North Carolina sailor Joseph Huberman spent many years sailing small craft on the rivers and bays of his home state; when he decided to move up to a real cruising yacht he was determined to retain the high performance, simple rig, and shallow-water capability that he had become accustomed to. Conventional wisdom dictates the only way to achieve a draft of 4-feet and offshore capability is with a heavy-displacement centerboarder, but Huberman wanted a lighter, faster boat than this. After considerable research, he decided the best solution would be a light displacement hull with an unstayed mast and a lifting keel. Although this rig can now be found on some production boats, a moveable keel is very rarely seen even in custom boats. With his interest in exploring electric propulsion, Joseph realized that he needed to find a designer and builder willing to consider new ideas.

He discovered that Tom Wylie, a yacht designer in California's Bay Area, had produced a range of offshore boats with freestanding masts. One of them, the Open 60 Ocean Planet, also has a lifting keel and has been well tested-it has circled the world in the Around Alone race and is currently racing in the Vendee Globe. Wylie recommended he also contact Steve Rander at Schooner Creek Boat Works in Portland, Oregon, the yard that built Ocean Planet and several other Wylie designs from 42 to 77 feet long.

Wylie and Rander agreed to work with Huberman on a custom project, based on a Wylie 43-foot bare hull in fiberglass-foam sandwich that was available from Nevada builder Jim Betts, and a molded deck supplied by the designer. The hull and deck of Prestissimo were trucked to Schooner Creek's modern facility on the Columbia River where assembly began. Off the boat, the keel trunk was laminated around the steel fin in E-glass and epoxy. The trunk is 3-feet wide, seven-feet high, and allows the 6400 lbs keel to be lifted up like a daggerboard. The mechanical advantage to make this feasible comes from a 10:1 purchase using high-strength line leading to a 46:1 Harken halyard winch. In practice, the yacht's draft can be reduced from 8 feet to 6 feet in 10-12 minutes of winding at a moderate effort. A pair of fixed high performance rudders match the draft of four feet in the "keel-up" position. (Even for marina-based boats the ability to reduce draft by a half would be extremely useful when exploring away from your homeport, but it's not a concept that fits the economics of mass marketing production.)

The electric drive system comprises a bank of 12 deep cycle 12-volt batteries connected in series, a 144-volt DC 6 HP high-torque electric motor, and a Glacier Bay 5.5 KW 2 cylinder diesel genset. When the battery bank is fully charged, it's possible to motor for two hours without running the generator, Huberman explained. He prefers to run the genset while sailing when it is practically inaudible, and arrive with a full charge to run the yacht's refrigerator, lights, entertainment systems etc for approximately three days. All gensets are engineered to run at an optimum, fixed RPM, and the installation uses around a half a gallon of fuel per hour. It is located under the cockpit but could be positioned almost anywhere.
This system offers an intriguing possibility: when sailing at speeds of 5 knots and better, the yacht's fixed three-bladed propeller generates a significant amount of power-upwards of 4-5 amps- to trickle-charge the batteries. There is a small trade off - tests suggest the prop's drag is about 1/10 of a knot. Huberman points out that the batteries and genset can operate independently of each other, giving him a back-up in the event of a breakdown.

The freestanding, tapered carbon fiber mast stands 58 feet above the deck. It was produced by Composite Engineering using their tri-axial braiding process. A working jib or light weather headsail is set on a removable forestay tensioned by runners when necessary. The full-battened mainsail is set on a Harken mast track and sheeted with a single winch on the bridgedeck. The owner took the boat on a 600 mile fall shakedown cruise to the San Juan Islands that began with a 200-mile leg up the Washington coast to Victoria, British Columbia against a steady 10-15 knot headwind with a swell of 4-6 feet.

"I'm very satisfied with the rig - everything worked well. I've lost a few dinghy masts to broken shrouds, but here there are no shrouds to break, no chafe, and no maintenance problems," said Huberman. Rander, who has raced to Hawaii numerous times, sailed on the first leg and added that he found the rig to be "very seaworthy and remarkably easy to gybe."
After three weeks living aboard, the owner judged the electric drive to be well worth the effort. "It's silent, very easy to control, and has instant reverse. There are minor improvements to be made, but it's fully operational," he stated. All his crew agreed that the energy-saving systems he has installed in the cabin, including the recycle/filter loop in the shower, hot-water controls, and low-amperage LED lights, added to comfort rather than detracting from it. Prestissimo will be available to view at the Schooner Creek Boat Works booth in the January 2005 Portland Boat Show. Her owner will be in attendance.

Designer: Tom Wylie is known as an innovative designer who is capable of designs that clearly out perform their size and yet are easy to sail.
Builder: Schooner Creek Boat Works has been around since 1972 building a variety of custom offshore racers and cruisers. They are known for the high quality of their products.

Contact Steve Rander 503-735 0569 for more information or stever@schoonercreek.com

3255 N. Hayden Island Drive ~ Portland, Oregon 97217
Phone (503)735-0569 ~ Fax (503)289-7444
www.schoonercreek.com