the A3 but the A3 has a very unique shape that has been emulated many times since then. We are involved with the
BMW ORACLE team and had some input into their news floats shapes as well. Lots of R&D went into confirming what we already knew was a fast wave-piercing hull form. The shape of the bow and underbody of a wave-piercing hull is dependent on many variables so the best solution for one design may not look the same as another design. In fact, the F-18 cat is actually closer to the design requirements for a high performance cruising catamaran like the Aeroyacht 110.”
Gregor Tarjan and Pete Melvin have put all their experience, knowledge and energy to design the Aeroyacht 110, the most advanced cruising catamaran every created so far.
Russels Coutts skipper and Larry Ellison aftergard.