Black Pearl

[Lynch]

Looks cool but seriously you spend maybe $50m on a boat and then you put dacron sails on it

 

[Foiling Optimist]

Probably more like $200 million but maybe Dacron isn't such a penalty given it's a square rigger. It's impressive how the sails don't furl horizontally on the yard arms but retract vertically into the mast. See about 6:50 in the video which shows this happening with the mast lying flat on the hard. This might have a greater requirement for flexibility for which Dacron might be desirable though they have to preserve the solar cells they are putting on. It also means the mast is quite complex with some tubular structural member inside and the outer mast you see with big slits in it is actually essentially a cover. Also fun to think that these masts are 15meters taller than could fit under Vancouver's Lion's Gate Bridge, (which is about 65 meters though a recent Port document says 60 meters is the limit without special approval). By comparison, the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier could fit under the bridge with about 2 meters to spare back in the mid 90's.

I don't think this is a particularly vomit inducing yacht compared to much of what you see on Superyacht Times. Except the dumb name. One could however quibble about a society where there is so much wealth inequality that what were large yachts in feet when I was a child now have the same numbers in meters.  I think SA posters probably mostly think of themselves more as libertarians than socialists, so it's a uneasy conversation to have, but it is crazy.

 

[Snaggletooth]

Littere collored saills mitte helpe.

 

[SloopJonB]

 It's impressive how the sails don't furl horizontally on the yard arms but retract vertically into the mast.

It's called brailing and it's nothing new.

They've just added a lot of tech to an old process.

I wonder how they plan to unfuck a jam in a rising wind?

 

[Snaggletooth]

It's called brailing and it's nothing new.

My cousine reades braille.               

 

[SloopJonB]

Probably easier than reading your writing.

 

[Snaggletooth]

Huh?

 

[jack_sparrow]

And this thing will ace the Pearl being nearly half as long again at 141m and in fuckin timber has been around for  a decade but is still stuck in a Turkish shed.The timber bit is insane and little wonder they are years behind schedule. The cost of that aspect alone would be mind boggling.

Both have one thing in common other than Dykstra (also designed Maltese Falcon) and that is a horrible name. I think people with more money than god let their wives and children come up with boat names as these two are in good company in that department.

http://yachtboatnews.com/dream-symphony-dream-symphony-wood-biggest-sailing-yacht-141m/

 

[Foiling Optimist]

It's called brailing and it's nothing new.

They've just added a lot of tech to an old process.

I wonder how they plan to unfuck a jam in a rising wind?

I looked up brailing but only see pictures of conventional furling for various gaff rigs etc. Did they do this on square riggers. I suppose Maltese Falcon has been doing this for the last 100,000nm or however far it's sailed by now so they must have the furling system pretty robust.

 

[Snaggletooth]

I wonder how they plan to unfuck a jam in a rising wind?

 

[SloopJonB]

I looked up brailing but only see pictures of conventional furling for various gaff rigs etc. Did they do this on square riggers. I suppose Maltese Falcon has been doing this for the last 100,000nm or however far it's sailed by now so they must have the furling system pretty robust.

Brailing square sails to the mast has been around longer than I have - Benford used it ages ago on some of his square rigs - it permits "furling" a square sail from on deck much like bringing the washing in on a clothesline.

Don't know exactly how long it's been around but it's nothing new.

 

[Two Tone]

Looks cool but seriously you spend maybe $50m on a boat and then you put dacron sails on it

3 reasons...

1. It's cheap, each sail panel is relatively small and bear in mind she's effectively a square rigger AND a cruising boat then you are not looking at the 'nth' degree of sail shape...

2. The most important one... What happens when your furling system shits the bed... topsails are out, squall coming in... for some unknown reason you can't furl them... Can't drop them, can't get anyone up there (70m up a smooth tube at sea, insane!)... What do you do...

Take comfort in the fact that some smart bugger (not me by any stretch of the imagination) designed them to blow out, each panel, depending on height, is designed to blow out to reduce loading on the rig at certain wind strengths.  So they blow out, the rig(s) and boat are saved (dropping one of them is monumental) and you only have to replace cheap dacron sails...

3. When their cheap sails, then you don't mind using them and I imagine are cheaper to put hours on delivering the boat by sail than using the main engines, in terms of TBO's etc.  So - lovely beam reach, 300 mile delivery, why not sail, or at least motor sail (she's got hybrid propulsion), few more hours on the sails but its nothing really in the grand scheme of things...

This might change (point 3) with solar cells, but points 1 and 2 stand...

 

[Swimsailor]

There are definitely uglier boats out there.  I wouldn't turn down a ride on this one.

 

[DDW]

It isn't really brailing, it's vertical roller furling. The same system has been used on MF for many years now. As far as appearance, just loosing the funky forward com mast that MF had makes it look about 50% better.