....a letter I recently wrote to the creators of MITseaAh...
Liebowitz & Pritchard
Washington, NY
www.LParch.com
Pedrick Yacht Designs
Newport, RI
www.PedrickYachts.com
Dear Sirs;
I was just looking thru the latest BOAT USA International mag (Mar/Apr 05 issue), and came upon a sizable article about the new “MITseaAH” motor sailing vessel. This unusual and challenging design is receiving quite a bit of boating press at present, and apparently a lot of interest at this past years’ Ft. Lauderdale boat show. There was also a very good, extensive article & illustrations in the Apr 04 issue of Yachting World.
What I find particularly interesting is the fact that an owner of a power vessel (and 5 previous ones) would commit to a new vessel design with a sailing rig on it!! Usually it’s the other way around, a case of an older sailor finally converting to a power vessel. Sure wish I could find such a progressive individual to consider building my power-sailing, gamefishing/motorsailing design
www.RunningTideYachts.com/gamefishing/
I applaud most all attempts to resurrect the motorsailer concept, as I feel it has been a sorely neglected subject in this modern boating world. Witness again my website reference,
www.RunningTideYachts.com/motorsailing/, and the attached document I created for this past year’s Miami BoatShow, “Motorsailing Catamaran Concept”. The latest doubling of the crude oil prices might just spur more developments in the motorsailor arena.
Back to the subject of the vessel “MITseaAH”. I really can appreciate the extraordinary efforts on the behalf of the creators of this vessel. They were really challenged to develop solutions to a tough number of requirements by the client. And they managed to come up with some very unique solutions.
But here I would like to offer an alternative solution to satisfy that owner’s requirements. First lets look at some of his major requirements:
1) the sailing rig needs to pass under a 127' high bridge for visits to the Statue of Liberty
2) shallow draft to be able to moor in front of his house on Long Island in water of 7 foot depth
3) shallow draft to visit some of ‘his favorite locations’, and ‘root out those shallow anchorages’
4) top speed under power of at least 25 knots
5) sail well & power well (I think the ‘sail well’ portion was an added challenge of the designers)
6) accommodations for owner and up to ten guest
7) maximize usable deck space for guest
8) luxury of his present yacht
I submit that all of these requirements could have been met by a 100-120 foot catamaran
motorsailing vessel. For an example have a look at “Douce France” <
http://www.charterbrochure.com/doucefrance/index.shtml> , <
http://www.admirals.com/doucefrance/> . Now this vessel utilizes a two-masted ketch style sailing rig that might seem a little complicated for an owner not accustomed to sails. How about if we replaced that with my ‘single-masted ketch’ rig. <
http://www.runningtideyachts.com/sail/> Everything roller-furls, no hoisting of sails, no stowing of sails, nor extensions of the mast height, a much more simple rig to build and operate. At the 127' upper limit it would look ‘in proportion’ (aesthetics) on a catamaran from 100 to 120 feet. And its lower center of effort (than a sloop) could allow for the use of a smaller beam to maintain sailing stability.
With reference to the subject of stability look at the massive efforts and expense on MitSeaAh. A 15 ton lead bulb, suspended on a stainless fin keel (total 24 tons), that pivots up on precision-machined bearing blocks from a 21 foot draft to 7.5 feet. Special hydraulics to raise and lower the keel, as well as special hydraulic vaporizing considerations to account for the ‘accidental grounding’ of this huge assembly. And then a big hole up in the accommodations to accept the retracted keel. All of this is totally unnecessary on the big catamaran, as it gains its stability by a spread-out- form, saving tons of weight, cost, and complication, and damage potential. Plus we don’t need stabilizers at all, nor their complications, particularly those autogyro-controlled flaps on MITseaAH. And our draft could be as little as 4.5 to 5 feet.
There are also a few massive efforts expended to attain a powering speed of 25 knots; two huge 12 cyl 3500 hp diesels, 204,000 gal fuel supply tanks, Servogear, computer-controlled, variable- pitch 4' dia props, and a very complicated bottom configuration with recesses to accommodate the big props, plus huge hydraulic rams to control the two vast trim tabs extending across the whole width of the transom, and finally a complicated retracting rudder system to operate in the area of these trim tabs. Sure sounds extremely complicated , expensive, and HEAVY. That much HP, and that much fuel, reminds me of another article I included in the archives of my website, “The Need For Speed” <
http://www.runningtideyachts.com/art...dforspeed.html>, wherein there is a discussion of the ever spiraling need for bigger engines to carry the ever increasing load of fuel required by the bigger engines. (in this case for some modern game fishing vessels).
I would venture to guess that the alternative big catamaran design might have only required twin engines as small as 600 HP.....or lets go with a big extra margin and chose twin 1000 HP’s. Total, 2000 HP verses 7000 HP!! Quite a difference in fuel needs, weight needs, space needs, and propulsion gear sizing and configuration. And what about all of that extra aux power required to run the hydraulics required for MITseaAH’s trim tabs, auto-gyro flaps, controllable pitch props, keel control, extendable mast, etc, etc I know which vessel I would rather be charged with maintaining in good working order.
Please excuse me just a moment while I digress to consider the fuel needs of these big engines. The owner looks forward to trips from Long Island, NY and Newport, RI to Bermuda. I believe it has been estimated that MITseaAh will burn about 60 % of her fuel load on this 25kt dash out the 630 miles from Newport to Bermuda. That works out to about 122,400 gal or about 200 gal/mile. At an average approaching $3.5 per gal (between here and Bermuda) this trip will run about $428K per one way trip. I’ll bet we could have cut this bill SUBSTANTIALLY with the catamaran hull form. And we might have been capable of maintaining a higher average transit speed in adverse conditions.
Per the requirements for 10 guest (5 staterooms) plus owner, and lots of deck space, I don’t think there is much doubt this can all be achieved in the catamaran; and in very nice privacy manner. Luxury can be provided as well, particularly with attention to light weight construction as desired by the multihull vessel, and utilized on MitSeaAh.
Excessive beam is the one attribute of a catamaran most sighted as a negative aspect, particularly in finding docking space. But in this case I detected an owner willing to ‘moor’ his vessel in front of his home, and I imagine he might be willing to do so in Bermuda, Newport, Nantucket, etc when available dock space is limited, or NA on short term notice. He has the toys onboard, and the nice stern boarding platform to make this connection with shore readily accessible.
As I look back over this letter I almost feel the need to apologize for the negative overtones I’ve conveyed on MITseaAH. On the contrary, I really appreciate the efforts of her creators to solve the problems and produce a very unique new yacht. I can only hope the next time they are presented such a challenge, that they give some consideration to the catamaran vessel form.
Regards,
Brian Eiland
in this day and age
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