[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by Castlerock

What happened to this thread? Where is Jed White with updates and pictures? The Yacht's website has not been updated in some time as well.

On another forum we have had several contributions by Tom Perkins. I'm surprised he has not contributed here in addition.

Here is a recent one:

"I have read with interest the opinions and questions posted about my Maltese Falcon "Clipper Yacht" over recent weeks. I'll attempt to answer these as best I can now that some time has elapsed.

We call her a clipper because she attempts to achieve the multiple advantages of those fast square riggers from the past. If you look at photographs of the last of the big sailing windjammers, you will see that the fore and aft sails are really just vistigial---all the power is coming from the square sails themselves. The Dijkstra design simply carries this trend to its logical end, and eliminates all these redunant sails. The DynsRig concept leads to a yacht with the ability to point so high, that jibs, etc. are just in the way.

The superstructure is just sufficiently high to permit a view ahead, over the bow, from the wheel house. Any lower, and the view would be blocked by the bow, and thus I believe, be unsafe.

The signal mast forward is required for the radars, which cannot be mounted on the rotating masts. The height is required to raise the radar beam above the superstructure sufficiently to protect crew from the radiation. Also, this mast, in my opinion, fills in a space where one might otherwise expect to see jibs, and so it is there partly for aesthetic reasons.

The sails are set automatically by a single person from a central console. Of course, there is routine maintenance required by an agile crew of sailors aloft, but rarely do they have to be in the rig during sailing. The upper sails are set or furled as required to control heeling. In a twenty knot true wind with everything set, and hard on the wind, the heeling angle is about 22 degrees. This isn't much for a small boat, but it feels too much for most guests, so we furl the sails necessary to keep heeling to around 15 degrees, and there is only a modest drop in speed.

To date the we have set and furled all the sails over one thousand times. We have had only two or three problems requiring a man to go aloft to sort. We have experienced no damage to sails or rig. This is a staggering number. With all due respect to Mirabella V, I expect that during her entire lifetime, which I trust will be very long, her sails will not be set this many times. The DynaRig is very practical for a big boat, for the ease of use factor, if for no other reason.

The Falcon may be a motor sailor, but not by my definition, since she sails faster than she motors---if that doesn't qualify her as a sailboat, then what does?

I have raced classics for much of my life. I believe the Falcon is a new classic, and to my eye, she is very beautiful." Tom Perkins

...more here..Maltese Falcon ... hit or miss?