Excellent article on Sail Magazine examining Multihull designer Nigel Irens design history and current projects

From the following article on Sail Magazine by Paul Gelder:

http://www.sailmagazine.com/racing/nigel-irens-designs-some-fastest-racing-multihulls

Tucked away down a narrow alley in the picturesque town of Ashburton, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in England, is a tiny building called the Tenter loft, a relic from the ancient wool industry when cloth was stretched on tenterhooks. It’s now the quirky office of British multihull designer Nigel Irens, the man behind some of the fastest sailing boats on the planet.

“The only things stretched in here are catamarans and trimarans,” says one of his team in a play on Irens’s maxim on multihull design that can be paraphrased as “design the longest boat you can possibly accept and then add a few feet.”

For 40 years, Irens has been at the cutting edge of multihull ocean racing. His name is on a string of record-setting catamarans and trimarans that are bywords among multihull aficionados everywhere, including ENZA, the 92-foot cat on which Peter Blake and Robin Knox-Johnston set the first Jules Verne sailing record in 1994; iDEC, on which Francis Joyon became the fastest man to circumnavigate solo; B&Q Castorama, on which Ellen Macarthur became not just the fastest woman around the world but, for a while, the fastest person, period. These and many other designs have long been celebrated as a kind of fusion of art and science. Irens’s designs, built for speed and endurance, have been called poems of flowing function, and for decades have been sought after by the hottest sailors on the race circuits.

read more here

35th America's Cup, Pete Melvin on writing the rule for the next Cup multihull

From the following article on americascup.com

http://www.americascup.com/en/news/48_Writing-the-Rule-Pete-Melvin-talks-about-the-next-Cup-boat.html

Pete Melvin has come a long way since the first boat he built as a 6-year old, which, unfortunately, would not float.

But he didn’t let that initial setback discourage him. Now a respected and successful sailor, designer and engineer, Melvin has been hired by the Defender and Challenger of Record of the 35th America’s Cup and tasked with coming up with the class rule for a second consecutive time.

“The process is to listen to the requests and desires of the Defender and Challenger of Record, which includes reducing the costs of the boats and in fact of the entire campaign. On the boat side, that means smaller boats, with less crew, and less personnel involved in design, logistics, and reduced construction costs,” Melvin says.

“We are looking at concepts that are similar to the AC72 - a foiling cat with wingsail. The consensus from teams is that this was a good concept and we want a smaller version in the 60 to 65 foot range. We’re looking at various ratios of beam to length and wing size and power and running VPPs on those boats to see performance, speed, controllability etc.

read more here

New event "The Foiling Week" to be held at Lake Garda, Italy in July 2014

From the following article submitted to Sail-World by Domenico Boffi

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=117774&refre=y&ntid=0&rid=1

The Foiling Week is a new event dedicated to amazing foiling boats, their designers, builders and athletes, taking place across Lake Garda, Italy from various beautiful sailing clubs in July 2014.

- July 4-6th Eurocup and Italian Moth Championship

- July 7-9th Forum, Course Racing, Speed Testing, Ideas Exchange and New Boats!

For all classes - from kite foilers to amazing big catamarans.

There will be a forum with foiling experts that will exchange ideas, theories and experiences with a chance to see amazing foilers up-close and see the latest in performance. Brand new foiling concept boats and production boats will be available for testing!

- July 10-12th Full Foiling Catamaran Racing: Spectacular foiling boats do battle on the water

Events are open to all sailing and foiling enthusiasts willing to share, compare and learn. You can come and watch the racing from shore or spectator boats, listen to the conferences with America’s cup gurus and Olympic athletes, try first hand and buy production boats, or simply come for the fun.

read more here

Dick Newick, multihull design pioneer across the bar

Multihull designer and luminary Dick Newick has passed away.  Dick brought a special flair to multihulls with his seaworthy craft and their organic forms and graceful design.  A cheerful smile and a strong intellect rounded out an individual with a special gift.  Just a few of Dick's better known designs are the "Atlantic" proa Cheers and the trimarans Moxie, Rogue Wave, Third Turtle and Ocean Surfer.  He was active till the end and attended the Golden Oldies Trophy event in May along with Marc Van Petegham, James Wharram and Hanneke Boon. 




Dick Newick third from left, Photo courtesy Stephane

An excellent article by Steven Callahan traces many of Dick's achievements in multihull design
http://www.stevencallahan.net/images/proboat/newick-dec2010.pdf