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Yacht Design is less Fine Art and
more Performance Art...
Actually Juggling comes to mind.
Designing a good boat
requires more than simply aligning a variety of technical criteria till
they form some text book cartoon of how a boat should look, be built or
even perform. To be a good boat, you see, the boat must also be a good
boat for someone. That is where the real challenge in design
lies. Of course every owner (and every designer) wants a boat that is
beautiful to behold, a capable performer, and perfectly safe. As the
list of additional demands inevitably grows, however, all aspects of the
boat become subject to compromise.
The best boat for speed
would not be the best boat for comfort in a seaway, and neither would
probably be the best boat for comfortable accommodations. The same could
be said for hundreds of other features common aboard today’s cruising
yachts. The skill resides in balancing all of these competing elements
so that one does not inappropriately dominate. Sometimes cost or
interior volume must suffer a bit for an owner who wants higher speed.
The profile might get higher than you’d like to accommodate that six
foot plus owner. Carrying huge interiors or huge fuel loads will cut
into efficiency. But these are not so much shortcomings of the vessel as
they are an indication of strengths that were considered most important
to a given owner. Some folks drive sports cars. Some drive SUVs. Both
can be great, just know the difference.
Every boat is a compromise:
old bromide. Actually every element of boat design is a compromise.
That’s okay. Don’t be too concerned about trade offs if the resulting
boat does what you need it to do. Be more concerned if someone tells you
they have a boat that does it all. Remember, even the best jugglers can
only keep a limited number of balls in the air.
But then that’s just my
opinion. |
