MATT BROWN

In a sport that often responds to changes with the speed of a glacier, the fairly radical canting keel, twin rudder configuration has taken root, to at least some extent, in the conventional sailing world. Granted, these elements have already been proven in the big Open-type boats, but not until recently have boats like Schock 40's, the R/P 60 Wild Oats, and now the Maxz86 class have ushered in a new phase to the game. Matt Brown has been instrumental in this development, and we caught up with him for a few words. Enjoy.

Matt, tell us about your background, and how you came to "see the light" with the CBTF technology.

MB
I'm actually an Aeronautical Engineer but when I got out of school the Aerospace industry here in San Diego was in the dumps. In 1986 I was lucky enough to hook up with Alberto Calderon, an aerodynamicist, who was working in SD on the revolutionary 12 meter of Tom Blackaller, USA. It was good timing because Naval Architecture was just getting into Wind Tunnel testing and Aerospace based design and my experience and training was very useful. This twin foil appendage design was very promising at the America's Cup in Perth and it was a short step to come up with the idea of canting the ballast in order to loose a whole bunch of weight.

How involved were you with the Schock 40, and how did you guys convince Tom to build something so radical for a production boat?

MB
I have been more involved with the CBTF concept and the Schock 40 than any other person. After we patented the concept I personally converted the first three prototype boats, a Soling left over from Tom's America's Cup effort, a Catalina 30 (doh!), and a Hobie 33 named the Green Hornet. We then had the Schock 40 prototype, Red Hornet, built at Westerly Marine and campaigned it around the country with Peter Isler at the helm. It was by no means an unknown quantity when we approached Tom with the future Boat of the Year; he saw the potential and decided to take the risk.

What do you think caused the keel to fall off of Tom Schock's boat?

MB
The word from the testing company is that the welded joint of the ballast strut had a crack in it for a long period of time. Since the weld was tested before the part went into the boat, it is assumed that the crack occurred during one, or more, of three grounding incidences that the boat experienced. I witnessed one of these, the boat was going about 8 kts. when it hit the rocks on the south side of the channel to LBYC bringing the boat to an abrupt stop. These cracks significantly weakened the strut and the part failed when Tom was sailing off Huntington Beach. To make sure this doesn't happen again, I have developed an inspection process to test that area of the keel on all the existing boats. The Green hornet is built to the same design and it has been sailed hard since 1996 without a problem so it does not appear to be a design or construction problem.

Let's talk about the new Performance 49. What are the design parameters and the specific purpose of the boat?

MB
Cita Litt, a current Schock 40 owner, wanted a larger boat capable of doing offshore races in relative comfort. It has to be fast and cutting edge, while being easy to sail with a minimum number of crew. Safety is the over-riding parameter. This boat is the culmination of my design expertise to date and the first time I have had so much free reign. It's a designer's dream to have a client like Cita and her boat will be very special.

Who will build it, what materials, when will it be sailing, and are there production plans for the boat?

MB
Unfortunately construction has been pushed back to this spring. We're looking at the first regatta being the race to PV in 2004. The hull will be carbon / epoxy with a foam core and the foils will be autoclaved pre-preg carbon. Aircraft 17-4 PH SS is my material of choice for the canting unit and telescopic ballast strut. With such large advantages coming from the canting ballast it is not necessary to go all out with hi-tech construction, equipment and expense to get an unbelievably fast boat. At 500K this boat's going to beat up on a lot of million dollar machines.

Let's talk about the rig: rotating carbon with swept back spreaders? Who is going to build it and what are the desired advantages over a standard rig.

MB
A lot of this depends on which rig we end up going with. I'm currently working on two different configurations, the first is a standard triple swept spreader arrangement but the mast rotates behind the stationary spreaders. This improves the airflow over the main sail, especially off the wind. The second is a more radical cantilevered, airfoil shaped mast with a single set of rotating spreaders and shrouds. The rotating shrouds allow the mast to take the compression from the runners without putting a lot of weight aloft while giving the main sail full freedom of rotation. An interesting fact of a canting ballast boat is that for every pound you put in the rig it only takes one pound in the ballast to offset it as opposed to three on a fixed keel.

The foil configuration looks to be a bit different than other CBTFs that we've seen. What are the primary differences, and what are the objectives?

MB
The biggest difference is that it is not a CBTF boat, it lacks a rotating forward foil that is linked to the steering system. This time I'm using a variably jibing dagger board, which retracts into the hull to control the leeway of the yacht. The further you pull it up the less it jibes and the less wetted area you end up dragging around downwind. No longer having a delicate forward foil susceptible to damage while screaming downwind either from floating objects or in shallows, allows for a deeper maximum draft. This will maximize the upwind performance. It also gets me away from any of my previously patented work, which is now under the control of others.

The boat also has a deep draft, highly loaded rudder which gives it a highly efficient tandem keel effect without a complicated, heavy control system.

The ballast strut will be telescopic giving the light 2500 pound bulb a large 14 foot arm allowing the boat to have a lot of power. It will retract to 9 foot draft to allow Cita to keep the boat at her home in Newport and further reducing the wetted surface area in light and downwind conditions. This will be accomplished by making an airfoil shaped hydraulic cylinder out of the solid lower section of the strut. The hydraulic fluid travels through the piston rod and connects to the 24-volt hydraulic system.

By the most basic definition, boats like the Schock 40 are not legal unless they provide class rules, exempting the powered, moveable ballast. How much of an obstacle does that present for the acceptance of these boats?

MB
Through out my experience with these boats, the overwhelming reaction to it has been, "What a cool boat, sure you can come and race with us". To date there have only been three races that we were not allowed to race in. By demonstrating to them that we are not gaining an unfair advantage with powered moveable ballast, we have found a way to race with most of them now. I think that the legality issue is not much of an obstacle compared to misconceptions about the boat and resistance to change.

These boats do have their critics - they are unsafe, too complicated, illegal. What do you say in response to these claims?

MB
I mentioned misconceptions above. I have yet to meet a sailor who has spent any appreciable amount of time on one of these boats who has any of these opinions. I've meet people who have tried the boats and felt they were in over their heads, and rightfully so. They are high powered, high tech racing machines that take some skill to operate; it isn't for the bare boat charter business. I have also met people who are ignorant of the boats and shoot their mouths off.

As to unsafe and complicated, I spend a lot of time and effort to make them as safe and easy to sail as possible. Sure they can heel a lot when someone pushes the wrong button but that's nothing compared to supporting a rig with running backstays or jibing a 30-foot pole without a headstay. I personally sailed the Newport / Ensenada race in '98 with my 75 year old father-in-law, my wife and a cruiser friend on the Green Hornet. We screamed down there averaging 10 kts., peeking near 20, and spent the night in a hotel room. Everyone had a turn at the helm and had a blast. The fact that many of the Schock 40's are doing as much cruising and day sailing as racing these days is a statement to the simplicity of the boats design.

The other day I was looking at the door of my car, there is more complicated machinery there than on most modern race boats today. I wonder why a companion way hatch has to look like a 4th grader designed it while a car can have a really cool water-proof sun roof. I guess that's what people are used to and what they expect.

As for the legality issue let me say I am a firm believer in rule 51 and 52 to prevent someone from gaining an unfair advantage or degrade the sport of sailing. Having an unfair advantage is not a goal of the design and has not happened, the PHRF and Americap ratings more than compensate for the canting ballast. Try doing well in a race when you are giving a Farr 40 more than half a minute a mile! The goal of the design is to make a really fast boat that is a blast to sail, big boat fun for a small boat price.

Kelp has to present itself as a big problem. How do you deal with it?

MB
While developing the design in San Diego, kelp has been a problem. The boats are so light and easily driven that they are also easily stopped. I have incorporated an innovative kelp cutter to the boat that comprises a rod with a retractable blade. This is deployed through a free flooding tube ahead of the foil; it drags the kelp up to the hull and cuts it. The dagger board can be cleared in a tack. Kuck Felp!

What other projects are you working on?

MB
Mainly I am doing freelance consulting on a number of projects and boats. A local San Diego boat, Falcon, has asked me to do a new non-IMS keel for them. I'm promoting a "Variable Draft Tandem" keel design where the keel cants aft for shoal draft and trailoring as well as pitch control. The Max Z86 is a new class of canting keel sailboats and I am doing some preliminary design work on a boat. A company in Santa Barbara is developing an electric generation system powered by ocean currents and a revolutionary internal combustion engine. Both of which I am deeply involved in, although the sailing projects are a lot more fun. Check out my homepage for more info at http://hometown.aol.com/mnnbrown/mattbrownperformancedesign.html.

Thanks matt. We want to go for a sail on the 49!

MB
Love to have you. If you can ever get a ride on a Schock 40 I would highly recommend it. It's a blast.