| Perini Navi | 88M | "Maltese Falcon" | 2006/23 |

Model Testing on YouTube

Recently there has been some interesting model testing with DynaRigs on Proas at YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NO385N9sqU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIm3DpxDzJ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYLkV4yOBcA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBzk5b3b7o

Coming to San Francisco Bay

If you love big boats and spectacles, you're going to love the this news from Tom Perkins of Belvedere:

"I want to let you know that Maltese Falcon will be arriving in San Francisco in late September, and will be on the Bay most of October. I will email you with the most likely time of day for our arrival under the bridge, when our ETA is clear. Atlantide will also be there."
(Atlantide is Perkins' 122-ft motoryacht that was built in 1930 and completely restored by Perkins in '99.)

Trust us, no sailor is going to want to miss that event.

Falcon, of course, is the 289-ft Maltese Falcon, which by most forms of measurement is the largest sailboat in the world. While Jim Clark's Athena and Barry Diller's Eos are both slightly longer, they are longer thanks to bowsprits, and have significantly shorter waterlines. In any event, thanks to Falcon's unique Dyna-Rig — she has three free-standing masts — she's been the most celebrated sailing yacht in memory.

"I am hoping to use Falcon to assist in the Leukemia Cup charity event on October 4 and 5," continues Perkins. "My friend Rupert Murdoch will be the
guest speaker the evening of October 4."

Murdoch is, of course, the owner of News Corp, which recently purchased The Wall Street Journal.

"You may have heard that Falcon has been for sale," Perkins writes. "She is now off the market, as I am taking on a 50% partner in the boat. The new co-owner requests confidentiality, so I can't share the name."

Falcon had been listed for sale at $180 million. And that's not a typo.

"I read with interest your story last month about Tom Perkins' 289-ft Maltese Falcon coming to San Francisco, and hoped to see her on a trip there at the end of the month," writes Mark Hazlett of Honolulu. "So I was startled this morning when I looked out my office window and saw Maltese Falcon motoring into Honolulu Harbor! Laurie Kilantang, my secretary, who is also a part-time photographer, took the accompanying photo. Compare the height of the Aloha Tower, which until the mid-'60s was the tallest structure in downtown Honolulu, with the height of Falcon's mast."

Tom Perkins sent an email with the latest plans for Falcon:

"We just arrived in Honolulu after a fast passage from Papeete. Unfortunately, we had to motor for a couple of days through the doldrums, so I gave up the plan to break the clipper record. Still, we had a good sail. Falcon will set sail on Sunday or Monday for San Francisco. She'll probably anchor in Drake's Bay to clean up after the passage before coming into the Bay. She'll then sail under the Golden Gate at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 27."

So mark you calendars, as it's going to be a tremendous sight. The pedestrian path on the east side of the Golden Gate Bridge would make an excellent viewing point.

Perkins adds that Falcon will be sailing the Bay in support of the Leukemia Cup on October 4 or 5.

Golden Gate arrival

Couple of YouTube recordings of her arrival under Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OENpqkU6Ihs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZIJnl1vm5c
The kid (@ about 55 seconds) aptly calls the sails "wings", falcon wings. Perkins would like that.

Super Toy, the new Super Falcon Sub

Tom Perkins’ quest for a super toy led him to Graham Hawkes’ laboratory. His personal account on the collaboration that resulted in a vessel with unprecedented agility and style.

Google is fantastic at finding things, and when started to look for a sports submersible, the name Graham Hawkes, the scientist/owner of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, popped up immediately. His idea for an underwater aeroplane that would “fly” swiftly to depths of hundreds of feet was totally unique and exciting compared with the underwater “balloons” that comprise virtually all of the alternatives.

Conventional submersibles are essentially underwater elevators that rise and sink by changing their buoyancy and they tend to creep along the bottom at very low speeds, unable to operate against even modest currents. I wanted a fighter jet, not a blimp! The idea of a swift winged sub that is always positively buoyant, and hence intrinsically safe, that could be used like a sports car for rapid dives and exploration with a minimum of preparation and effort, was sound.

Just one problem: while Graham had the patents for the idea of winged underwater flight, only prototypes had been built. If I wanted one, I would have to participate in its development. As baseball player Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” This would be a little like developing the DynaRig or the Maltese Falcon. It seems that I am addicted to such high-risk projects.

I met with Graham at his California laboratory, and with a handshake, I made the deal to proceed. I think one of the reasons I decided to go ahead was that, independently, and never having heard of me, Graham had named his new design the Super Falcon. It would be a perfect addition to our complement of toys aboard the yacht.

Oops, forgot their website

Deepflight.com
http://www.deepflight.com/index.htm

Maltese Falcon hit by credit crunch

The asking price of one the of world’s most stunning superyachts, the 88m (289ft) Maltese Falcon, appears to be suffering from the current market situation as its sale value has fallen nearly 40 per cent since it was first put on the market 15 months ago. The yacht can now be purchased for a mere €70m compared to its original €115m price tag.

Maltese Falcon was built by Perini Navi and completed in 2006 for US venture capitalist Tom Perkins. She carries 15 sails totalling 240Dm2, which allows her to cross the Atlantic in about 10 days. The yacht was in San Francisco in late May, sailing under the Golden Gate bridge as it celebrated its 72nd anniversary.

It is understood that Perkins has now moved on to other projects, hence her being available to a new owner. The yacht can accommodate 12 guests in five state rooms and a crew of up to 16. Coincidentty Maltese Falcon now flies the Maltese flag, having switched earlier this year from the Cayman Islands flag. The yacht has a berth in Grand Harbour Marina in Valletta and will be busy through the summer with a full programme of charters.

...Superyacht Business

Maybe Sold

Tom Perkins, prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist and ultra-millionaire, is close to finalizing the sale of his super yacht, the Maltese Falcon. The reported price tag: 60 million pounds ($101,531,400), according to the British newspaper The Times.

After nearly a year on the market, the price was trimmed from about $150 million, which is believed to be about what Perkins had paid for the boat.
-- SF Chronicle, read on:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=44839

Lady buys Maltese Falcon

Elena Ambrosiadou, Maltese Falcon's new owner:

In March the world's biggest, riskiest, fastest, most technologically advanced, single-hulled sailing mega yacht in the world, the Maltese Falcon, was listed for sale.

Silicon Valley magnate Tom Perkins had only had it built two years before.

Rumours abounded, everything from the story that it had been taken off the market to the tale that it had been sold to a mystery buyer. By September it was pretty clear that it had been sold, but still no word of the buyer. Finally the story came out, that the new owner was none other than one of the UK's most successful female entrepreneurs.

But Hedge-fund manager Elena Ambrosiadou says she won't have time to sail the boat. “I work 16 hours a day, seven days a week. I doubt if I’ll be spending much time on her,” she told the Times. Otherwise, the yacht can be chartered for £375,000 a week. “This is an enterprise,” she said.

Ambrosiadou, who grew up in Thessaloniki, in Greece, founded Ikos (which means “home” in her native language) in 1992, “when the hedge-fund industry was still in its maverick adolescence”, she told reporters. The fund, which began as a foreign exchange trading account with little more than £60,000, was conceived as a money-spinning sideline to her business career. A chemical engineer by training, she achieved early success at BP, becoming its youngest-ever senior international executive at 27. Her fortune is now estimated at £200million

Ambrosiadou, now 51, who divides her time between Cyprus, Greece and London, explained how, when she will not have time to use the yacht, she came to buy it: “I chartered her with some friends last year and then last April I crossed the Atlantic with Tom, which took eight days. I fell in love with her — everyone falls in love with her sleek lines and signature masts.” It is rumoured that she purchased the yacht for a mere £60million.

http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=62871&rid=11

Maybe it's me, but that's pure insanity.
Perhaps we all ask ourselves at one time or another in our lives, do you work to live, or live to work.

HELP finding photo(s) of small scale dynarig vessel

There were several scale models utilized in the development of the Maltese Falcon. One was a wind tunnel model, and another was a 1/6 scale model of a single panel of the rig that was then placed on a small sailing vessel for testing. I remember seeing one photo of that vessel, but I'm unable to relocate it...can I get some HELP please...thanks.

http://www.hiswasymposium.com/pdf/2004/Damon%20Roberts.pdf

A) extensive wind tunnel testing was carried out at the Wolfson Unit in Southampton. In addition to determining the rig coefficients, its performance was compared to similar sized yachts
B) a one sixth scale operational model of a single panel was developed to investigate the geometry details, the mechanical sail handling systems, and Sail shapes. Once this rig had been optimised it was transferred to a small sailing boat to allow sail trials to be carried out
C) a one 40th scale sailing model was used to investigate manoeuvrability under sail
D) a one sixth scale structural model of the mast built and tested to validate the laminate and the structural performance of the mast section under extreme loads

some recent photos


http://img707.imageshack.us/i/img047f.jpg/

http://img691.imageshack.us/i/img037k.jpg/

http://img15.imageshack.us/i/img053ci.jpg/

Great Collection of Photos

Have a look at this collection of photos recently posted...just had to cross-reference this:

Review by Capt. Chuck Gnaegy
Technical Narration by MF Build Engineer; Jed White

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/perini-navi-yacht/13488-review-perini-navi-289-clipper-yacht-maltese-falcon.html​

Looks like Richard Branson has followed in Tom's tracks to Mr Hawkes for a submersible of his own. This one needed to be superlight to put aboard Branson's new 105' catamaran.

Virgin Necker Nymph

I finally found that photo of the small test vessel that has eluded me so long.