Autumn Sailing & Final Year Project

It's beginning to get darker and colder here in the UK. This morning was the end of daylight savings which means winter is nearly upon us! Yesterday, I went sailing on The Solent with one of my housemates and another guy. It was cold so I bundeled up with my trsty Seahawks beanie (Go Hawks) and some foulies. The boat we are lucky enough to sail on is a Westerly Konsort. The Westerly Konsort is quite a small boat at 29' in length yet she weighs 4 Tonnes which gives her the deck and interior space of a much larger boat. Most Konsorts have bilge keels which gives them a mere 3' draft and the ability to dry out. The bilge keels do reduce sailing performance substantially but these boats are not really on the water to race. We hit 8.5 knots on our way from Cowes to Lymington which is quite speedy for a Konsort.

For my final year project, I am working on the preliminary design and production philosophy of a 85' (26m) dinner cruise/ tour vessel. I choose a dinner cruise vessel because it will allow me to apply knowledge from my Yacht Design course on a commercial vessel. I plan to check the vessel's structure using Lloyds Special Service Craft Code and design in U.S.C.G. Subchapter T compliance. For the production side of things, I will be working out how to build the vessel simply and affordably. I hope to render some important construction milestones using Rhino 3D. As with all school projects, I am unable to share specific details of my project online yet I hope to post monthly updates on my site.