Vlad Murnikov:
The innovation making OceanFlyer possible is a fully rotating keel.
What about a keel that can cant more than 90 degrees? Would it be possible? And what would it look like? I have imagined a keel attached to a ring which in turn is wrapped around the boat, just as a wedding band is wrapped and can freely rotate around a finger.
This concept was conceived back in 2010, soon after the main SpeedDream idea, but it did look so radical and ahead of its time that I decided to put on the back burner, waiting until sailing world is ready for it. Luckily, the progress in high performance development has been lightning-fast and I believe it's time to introduce the OceanFlyer!
Gradually working on the idea I have filed a patent for the Ring Keel in 2013. Unlike conventional canting keel, there is no large opening in the hull and structural integrity is fully preserved. And with a modest internal motor you can rotate the ring and place the keel at any angle you want: 90 degrees, 120 degrees, anywhere you like.
OceanFlyer
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What does a keel that cants more than 90 degrees accomplish? Why would you want to do this?
One of the secrets behind the Moth dinghy phenomenal performance is the ability to tilt the boat to windward creating substantial amount of lift on the sail.
That makes the boat so dynamically stable allowing it to stay steady on the foils.
If we do the same with the OceanFlyer, we could fully foil the boat and sail barely clipping the waves’ tops. Combination of hydrofoils and lifting sail would make the boat dynamically extremely stable and less dependent of the sea state – and ideal solution for the ultimate offshore speed machine.
