[brian eiland]

Lets see its been about 2.5 months since we've heard from Maltese on this forum ?? Seems strange.

I even sent a private message to Jed about my new DynaRig MotorSailer, only to receive no response

So I thought a posting here was in order.

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/ge...torsailer.html

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/ge...ernatives.html

Website presentation:
http://www.runningtideyachts.com/dynarig/

...and finally one dwg

[jediwhite]

Sorry to all for the lack of Falcon news but I've been on a long awaited holiday and still away from the sea now!!
I've left the full time employ of the 'Falcon' and now relief and refit help only so very little news will be forthcoming from me in the future just comments like everyone else.
Thanks for all your interest in the last three years and hopefully we can keep this thread running for a while yet.

[brian eiland]

Thanks for your update Jed, it has been awfully quite from that camp.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've not even seen an update on their own website??

[YachtNews]

Originally Posted by brian eiland

Thanks for your update Jed, it has been awfully quite from that camp.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've not even seen an update on their own website??

No, you are correct, Brian, there has been no update to the Falcon's website in months...i have been checking that website nearly every week for that last couple months and seen nothing! It is almost becoming like the old Perini Navi website.

[brian eiland]

In the Feb issue of Yachting World, a gentleman wrote in this observation,
"I read with interest the extraordinary description of Maltese Falcon and was intrigued by the the aerial picture of the yacht. The author suggest the yacht sails very well, but judging by the turbulence on her starboard quarter I wonder whether this is indeed the case. It would appear that there's quite a lot of starboard rudder creating all of that 'lemonade'....perhaps the yacht is about to be put through a tack, but if not I wonder what is going on?

This past April issue brought a responce from the owner, Tom Perkins. "This photo was taken before the wind came up and the boat was still motoring with the starboard engine, hence the strange wake. She commenced sailing shortly after the photo was taken. (BTW) Your January article remains the best on the boat....

Brian added: Check out the size of those props, but they are CP units that should minimize drag when adjusted properly

[brian eiland]

Maltese Falcon Breaks Cutty Sark's Record
May 2 - Azores

We received the following email yesterday from our good friend Tom Perkins aboard his amazing 287-ft yacht Maltese Falcon:

"Just a quick note from East of the Azores. I'm happy to report that the Falcon has just broken the Cutty Sark's best 24-hour run. The Cutty did 362 nautical miles and we've done 380. I believe the Cutty's record has never been broken by a square rigger . . . until today. The wind's averaged about 27 knots and the forecast is for slightly stronger winds into Gibraltar, so we'll be shooting to break 400 miles tomorrow."

It's an interesting contrast that the Cutty required a crew of nearly 30 men while Falcon can be sailed at the push of a few buttons by just one man.

- latitude / ld

[Norseman]

"Just a quick note from East of the Azores. I'm happy to report that the Falcon has just broken the Cutty Sark's best 24-hour run. The Cutty did 362 nautical miles and we've done 380. I believe the Cutty's record has never been broken by a square rigger . . . until today. The wind's averaged about 27 knots and the forecast is for slightly stronger winds into Gibraltar, so we'll be shooting to break 400 miles tomorrow."

It's an interesting contrast that the Cutty required a crew of nearly 30 men while Falcon can be sailed at the push of a few buttons by just one man.

Wonder if the record run by Cutty Sark was in ballast, or with a full load of Tea?

If memory serves right, she could do 19. 5 knots in steady winds.

[YachtNews]

19.5 knots is good for the Cutty Sark. The MFsails at 18 to 19 knots pretty easilly with the right kind of winds in her sheets but did you realise that the Falcon has done 24.8 knots sailing. No engine power. That Dynarig is amazing. It has so much potential and has proven itself. I would like to see it employed more. I know that Perini Navi has a project in the pipeline that calls for this rig but on a slightly smaller scale.

[Norseman]

but did you realise that the Falcon has done 24.8 knots sailing. No engine power.

No...Thats pretty fast for a mono-hull.

How many engine HP would it take to get 24.8 on the speedo?

(The biggest sailing ship ever was a German full rigger, some engineers estiated her sails generated 5000 HP.)

[YachtNews]

Originally Posted by Norseman

No...Thats pretty fast for a mono-hull.

How many engine HP would it take to get 24.8 on the speedo?

(The biggest sailing ship ever was a German full rigger, some engineers estiated her sails generated 5000 HP.)

Why bother calculating engine HP when tou could harness the wind. Renewable energy instead of polluting with exhaust but yes MF is quick undersail. I seen video clips of the Mirabella V sailing doing about 17-18 knots and it is a blistering pace to see a 240 foot yacht blitzing through the ocean like that. I would love to see the Falcon doing 24 knots in person, would be an awesome sight.

[brian eiland]

Here is one of my thoughts on reducing the cost and complexity of the Maltese arrangement as expressed to a recent client inquiry:

In reference to our phone conversation last week about a 40-ish multihull for your charter business, and your inquiry about my Dynarig catamaran, I offer a few quick observations.

Unlike my 'single-masted ketch' design that I feel is not necessarily appropriate for a vessel of less than 45 feet, the DynaRig is appropriate for this smaller size vessel. In fact a '3-panel' dynarig might be considered rather than the 4 panels of my new 63 foot DynaRig cat design, or the 5 panels of Falcon. However, I would still favor the 4 panel configuration, as it offers more variation in reef-able sail areas. And with my simplified sail furling mechanisms, it doesn't add that much weight or complication to the overall rig.

Falcon's dynarig was complicated by requiring the sails to be furled up inside the mast thru a hollow slot on one side;

1) the mast itself needed a slot in itself all the way down one side of the already weaker side of an elliptical cross-section. This necessitated an internal structure be built into the carbon mast section to reinforce it at the slot area

2) the furling mechanism then needed to be built inside the mast section, and a complicated track mechanism was required to guide the edges of the sails out onto the bridges to the yardarms & the yardarms themselves



I am proposing a much simpler furling and track mechanism for this modern square-rigger concept:

1) The mast will not have internal stowage of the sails, so no slot is required, nor internal support structure. It will be a simple elliptical section that will taper at either end to a smaller section at the top and a circular section at the bottom...not that much more complicated than an ordinary carbon mast for a sloop rigged vessel with a mainsail attached. It might also be a 'sealed unit' for ultimate flotation purposes.

2) Each rectangular sail will furl around a 'wire' (PBO, Kevlar, Spectra, carbon, etc) sewn across its mid-girth, and having eyes at both ends that clevis pin into 'continuous line furling drums' as you might find on Code' type reaching sails. The sails are constructed of low-tech, light-weight ordinary Dacron, and are of such relatively small dimensions that when furled around a very small diameter 'wire', they present a very small diameter package to the elements when 'stowed away'. Each individual sail panel can be quickly and easily replaced, and inexpensively as well.

3) The furling drums are incorporated into the leading edges of the yardarms/bridges so as to present less windage, and they are 'stacked' up vertically end to end in a line such that they 'share' bearings at either end. One small electric motor drives each panel for furling. For each panel of sail there are two (top & bottom) additional motors to unfurl the sail.

4) The yardarm 'bridges' can be shorter in length than Falcon's with many inherent advantages including the more readily usable 'forestay arrangement' with or without a 'code' type reaching sail. Shorter lever arms requires less power to rotate the rig as a whole.

5) Three of the yardarms are of equal length thus less production cost...in fact probably these three would be only slightly more expensive than the elaborate furling/stowing booms now found on many 'ordinary', modern, short-handed sloop rigs.

6) The low-tech, Dacron sails of this rig should present some considerable savings over those modern sails for Bermudan rigs, and help offset the other initial extra cost of the Dynarig.

7) The sealed mast and yardarms could offer the flotation for the ultimate non-capsizing protection.

These proposed changes to the original Falcon's interpretation of the DynaRig concept should result in a less expensive version, which is just as viable in sailing characteristics as the Maltese Falcon is proving to be.

[brian eiland]

The June/July 07 issue of ShowBoats is out and Maltese falcon certainly picked up her share of the accolades:

MOST INNOVATIVE SAILING YACHT

BEST SAILING YACHT OVER 40 METERS

BEST SAILING YACHT INTERIOR

HIGHEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A SAILING YACHT

[brian eiland]

A few shots of Maltese Falcon in motion.
SuperYachts at Antique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtRwnVIKf0M&NR=1

It's quite surprising there are not more of these video sightings considering the press this vessel has garnered??

[YachtNews]

I know this clip, I watched it on youtube already. I just can't get over it.. when i see a rig that huge just harnessing the power of the wind.. its a beautiful thing.

[YachtNews]

The Maltese Falcon model that was underconstruction by Rob H. Eddy is completed..
Here is that link..
http://www.yachtmodels.com/maltesefa...tesemain.html#