As principal designers for two America’s Cup campaigns and our continous work on superyachts and racing boats, our offices have been successfully developing and operating cutting edge design technology for more than a decade.

These intensive research campaigns, particularly for the Il Moro di Venezia and Prada America’s Cup projects, have provided us with the opportunity to understand and refine the latest computational programming against the results of comprehensive wind tunnel and tank testing programs.

Today, we are working with several 3D programs, utilising PTC’s Pro Engineering and Pro Mechanica software in particular to design and produce 3D models for structural work and finite element analysis (FEA). This design loop is completed with the use of various velocity prediction programs (VPP) including our own highly developed in-house version of this and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program.

Of course, we continue to make extensive use of wind tunnel and tank testing research on special projects to prove and refine hull forms, rigs as well as keel and rudder appendages.

The creative process begins with a basic definition of the hull, appendages and sail plan configurations and continues through several optimization stages using CFD and FEA analysis, to reach an optimum solution to meet individual requirements. Tank and wind tunnel testing are also used when required, to prove new concepts.

Thanks to our success with these highly developed technology tools, we can apply both computational and practical skills to deliver the best solutions to a wide variety of briefs. These include our canting keel designs for both racing and cruising boats ranging in size from 30 to 110ft, to megayachts like “Hyperion”, “Unfurled” and “Rebecca”. This technology is also utilized just as efficiently in designs for day sailers, IMS racers ,cruisers and powerboats - all very different briefs that share the same highly developed performance potential.

These tools and our extensive practical experience on the water are of paramount importance when defining the parameters at the initial stages of each project as well as optimizing the finish design to meet each requirement.

Our goal in a world of continual progress is to utilize these tools to automate much of the practical design process to allow us to continually reach new heights in creative design to guarantees the owner’s investment.