Quant23, the “pop” revolution of flying boats

The Dynamic Stability System (DSS) launched and tested in Cowes the Quant23, the first boat with a keel that can sail “full foiling,” meaning completely out of the water, easy to handle and therefore “open to all” (the ease of scuffing, ballasting, and the extreme physicality needed for foil-equipped boats, to date, has been a limitation to their widespread use). Designer Hugh Welbourn, in collaboration with Gordon Kay, spent ten years studying and developing the DSS, the system that uses two retractable appendages placed laterally in the middle of the hull and is an alternative to the canting keel (the most famous hull using them is Wild Oats XI, Bob Oatley’s maxi). Like the pendulum keel, it has the function of increasing the stability of the boat and thus its speed.

SO FLIES THE QUANT23
The latest versions of the DSS not only serve to increase righting moment, but also generate a vertical upward hydrodynamic force (lift) that, in combination with a “T” foil rudder blade, allows the Quant23 (the first boat to mount the new DSS) to sail lifted out of the water. The “drift” is the latest in the series of sport boats designed by Welbourn for QuantBoats, the Swiss shipyard that gave birth to the Quant28 and Quant30.

POTENTIAL TO BE EXPLOITED
“Our current team,” said Michael Aeppli of QuantBoats, “is the most experienced ever when it comes to DSS-equipped boats. Because we have spent so much time aboard boats mounting this system, we realized there was a lot of potential: among them the ability to ‘fly.’ Those who were on board the Quant28 could feel that the boat came close, even though it was not designed to do so.”.

IN TEN MINUTES YOU ARE FLYING
Although the Quant23 is a foiling boat (albeit one with a keel), Welbourn is keen to point out how it is conceptually different from a Moth, AC72 or GC32: unlike these, which require great physical, athletic and technical prowess, the Swiss 23-footer is a solution for everyone. “You get on it, and 10 minutes later, without realizing it, you’re already flying,” Welbourn says.

leggi anche

Classic Boat Cult | Scandinavian Icons: 5 Masterpieces by Olle Enderlein

AT 10 KNOTS IT ALREADY FLIES …
In terms of performance, the designer is convinced that the Quant23 can comfortably reach 25 knots: what is impressive, however, is the hull’s ability to rise in the air, upwind, as early as 10 knots of speed.

THE SECRETS TO “QUIET FOILING”
The goal was not to create the fastest foiler in the world, but an easy-to-handle hull capable of holding itself stably in the air. “The boat does 90 percent of the work,” Aeppli argues.. Part of the secret lies in the inherent stability of the new DSS foils, which is greater than that provided by the “traditional” inverted-T configuration. According to Welbourn, with the section, proportions, and length of the foil the boat is designed to “take off” faster rather than achieve a higher final speed (this would require smaller foils with a less powerful section). “It’s all about finding the best balance between what allows a boat with a crew of three and a 60-pound bulb to fly, without excessive ‘shocks’.”

BETWEEN SCOW AND FIREBALL
If full foiling is the feature that jumps out at the Quant23’s eye, let’s not forget its look that winks at American scows and Fireballs, with a very low freeboard hull with side edges and a rounded hull with the volume far forward. The shape of the boat is a function of stability: “You don’t even need to shift crew weight back and forth to change the draft of the foils,” Welbourn concludes. For now, it is still a prototype, still going through numerous tests in Switzerland, and it is yet to be seen how much it will cost. But the stone is thrown…
www.quant-boats.com www.quant-boats.com
www.dynamicstabilitysystems.com