Carbon Cutter No. three launched last week.

[longy]

Longy: Flowerman never ran the program. Flowerman was and still is the clients pro skipper and involved with rigging the boats. He had nothing to do with any design decisions.

Didn't mean to imply that, I knew he came in after the build was started.  The traditional term for his position is no longer in use, none of the current titles really encompass the job. He's way too talented to be called just a sailor

 

[Bob Perry]

Longy:

I understand and totally agree on Robert. He has been indispensable.

 

[Kolibri]

Great looking boat Bob. You still definitely have your chops!

BTW, I agree that the boot strip and shear stripe need to be carried on through the rudder. Cutting it short creates a discontinuity. 

 

[Bob Perry]

Kolibri:

Many thanks.

I would not carry that sheer wale stripe through to the rudder. But I would definitely carry the bootstripe all the way. 

 

[TwoLegged]

That is an aesthetic choice. Simple as that. Obviously I like it as drawn as does the client. I don't like "anemic" rudder heads. That's an East Coast look. I go for a more robust PNW look.

I get the robust-look thing.  This boat is not some spirit-of-tradition varnish queen.

But why the very sharp top aft corner to the rudder head?  My non-expert eye would have though that a wee bit of a radius would fit in better.

 

[alphafb552]

By the way, it bears repeating here, @Bob Perry, thanks for sharing this whole project with us from the start, it's been a great ride!

 

[Bob Perry]

Alphafb:

You are  very welcome. It's a unique project and so different in todays world of new boats. I figured most sailors would be interested.

Leggs:

Rudder head treatment: Same reason for most of the design features. Because that is exactly what I wanted. Simple as that. I do not care for the tapered rudder head. I find it weak and anemic looking. I like a strong looking rudder head, similar in many way to those rudder on traditional Dutch boats. But that's not where the idea came from. Look at Bill Garden's outboard rudders. They are strong looking statements. What was important to me is that the rudder look the way I wanted it to look.

 

[Sail4beer]

And the owner agrees with the rudder design

 

[Bob Perry]

I was out having my morning pipe and doing some watering and wondering about a more cogent response to you question on my rudder head styling.

One of my favorite composers is Robert Schumann. After two failed suicide attempts Schumann committed himself to an institution for the "insane". He died there leaving his wife Clara and his kids in the capable hands of his lodger, the very handsome, talented and young, Johannes Brahms. Consensus is Schumann starved himself to death but siphilis may have been involved.

Schumann frequently used a device in his compositions he called "sphynxes" or "riddles". These were short passages that to most ears, did not fit the overall work. "Why is that there?" Think of them as "spit out your gum and pay attention" passages designed to get your attention. They certainly worked in that context. Today, of course, Schumann's compositions are revered by most lovers of music.

I do the same thing from time to time. I add an aesthetic detail that is there to grab your attention while removing the aesthetic from that which you would normally expect. For me giving you what you would expect is boring and too predictable. I think just maybe, the fact that you called this detail out is proof that it worked.

 

[Sail4beer]

I watched a documentary of his life and he had a piano delivered to the asylum, but was only allowed to play infrequently. Another added torture to his short life. He was prolific during his time at the asylum…

 

[Matagi]

Schumann is buried just half an hour or so from where I live. 

I didn't know. I think I will go visit, it's quite a monumental grave they gave him (and his wife, 40 years later). The people of Bonn had a two-day long festival in Schumann's honor, which gave the funds for the monument on the 'Alter Friedhof'.

This place is educational after all. Who'd have thunk...

 

[TwoLegged]

I do the same thing from time to time. I add an aesthetic detail that is there to grab your attention while removing the aesthetic from that which you would normally expect. For me giving you what you would expect is boring and too predictable. I think just maybe, the fact that you called this detail out is proof that it worked.

Fair enough, Bob.  And an eloquent reminder or how much art accompanies the science of design.  Thank you.

 

[Zonker]

Rudder head treatment: Same reason for most of the design features. Because that is exactly what I wanted. Simple as that. I do not care for the tapered rudder head. I find it weak and anemic looking. I like a strong looking rudder head, similar in many way to those rudder on traditional Dutch boats. But that's not where the idea came from. Look at Bill Garden's outboard rudders. They are strong looking statements. What was important to me is that the rudder look the way I wanted it to look

In our design firm there was the legend of the ugly rudder.

We would draw a GA that was just fine except an ugly rudder. The client would come in to review the drawing and say "Damn that is an ugly rudder"

"You're right Bob" we would say, "We shall fix it. You've got a good eye"

The client would leave, very pleased with himself. We wouldn't have to mess with the whole rest of the boat....

 

[Fah Kiew Tu]

In our design firm there was the legend of the ugly rudder.

We would draw a GA that was just fine except an ugly rudder. The client would come in to review the drawing and say "Damn that is an ugly rudder"

"You're right Bob" we would say, "We shall fix it. You've got a good eye"

The client would leave, very pleased with himself. We wouldn't have to mess with the whole rest of the boat....

Funnily enough I sometimes do the same thing when doing data entry screen design... though more usually it's just a fuck-up. I do watch how my users actually interact with the programs though and rearrange/redesign form layouts to facilitate their work flow. A single keystroke or mouse movement saved is over 100,000 a year of wasted motion prevented.

Just spent a day re-doing a report that'll save ~2 hours/week for the end users. They're happy and I'm happy I could improve things.

FKT

 

[olaf hart]

The rudder head is part of the overall aesthetic of these boats. We have been lucky to go onboard CC no 1 during its build, the thing that hit me is the massive detail of the boat and it’s components.

This is not an ordinary sailboat in any sense, it is beautiful but also brutal. The rudder head reflects that, as do the bulwarks, the bowsprit, the deck and even the below decks fitout.

It’s an aesthetic we don’t see much today in a world full of bean counters, but it was the norm a couple of centuries ago.

 

[Fah Kiew Tu]

The rudder head is part of the overall aesthetic of these boats. We have been lucky to go onboard CC no 1 during its build, the thing that hit me is the massive detail of the boat and it’s components.

This is not an ordinary sailboat in any sense, it is beautiful but also brutal. The rudder head reflects that, as do the bulwarks, the bowsprit, the deck and even the below decks fitout.

It’s an aesthetic we don’t see much today in a world full of bean counters, but it was the norm a couple of centuries ago.

Be good if the owner located one of those beauties in Kettering. Nice safe bug-out location.

FKT

 

[TwoLegged]

Be good if the owner located one of those beauties in Kettering. Nice safe bug-out location.

Northamptonshire is a bit far from the sea.

 

[toddster]

In our design firm there was the legend of the ugly rudder.

We would draw a GA that was just fine except an ugly rudder. The client would come in to review the drawing and say "Damn that is an ugly rudder"

"You're right Bob" we would say, "We shall fix it. You've got a good eye"

The client would leave, very pleased with himself. We wouldn't have to mess with the whole rest of the boat....

We’ve always left some obvious but trivial violation out before any OSHA or DEQ inspection.  Because they can’t leave without writing up something.  Better a hammer with a splintered handle that can be just tossed in the trash, than having to dig up all the fence posts and re-set them in concrete with 2% more lime.  Or make the lawn boy wear full leathers and a motorcycle helmet on the lawn mower in 100° heat.  (Yes, those things happened.)

 

[frozenhawaiian]

god these boats are cool, I've been drooling over them since this project got started. hey bob, maybe I missed it in the other thread but what was the owners reason for having 4 of them built?

 

[SpongeDeckSquareFoil]

I think it was because he couldn't rationalize having a fifth built.