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Anarchist Point of View This is the first of hopefully many articles by our pals at Van Gorkom Yacht Design (www.vgyd.com). We're going to cover a lot of ground with this, and I know many of you are interested in this aspect of the sport. Nothing is more interesting than what makes a boat go, and we hope to provide some good information. If any of you have any particular thing you'd like discussed, just let us know. - Ed A couple of weeks ago the brave and fearless editor of Sailing Anarchy asked me if I was interested in writing a column on various aspects of Yacht Design. After some careful thought, but not too careful, I said why not. One thing I have learned in my relatively short, but somewhat notable career to date in the field, is that people do have an interest in just what goes into the process of design and how it relates to their own boat and that of others. The key is to present it in a common sense approach with just enough Techno babble to satisfy those that have a need for this sort of thing. It is this curiosity factor that led me to furthering my education in the art and science of Naval Architecture. Some words of warning for those that might be thinking of a career in the business. Don't quit your day job just yet. Before I go any further, just a short bit of background information (and I mean very short) that could be seen as interesting or just plain trivial depending on how you look at it. After what could be seen as a somewhat successful 25 + years of racing sailboats on the West Coast (I started at age 13) I had the very fortunate opportunity in 1996 to meet Geoff Van Gorkom who was just starting out in his own in the business in Newport, Rhode Island. After seeing that I had an interest in yacht design, and that curiosity thing I was talking about earlier, he suggested I get my butt back into school and put that knowledge to work. With the successful launch of the VG - Mount Gay 30, Surprise, in 1998, Geoff offered me a position as part of marketing and research within the company. This essentially consisted of, at first, answering a lot (and I mean a lot) of e - mail and looking at other design possibilities to pursue. One thing you learn fast in this business is that it's not all just about designing the latest go-fast racer. There is a lot of grunt work involved in this job. It's now almost 2003 and I still hold my position at Van Gorkom Yacht Design and still furthering my education. But being wise and not wanting to deal with the cold weather in the North-East, I find myself here in Southern Cal trying to come up with that one elusive idea that will set the yacht design world on its ear………. However, for the time being I feel I may be able to provide some insight into the world of yacht design for your entertainment. To start things off I thought I would list some possible future topics for upcoming columns with a SA angle to them.
As one can see the list could go on forever, but since this is my first column, and not quite knowing how much space I am to be given, I decided to leave it at this for the moment. Of course I am open to your suggestions as well. The business of yacht design has changed considerably over the years. Although conventional tools such as planimeters, ducks (spline weights), splines and ships curves are still being used, the computer is fast becoming the design tool of choice. Drafting programs, 3-D modeling, performance and structural analysis are all powerful software tools that are now commercially available to the designer. These don't necessarily make the job easier, but rather more precise, and mastering these software tools requires a huge investment of time. It's not uncommon to have certain individuals in a design office specializing in just one of these programs. But for the most part the principals have stayed the same, although the methods in which we execute them have changed and will continue to change. Yacht design is an extremely competitive field, always pushing the envelope of a certain rule or concept. It's driven not only by economics (not unlike any other business), but by the sailors themselves in their quest for higher performance. I look forward to the challenge of bringing you future articles which I hope you find interesting. Russ
Lenarz 12/09/2002 |
