We were invited for the third episode of YachtTalk organised by Heesen Yachts. For this show the central topic is the sustainable future of yachting. Perry van Oossanen MD Van Oossanen Naval Architect, shared his thoughts on the most efficient yacht of the future.
Perry was joined by Robert van Tol of Water Revolution Foundation and Enrico Della Valentina of MARIN. They all unanimously agreed that the yachting industry needs to speed up its sustainable initiatives and take a proactive approach. It also requires a collaborative stance that allows for research and development to be shared more openly – both successes and mistakes – to enable completely emission-free yachts within the next two decades.
Efficient design
Hailing from a family of naval architects, Van Oossanen has efficient design in his blood. He strongly believes that research and development is the only way to stay ahead of the game, and dedicates a quarter of Van Oossanen Naval Architect’s in-house capacity to R&D.
Perry said: “We have some of the smartest people in the industry looking at CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and how water moves around the hull, and we’re currently working on hydrofoils and new hull designs”.
For Van Oossanen, fuel economy directly correlates to hull efficiency. Optimising hull forms has also long been a prime focus for Heesen, and when twinned with lightweight aluminium construction and hybrid propulsion has resulted in efficiency gains of 20% or more. But in the wider yachting sphere hull efficiency is still regularly overlooked.
“Over the past two decades, we have made some huge advances in reducing resistance in hull design, but many new builds in the market don’t always apply the latest developments and are fairly old fashioned,” he said.
One reason for this anomaly is the consensus that yachts are considered “floating apartments” and therefore optimal design when under way is not taken into consideration. Another explanation is scepticism in the market.