42' and 50' Cruising Yacht Designs

Mental Boxes of Sailboat Designers and Owners

Continued from article directory.

In spite of all this gains are made, but in an ardently slow manner.  As an example I point you to the old and new “Rosebud”, of which boats some pictures and information is given on pages 110 and 111 in Dec, 2006 issue of Latitude 38 (see that electronic issue at latitude38.com) or search for Rosebud. I mention these as an example of many sorts of boats like these, not to deride the designers and owner of the Rosebuds.

Who, in his right mind, would order boats like these, (16 ft deep keels and about a 10 ft long rudder), unless he/she shows definite signs of immaturity, and vanity, and has money to throw away?  The newer Rosebud may be better than the older, yet they are both utterly impractical monstrosities of design just to win a race by a set of rules set by morons. The sad thing about it is that this new Rosebud is the first boat designed in the ‘new class’, so it stands the least chance of winning. Later designs will incorporate the design parameters of this boat, and some additional tricks and they all will be caricatures of real sailboats.

In the world of reality, the winner is the boat designed by a person that has his design ability least boxed in. If sailing needs a rule at all, the rule should insist that boats should be beautiful, practical and usable so that the sizable investments in these boats are not wasted after the race is lost. If you own a racing cruiser, you may win a handicap race here and there, but handicap races are for ninnies. If you cannot win, why in hell race?

Designers and their customers should keep in mind what research and racing have brought to the fore yet consider an entirely new concept of design. All improvements in today’s designs were well known by earlier generations and were never used to full advantage. The greatest breakthroughs in design, however, are in the use of new-age materials, and that has little to do with creative boat design. R & D in other fields of endeavor created these materials.

 There are always the surprises, but they come from designers not under the control of a committee. In design, the fastest boat is the boat that comes in first or in the least time spent on the racecourse. This boat is designed by someone outside the boxes and was sailed by a crew not limited by any rules. This crew sailed according to the free-ranging logic and knowledge of their skipper. I can give Farr Design company some suggestions that will speed that buggy ‘Rosebud’ up considerably. They will not believe this of course, but that is just too bad. They will thus have to wait until my present design is unveiled, and that design could not be any farther away in looks and logic than the design parameters used on Rosebud. Our new, totally radical design is just a cruising hull, that will give the super race boat Rosebud 2 and any other racer a good view of her stern.

How ridiculous that the skipper of a boat who clocks the least time to finish the race or who came in first may find that he did not win the race due to some handicap someone else had over him. If a boat and crew accepts the advantage of a handicap, it is already established and agreed upon that the boat and crew are losers. Therefore, these modern racing events are events to pacify losers. The crew that refuses to accept any handicap is the real racing crew, they may lose but they have the class and spirit of racers. They intend to do the impossible and in desperately trying to make that goal reality they prove themselves the real heroes. Handicaps are random rules that make winning a race a shame rather than a well-deserved applause. We are dealing with children seeking praise and a pet on the head. Grow up! Sail and be your own judge. Why be judged by ninnies.

There should be a race category wherein all rules are suspended, giving designers a free hand in producing the most graceful, fast, safe and usable yachts. Let the several owners, among themselves, decide with whom they want to compete. It seems logical that an owner of a 30 ft recreational sloop cannot win from another person with a 60 ft recreational boat. Let the boat owners create the broad or narrow classes of boats in which to compete. In the alternative, people who love one-class design racing can compete in one-class racing dinghies. I hate rules but I admit that some rules are necessary to banish unabashed, unscrupulous predator behavior in society.

The used boat market would benefit enormously from the design of sturdy, fully seaworthy sailing vessels (none of the real racing sailboats are), because those who can pay for the best boats can eventually download them to the used-sailboat market. Obsolete racing boats are a wash-up. We see them all over in dry-storage being of no use to anyone. They are there because they are useless. What a pity! If the rules were different or non-existing, and boats were practical, people would grab such boats up and enjoy them until they fall apart.

Hans van Krieken / 2-28-2008

You can view and read up on the best cruising hull and sailboats designs in www.becaughtorbeketched.com. Those hulls will last 5 decades, even with minimum care. They are designed to give maximum safety and pleasure as live-a-boards and far-ranging cruising boats.

Innovative Cruising Boat Designs has been awarded US patent 7752986 that will revolutionize racing and cruising hull designs.

This new metal-constructed, general-use design needs your help to make it America's standard for speed, carefree comfort, excitement and all-out pleasure. Faster, more fuel conserving hulls  cannot be designed whether for use as motor boat, sailboat, or a super-fast ocean-crossing platforms

This hull design cannot be unveiled until a sponsor, domestic or foreign, has been found to protect the design from unlicensed, foreign infringement.