Fury - Redefining Superyacht Sailing

Fury - a collaboration between Rob Doyle Design and Van Geest Design

The essence of sailing comes from feeling in control of the elements on a sailboat, it is something felt but not seen. It is amazing to sail through the water in the company of family and friends and this unique experience stays with you forever. You are now a sailor for life.

All sailors want to go faster and the larger the boats, the more luxury is demanded.

The genesis of this project is high performance, fanatical weight reduction and going full beam on the main deck to maximize interior volume. Currently on the market, a 60m to 63m sailing yacht will have a Gross Tonnage of 500gt max. We are pushing 705gt with this design (40% more) and this gives the owner a real gauge of the amount of space they are getting with this new generation of performance sailing yacht.

The envelope of Project Fury is defined by these principles and has resulted in an unique sailing yacht in all its aspects.

Performance:

We are pushing to the limits to keep weight off the boat with aluminium in the hull and carbon fibre in the superstructure thus achieving maximum performance but keeping an eye on costs.

A drop-down prop running on a DC bus diesel electric system and a swing keel performance centreboard, that acts as a long keel when up for motoring, give good directional stability and damping when at anchor. The idea of this project is to offer huge performance gains with an alloy hull (you do not always need to go carbon) and have race boat foils and rig package but still have a safe /clean deck that is client friendly.

Cost/Energy Management:

As the concept progressed it became apparent that yacht performance and onboard energy management were two areas which are highly interlinked. Creating a yacht with extremely high performance over a wide wind band has given us the opportunity to explore energy recovery from the propulsion system, which influences the energy storage and generator system capacity & performance. By taking unnecessary equipment off the boat (that has somehow got onto every superyacht and makes them expensive and complicated machines), we have simplified the systems (no roller furling boom etc). We are taking a step back to make a large leap forward.

Circulation while sailing:

Having seen developments in the round the world racing yachts where sailors are navigating fully inside and well protected and the other extreme of latest Americas Cup developments we came up with the general layout and workings of this concept. As the yachts are getting wider the deck spaces are also growing. The designation of functional areas is becoming an important factor. Areas for sailing and controlling the yacht are designed to be situated apart from the leisure areas. This will result in a safer circulation and environment for all on board.

Interior accommodation:

Interior volumes on sailing yachts have always been smaller than on similar sized motor yachts. In Project Fury we have addressed this and have achieved greater volumes. The interior space on this yacht is unlike any other yacht of similar length on the market that can also sail fast. In this design the owners stateroom measures 95m2 and the main salon is a staggering 130m2.

We have maximised the interior spaces for the owner and guests and pushed the engineering spaces to be as efficient as possible but still give a comfortable workspace for the crew to operate the vessel at the highest level.

The reason for the full beam interior main deck is that the side decks are the most expensive square meterage space that an owner and guest rarely get to use while sailing. This is due to the sail handling equipment etc. We have given the area back to the owner and guests.

Future:

The approach in Project Fury has been from the start “Why Not”. Just because superyachts are what they are now does not mean they should stay this way. New, never done before, seem impossible or too complicated when first suggested, are no reasons to rule it out. We were constantly looking at every aspect of the design and saying, “I know we do it this way normally but is there a better way?”

If we did not have to worry about any financial, practical, or technological limitations what would we do, then is that better then what we have and can we now make it work within the context of the limitations of the project.

This is why we truly believe that this project will redefine what a 63m sailing Superyacht can be, and we also know where we want to and can go next in this development.

If you wish to find out more about this project contact

Rob Doyle Design - Phone: +353 21 477 7628 or Email: [email protected]

or

Van Geest Design  - Phone: +31 20 845 2492 or Email: [email protected]