Excerpts from some writing that may have relevance to recent posts: Introduction My first series of long distance cruises began in 1972 aboard my family's custom 68-foot steel-hulled Defever, Wandering Star that we had built in Japan. The route back to the U.S. was Japan - Okinawa - Manila - Vietnam - Singapore - Indonesia - Timor - Australia - New Caledonia - American Samoa - Fiji - Palmyra - Hawaii - Seattle. The trip was undertaken nine years after Beebe set-off from Singapore in Passagemaker but still before long distance passages in non-commercial motoryachts was commonplace. Both my parents were marine engineers and my father, who had a lifetime of experience at sea was a Master Mariner and formerly a skipper for American President Lines. I grew up living on off-shore rigs and running small craft and crewing on tugs in the South China Sea and Persian Gulf, so I was well prepared to make the most of the long trip back to the U.S. which was an incredible experience for a teenager. Thirty three years later we still own the Defever. Eighteen years ago I married a woman who had just finished sailing around the world, and together we've had many experiences aboard vessels we've owned or had access to, both power and sail. I've also spent the last eighteen years designing and building commercial submarines and submersibles, including long-distance diesel electric luxury submarines. It's time now for us to build a new long distance passagemaker, and we have some definite ideas, some of which are non-conventional. Some of our key criteria follow: Comfort in Motion Contemporary custom and production passagemakers tend to be well appointed and climate controlled, meeting the definition of comfortable in the most general sense. I would like to be able to say that after years of messing about in boats that I have a cast iron stomach, but unfortunately I do succumb to mal de mer on occasion. As a consequence, mitigating the motion that causes sea sickness is a bit of a passion of mine. In fact, 12 years ago I developed the world's first luxury submarine simply so that owners could dive the vessel when it was too rough on the surface and then proceed underwater in a perfectly smooth environment. Studies show that the primary cause of seasickness is vertical acceleration and deceleration. Contemporary stabilizers and to a somewhat lesser extent, flopper stoppers, do a great job of reducing roll. Yet pitch is most often the culprit that causes the most discomfort, for several reasons. Most production passagemakers have bluff bows with considerable freeboard and flare to keep the deck dry and provide ample reserve buoyancy. The effect of this, in a substantial head sea, is truly horrible. As the wave contacts the bow the boat slows, sometimes dramatically, then rises vertically, reaches its apogee, and as the wave passes the bow falls away nearly putting you in free-fall before the plunge suddenly stops, practically bringing you to your knees, and then the entire process starts over, ad nauseum. If you happen to be the occupant of a bridge located far forward of the beam, the impact of all this motion is clearly exacerbated. I firmly believe that this pitching motion, the tendency to which is ubiquitous among every single production passagemaker, is the single most substantial reason why sensible people with some minimal experience don't make long ocean passages on motoryachts. It is simply too uncomfortable. The solution is relatively simple and well recognized to sailboat owners. Build a boat with a fine bow with a narrow entry and minimal flare/reserve buoyancy and stay off the foredeck when it's rough. The second solution is to locate the areas where you spend the most time near the pitch center of the boat to minimize motion. Efficiency In the beginning of the motoryacht era hulls tended to be long and thin. A function of the reality of engine power output vs. weight, these early yachts were highly efficient for their time because designers had little choice. The fuel prices we've experienced over the last several months had driven home the concept that diesel fuel is not likely to get less expensive in the long term. As consumers in China and India compete for diminishing petroleum resources while environmentalists apply pressure to curtail exploration and refining, we face a long future of escalating fuel prices. Long slender hulls are significantly more efficient than the shorter, wider hulls of passagemakers today. The hull speed of an 85-foot passagemaker with a 14.5-foot beam that displaces 100,000 lbs will be nearly 12 knots while a 55-foot passagemaker with a 19 foot beam of equivalent weight will have a hull speed of just over 9 knots. Assuming $3.00 per gallon diesel, at hull speed (V/L = 1.3) the longer leaner passagemaker will require $1500 worth of diesel to go 1000 nautical miles while the shorter, fatter vessel will spend $2800. This for basically the same interior volume and equivalent cost. The longer vessel will also make the trip in 101 hours vs. 128 for the shorter boat. One might make the point that the longer vessel will cost more to berth, which is undeniable, but we almost always anchor out when cruising and this is less of a consideration for us. In my opinion, contemporary passagemaker designers are following a trend based on demand for short vessels that maximize interior space for waterline length at the expense of efficiency and comfort. It supports my theory that few designers spend any time at sea in their own vessels and if they do, are highly reluctant to experience alternatives. Readers interested in the balance of the article can e-mail me at bruce@ussubmarines.com -- ======================================================================= L. Bruce Jones U.S. SUBMARINES, INC. President POSEIDON UNDERSEA RESORTS LLC Tel: 208/687-9057 Fax: 208/441-7478 E-mail: bruce@ussubmarines.com http://ussubs.com http://poseidonresorts.com "Design, engineering and construction of submarines and submersibles" "Submarine related consulting, sales and operations." =======================================================================