The well-known Tripp-designed and Nautor Swan built custom cruiser-racer Valkyrie is on the market…

For the past half a century Nautor Swan have earned a reputation for producing some of the world’s finest cruiser-racers. Swans have generally been produced in series production, with small refinements available to meet an owner’s individual taste. And while these production models are carefully chosen and developed to meet the demand in specific market niches, occasionally there is a unique project that Nautor Swan takes on on a custom basis, which presents the opportunity to welcome a unique yacht to the Nautor CV.

It was on this basis that, in 2007, the design office of Bill Tripp produced Valkyrie, a 78ft modern cruiser-racer that offers its owner great luxury and style while retaining much of the pedigree of a modern race yacht. The build materials, for example, are the same as those used in custom raceboats: pre-preg carbon fibre over a foam core for the hull and deck. This materials mix delivers plentiful strength and stiffness while helping to keep this large yacht’s displacement down to just 38,000kg. Meanwhile, a generous sail area deployed on the yacht’s carbon rig gives a sail area/displacement ratio that ensures impressive performance in all conditions.

Dubbed a ‘café racer’ by Tripp, this fast, sleek and comfortable custom yacht features a flush deck, powerful winch package and innovative line-handling systems so that in both racing and cruising modes the teak decks remain clutter-free. In a nod to the dualpurpose nature of this performance yacht the long carbon bowsprit retracts into the bow to keep both anchoring and mooring easy.

‘Valkyrie has been all we wanted her to be, a very fast sailing yacht capable of racing with the greatest yachts in the grandest races and a comfortable cruiser that is equally happy at anchor in a deserted cove in Croatia with our family’ – Will & Beth Apold. Famous for series yachts, it is logical that Nautor Swan offer the same build experience to a very select group of customers for a one-off custom yacht

Another such nod is seen in Valkyrie’s ability to change draft from keel-up cruising mode of only 2.8m to keel-down racing mode of 4.4m. The extra depth, not available to many cruiser-racers at this size, helps to transform the yacht’s performance in a racing situation. She’s equally at home lounging at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Port Cervo as she is power reaching on the RORC Transatlantic Race.

The sail wardrobe is also more typical for a raceboat: she has multiple headsails and spinnakers, including Code Zeros, all built in carbon laminates from Quantum. These give the boat a broad versatility in performance for all inshore and offshore racing needs. The Offshore Spars carbon mast and boom of intermediate modulus carbon is supported with Future Fibres PBO standing rigging and a carbon headsail foil to enhance mechanical stability while the sophisticated Harken and Cariboni Magic Trim sail-handling systems are driven by hydraulic push-button controls for ease of use by a reduced crew.

Efficient sail-handling systems may contribute to performance but it is as likely to be the interior of this yacht that appeals just as much to a new owner. A bright open interior may facilitate sail stowage when racing but, more importantly, it offers a spacious, airy feel when moored up and entertaining family and friends.

It is the craftsmanship of the woodworking shop at Nautor that for many is the most memorable feature of any Swan, and on Valkyrie this is evident everywhere that you look. Use of mainly European maple and Brazilian cherry is prevalent, all finished (and well-maintained) with satin varnish. The cabin sole is of PVC-sandwich construction with a Brazilian cherry veneered upper surface. As you would expect, all the joinery is beautifully finished with soft, rounded corners and capable, but understated fiddles to retain items when heeled. The central, open saloon is capable of hosting six to eight guests and is upholstered in elegant and contemporary dark grey leather.

While Valkyrie is created in carbon fibre to make her lightweight, strong and fast, she is also a fully fitted cruising yacht with all the amenities that implies in today’s market. These include full galley facilities, washer and dryer, separate owner, guest and crew quarters, generous water, waste and fuel tankage capacities, 24V DC and 230V AC electrical systems and hydraulic pump systems driven by a diesel 15kW genset, retractable bow thruster, twin 32,000 BTU air-conditioning systems, and so on.

For navigation there is a B&G H5000 instrument package with multiple displays on deck, a 4G radar and antenna mounted on the starboard spreader, Cappuccino low-power computer system and Iridium 9555 satcom.

One of the few truly perfect dual-purpose yachts of the size currently available, all immersed in Nautor Swan pedigree.

Click here for more information on Nautor Swan »

High-performing, reliable, lightweight and strong offshore rigs, every one built within the narrowest range of engineering tolerances. No problem…

When it comes to sailing races and sporting challenges, very little compares with the Volvo Ocean Race. And that challenge is wholly passed on in the requirements the race organisers place on the rig suppliers to the current VO65 fleet, Southern Spars.

The Kiwi sparmaker – whose reputation for getting things right first time was recently added to with their build of Team New Zealand’s winning America’s Cup catamaran – had a dream start in the round the world event that was then known as The Whitbread. Peter Blake’s Steinlager 2 sported twin rigs that were the first ever produced by Southern Spars for a round the world race competitor. Blake’s effort that year would go down as the most dominant ever in round the world racing when ‘Big Red’ went on to win every leg – a feat unmatched before or since.

Then things took off.

By the next event, raced in 1993- 94, Southern Spars produced rigs for six teams, including both the Maxi and Whitbread 60 division winners, NZ Endeavour and Yamaha.

And the story has continued to grow, Southern Spars having so far supplied masts to a total of 46 competing teams. With a list of past customers that includes seven of the last nine winning teams in the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race it is surely no exaggeration to say that winning teams choose Southern Spars!

So how is one company so successful in an event in which, before the advent of the VO65 one-design in 2012, teams were each pouring tens of thousands of dollars into developing their own technical innovations to give themselves a small competitive edge wherever it could be found?

‘We understand this race,’ says company founder and director Mark Hauser – who sailed on the winner of the 1993-94 Whitbread Race. ‘If you look around our offices, so many of the people here have a history with it. That understanding of what the people and the boats go through is instrumental in helping us work with the teams to produce a mast that is not only fast, but will get them around the track in one piece.’

Following the 2011-12 race, where Telefónica and Camper were the only Volvo 70s to lap the planet without a major rig failure, and were also the only boats to have a full Southern Spars mast and rigging package, Southern Spars were selected to supply the one-design masts for the 2014-15 VO65 fleet.

The one-design nature of the new yachts would mean that the absolute strictest of design and manufacture parameters would have to be maintained to make sure that all of the 11 masts supplied to the race were identical. For two masts to be the same, exactly the same, there are many things to consider. The most obvious and easy to control is of course the geometry, the length of the tube and the location of the fittings. However, other factors like weight, centre of gravity and bend profile, all critical to performance, are much harder to control.

‘For everything that we manufacture we apply a stringent array of checks – these start with ensuring that the physical material we put into a spar is up to standard and is going to behave the way that we expect,’ says Dr Chris Hickey, Southern Spars’ head of Materials and Process Engineering.

Above: having used their spar making skills to deliver a complete America’s Cup-winning catamaran (their first boat) it’s back to business as usual at Southern Spars. As the laminate layers get thinner and thinner with the use of Thin Ply Technology (TPT) it’s more essential than ever to automate production to ease issues of accuracy and also the physical handling of such fine materials. But there’s plenty of scope still (below) for human input

‘For every batch of raw pre-preg carbon fibre we test the weight, resin content, tack, bleed, glass transition temperature, interlaminar shear strength and cured ply thickness, before it is released for production. Then, for each mast we manufacture, a witness panel manufactured in parallel with the mast is tested again for glass transition temperature, interlaminar shear strength and cured ply thickness. This guarantees the as-built mast meets our precise specifications.’

Ensuring that the material that goes into each mast is the same is the first step in making sure the final products will be within the one per cent accuracy window set down by Volvo Ocean Race management.

As the raw material is laid into the mast moulds, every individual layer is then checked and signed off, making sure that it is in the right place with the right orientation (within the moulds themselves there are also a series of datum marks used later as reference points for the accurate placement of fittings).

Once cooked, each tube is NDT tested with ultrasound to check that the finished laminate meets expectations throughout. The weight of the mast shells and every component that goes onto them is also weighed at every stage and tracked to ensure each spar remains within that magic one per cent.

‘Once the masts are into the fit-out stage we slot them into a set of cradles that are bolted to the floor, and then line up all of our jigs,’ says Lance Manson, Southern Spars’ project manager for the Volvo masts. ‘The jigs make up a series of guides for cutting and drilling holes and they get aligned with the datums. There are jig sets for all of the fittings, spreader roots, rigging attachment points and everything else, so that they come out of the shop millimetre perfect.

‘We go to great lengths to make sure these rigs really are all the same,’ says Lance. ‘Everything about them as they go through manufacture is weighed and checked and recorded in their own file, known as a Blue Book. It’s extremely important that we get the one-design aspect of the masts correct.

‘All of the sailors want to know they have got a mast that is just as good as the rest of the fleet, so we put a massive emphasis on it because we want to be sure that it is a fair race. It’s the same as it is with the hulls and the sails. Sure, the sailors need an even platform… but they also need to believe that they have that even platform.’

The average weight of the 11 complete masts delivered for the 2014-15 race was 415.2kg. The difference in weight between the lightest and heaviest just 1.35kg, or 0.32 per cent. The tube length of those masts is 28.4m, however the range in the balance point, or centre of gravity among the masts is only 30mm, which makes them identical to 0.12 per cent.

In terms of bend profile, before leaving the factory the rigs are supported at either end and a 400kg weight is suspended from the middle and bend response carefully mapped. The range of bending deflections across the 11 spars was recorded at just 1.4mm. On a spar nearly 30m in length…

The proven repeatability of the Southern Spars process was a key to winning the contract to build a new round of masts for the 2017-18 race. Teams were given an option of using the existing mast in their allocated boat or buying a new one, which all but two teams chose to do.

However, one-design is not the only thing on Southern Spars’ mind. ‘Safety is of the utmost importance for us too,’ says Lance. ‘Not just on these masts, but in all of the masts we make.

‘In the conditions these guys are going into there aren’t any second chances; we have to make sure the masts and the rigging are safe. The rigs get pushed hard, harder now because of the one-design nature of the current race – whoever can push the hardest for the longest is going to win. As long, of course, as they are pushing in the right direction. So, simple really!

Click here for more information on Southern Spars »

It does seem to be something to which the technical clothing suppliers du jour to round-the-world race and Olympic winners pay scant heed!

The Volvo Ocean Race is fast approaching and this one will see three times more sailing in the Southern Ocean than recent editions of the round-the-world classic. However, the new course still takes the fleet four times across the Equator, so extremes of weather and climate are still very much part of the contest. Demanding on the sailors and very demanding on their clothing...

This is shaping up to be perhaps the most competitive Volvo Ocean Race yet, because it’s very hard to pick a likely winner from the strong line-up of seven, potentially eight teams. Introducing the one-design element to the last edition of the race made for some of the closest finishes seen in the race. With teams using identical equipment, the focus now is on marginal gains wherever you can find them; one of those key areas is what you wear.

Two crew with a real chance of winning the 2017-18 edition are Team AkzoNobel and Dongfeng Race Team, and they’ve both opted to wear Zhik on their race around the world.

In a relatively short space of time this Australian company has established a fierce reputation for never-ending development, for never settling for the status quo. It all started with sailors like Tom Slingsby, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, who wanted the best kit they could get their hands on to help them win gold medals at the Olympic Games.

As this younger generation of high-performance sailors has begun to branch out onto the grand prix scene, including Burling and Tuke’s integral part of Emirates Team New Zealand’s victory in Bermuda, so too has Zhik broadened its remit.

Tom Hussey, R&D manager at Zhik, says the toughest test for offshore sailing gear has to be the Volvo. ‘The one-design nature of the boats means there is no hiding away from hard work,’ he says. ‘The sailors are racing the VO65s with the same intensity as in a roundthe- cans race lasting just an hour or two. Except they’re doing it for days and weeks on end, and often within sight of each other because the fleet’s performance is so even.

‘With the boats being short-staffed and so little down-time for the crew, it’s vital that everyone onboard is capable of operating as close as possible to 100 per cent for as long as possible.’

Why Isotak X will make a competitive difference
Following a diligent and lengthy consultation with offshore racing veterans, Hussey says an immense amount of R&D has gone into Zhik’s latest range of offshore garments, Isotak X. ‘It uses the same fabric as the previous Isotak Ocean, but with some significant innovations.’ New features include:

1. Hydrovision hood – Smock, drysuit and jacket. This has been developed to provide a high level of protection while enhancing the sailors’ field of vision. Hydrovision refers to the new hood visor, a rigid clear polycarbonate that provides unprecedented peripheral vision and protection. The visor can be positioned to cover almost the entire face while still allowing the vision necessary for a helm or trimmer to perform to the highest levels. ‘We developed this as a result of the feedback from sailors in the last Volvo Ocean Race, who wanted something to help them cope better with the firehose of water that hits them at high speed in strong wind and big waves. The hood and visor also stows neatly behind the head so it is easily accessed and deployed with one hand,’ says Hussey.

2. Zhik adaptive hood collar system – Smock and drysuit. ‘This is an adaptable collar/zip-on, zip-off hood for the Isotak X Drysuit and Reziseal Smock,’ says Hussey. ‘We had been experimenting with the idea for a couple of years prior to our partnership with AkzoNobel and Dongfeng. The main advantage is that the crews can carry one smock that is adaptable to all the expected conditions. It can be worn with full ocean collar or with various other collar designs and accessories such as Zhik’s waterproof hoods, and the Avlare or Neoprene balaclavas. With conditions capable of varying from one extreme to the other on a single race leg having versatile clothing is a big advantage.’

Above: Zhik’s proprietary Reziseal is both more waterproof due to the extended contact area with the skin and also less constricting than the traditional tighter Neoprene drysuit-type seal solution. Zhik continue to make (below) extensive use of the fabric waterproofness testing system they are still refining, working in partnership with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Coming up with new, lighter and more flexible offshore clothing systems is not the biggest challenge, making them waterproof and, more importantly, waterproof for extended rugged use, that is the hard part and where a smart but practical approach to material and garment testing comes into its own

3. Reziseal composite seals – Smock, drysuit and jacket (wrists only on jacket). ‘These are polyurethane and high-stretch textile composite constructed into a soft, stretchable and comfortable waterproof seal,’ says Hussey. ‘They’re worlds apart from the sticky latex seals that wear out and deteriorate so quickly. The textile composite has excellent tear resistance and does not break down, so they also have significantly longer life than latex seals.’ Hussey points out that they are also easier to repair, although the need for repairs are less likely in the first place. The seals provide excellent waterproofness and now with greatly improved comfort.

Four times more waterproof durable
Zhik has been working closely with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to develop a better standard for waterproof durability in textiles. ‘Waterproof durability refers to a textile’s ability to maintain its waterproofness after extended use,’ says Hussey.

Hydrostatic head testing is the commonly used method to rate the waterproofness of a fabric. While this method provides a good indication of initial waterproofness before use, it does not indicate how the textile will maintain its waterproofness through its active life. In fact, there is currently no industry standard method that simulates the high levels of wear in wet conditions that is experienced by offshore foul weather gear.

So RMIT helped pioneer the development of a waterproof durability testing method specifically designed to simulate accelerated wear and tear in wet conditions (when the waterproof membrane is most vulnerable). This method involves placing waterproof textiles in an accelerated wear device that simulates impact and abrasion in wet conditions. Each textile is pressure-tested to determine the waterproofness after defined intervals. Thirty minutes of accelerated wear indicates about 14 days of extreme offshore use.

Using the new testing methodology Zhik Isotak fabrics have consistently proved substantially more waterproof than the current market-leading PTFE ocean fabric. In practical terms, the Isotak fabric takes 120 minutes to degrade to a similar level as the ‘rival product’ has reached in just 30 minutes. So four times more ‘waterproof durable’.

And breathable?
The Holy Grail for offshore garments is to make them waterproof, durable and breathable. Current research confirms that while all of the best-known currently available breathables breathe – to varying degrees – in each case you still sweat when you work hard.

RET is a measurement of resistance to evaporative heat loss, measured using a device called a sweating hotplate. ‘Of the standard industry testing we believe this is now the best method to compare the breathability of waterproof and breathable fabrics,’ says Hussey.

Zhik recently commissioned independently managed RET tests at TTRI Laboratories on numerous offshore breathable fabrics – our own and those of the competition; the tests at TTRI showed that despite the significantly higher durability of Isotak X it reliably matches the best competing products for breathability. This is no mean technical achievement.

Lower RET number equals higher levels of breathability
Testing is conducted using a sweating guarded-hotplate to ISO 11092 standard. This method uses a sweating ‘skin model’ in a climate-controlled cabinet to measure resistance to evaporative heat loss (RET). The lower the RET value, the less resistance to moisture transfer and therefore higher breathability.

• 0-6 (extremely breathable)
• 6-13 (very breathable)
• 13-20 (moderately breathable)
• 20-30 (slightly breathable)

Hussey concludes: ‘All Isotak products are configured to have a high level of breathability and very high level of waterproof durability.

‘It’s true that they are slightly less breathable than our Aroshell inshore range, which is optimised for maximum breathability but has slightly lower waterproof durability. But Isotak breathability is in the same RET range as our competitors’ products (6-13) although it offers far greater levels of waterproof durability as these independent tests by RMIT have now shown.’

Click here for more information on Zhik »

Old GRP yachts don’t die, nor are they very good at just fading away. But things are changing…

'See first that the design is wise and just; that ascertained, pursue it resolutely’
William Shakespeare

Sustainable development is traditionally defined as something that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. Using innovative thinking to advance sustainable practices is core to The Schmidt Family Foundation’s 11th Hour Racing programme. One area in which the programme is now involved is the delicate but still largely overlooked issue of the disposal of obsolete leisure craft…

OR HOW THAT SLEEK RACER/CRUISER MAY END ITS DAYS AS CEMENT…
– Evan Ridley and Dennis Nixon
Space is a precious commodity at the Rhode Island State central landfill: in 2038 the 1,040-acre site will stop accepting new material. The looming deadline has made one waste problem more complex: what to do with old fibreglass hulls?

The steady accumulation of end-of-life vessels in coastal communities across the United States and Europe has sparked discussion around a variety of intertwined environmental and economic issues. Currently, the most common destination for these ageing craft is the landfill or worse: abandoned in backyards, boatyards or local waterways. Landfill managers typically use a simple mechanical process to cut and crush the glassfibre mat, polyester resins and ancillary material, subsequently compressing and burying remains within the greater mixture of municipal solid waste.

Based on the established estimates of national end-of-life vessel populations, these traditional processes are already burying millions of metric tons of fibreglass around the world each year. This practice is a mistreatment of usable composite material and is environmentally perilous waste management.

Between 2003 and 2012 it is estimated that two million recreational craft (an average of 210,000 per year) were retired in the United States, according to surveys by the National Marine Manufacturers Association. Similar approximation has not been established in the European Union; however, leading members of the European boating industry suggest that coastal nations in the EU retire between 6,000 and 9,000 recreational vessels annually.

The size of a globally expanding legacy fleet of expired recreational boats has reached a critical point. This calls for a reinvention of disposal practices. For example, in 2015 the Rhode Island landfill accepted 60 boats to be scrapped. This group of 60 constitutes only 8.5 per cent of the estimated 700 fibreglass vessels retired from registration in the state that year. The Ocean State finds itself in a position to be a leader in the reinvention of fibreglass disposal.

The recycling and reuse of fibreglass has long been viewed as unmanageable. Now new advances in chemical engineering have made sustainable composite materials a feasible goal. Fibreglass is a suitable candidate for repurposing thanks in part to its chemical composition and high production value. Activity in Germany over the last 10 years has shown fibreglass to have significant potential as an alternative fuel for cement production in industrial kilns.

Coal and petroleum products typically generate the thermal energy required to heat industrial kilns, affecting worldwide cement production with fluctuating (usually increasing) prices, limited availability and escalating environmental concern.

In response to these challenges cement manufacturers are experimenting with alternative fuels derived from waste sources. The value of these alternative fuels lies in their ability to mimic the thermal and chemical qualities of traditional fossil fuels when incorporated in the kiln. The composition of vessel-derived fibreglass waste contains the combined equivalent qualities of coal, limestone, sand and alumina. These substitutive properties ensure that all elements of recovered fibreglass are utilised, leaving no residuals behind. Thus fewer fossil fuel and raw materials are used and total emissions are reduced. This is an economically exciting opportunity compared to other composite recycling processes including ‘wasteto- energy’ incineration, which generates significant byproducts, including toxic ash that must be landfilled.

Rhode Island Sea Grant’s objective is to create a system reusing a valuable form of solid waste. Rhode Island’s small size and status as a marine industry hub make it an ideal laboratory for experimenting with an international solution. Sea Grant has taken the first steps toward introducing fibreglass into the growing stream of American alternative fuel aggregates.

The extent of future roles within the proposed programme will rely on the continued interest of the US cement industry. A successful end result could create new economic opportunities for boatyards, marinas and manufacturers while enhancing the capacity for sustainable growth in recreational boating.
Dennis Nixon is director of Rhode Island Sea Grant and advisor for 11th Hour Racing. Evan Ridley is research assistant at Rhode Island Sea Grant and the University of Rhode Island

A SUSTAINABLE BUILD PROCESS BEGINS WITH DESIGN
– Dr Richard Schuhmann, the Landing School
The Landing School in Maine was founded in 1978 as a boatbuilding and design school that prepares students for careers in the marine industry through hands-on and academic learning experiences. The Landing School also offers the only current residential yacht design degree programme in the United States.

The school is now undertaking a programme to incorporate the tenets of sustainable design and development in the construction of composite – including wood – boats with very low, zero or net negative carbon footprints. The school is developing a workable Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool to understand the feasibility and in 2016 received a grant from 11th Hour Racing to support its work.

Back to the future
In early 2017 the school was awarded a further grant with its partner Maine Maritime Academy, from the Maine Economic Improvement Fund, specifically to build a proof of concept lo- impact commercial trimaran. The innovative 38-footer was developed by Prof Doug Read and will be built in 2017-2018 at the school, with material selection guided by the revised 11th Hour Racing LCA tool.

Top to bottom: perennial raceboat enthusiast Peter Morton just beat the chainsaw to the famous Farr-designed Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble in 2013. Now fully restored, this iconic race yacht has just won the Half Ton Classic Cup for the third time; dying a slow death off Coconut Grove… a scene repeated in every creek and harbour in the world; a famous yacht familiar to many of our ‘more experienced’ readers, the Ron Holland-designed Admiral’s Cupper Silver Apple rots away up the Beaulieu River in England

What is an LCA tool?
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a forensic analysis of a product, process or material’s impact upon operational efficiencies and the environment. LCA commonly supports manufacturing decisions and is rapidly becoming an integral tool for manufacturing planning.

Why would a builder/designer be interested in an LCA?
Through a product’s life there are myriad opportunities for inefficiencies and waste. While these can be thought of as ‘pollution’ they also represent tangible financial losses to a builder. Tracking these losses with a LCA tool and mitigating them, a builder can get paid for cutting down on manufacturing pollution. Consumers also now increasingly lean toward greener products wherever possible.

How do you develop an LCA tool?
An LCA tool is an algorithm for bean counting – among the most common ‘beans’ are material waste, storm water, dust, toxins and air pollutants. This process begins by identifying a list of the primary materials used. It is possible to get too granular and lose the ‘forest for the trees’; in a perfect world (of infinite time and money) every screw and paper towel used is included in the tally of materials; however, recent literature has shown that through intelligent deliberate under-specification of materials (excluding trivial players) it is possible to arrive at an LCA that is credible and affordable.

LCA in other industries
LCA is a mainstream tool for environmental assessment across all industry and ISO 14040 (2006) currently provides a unified framework for performing LCA. For example, the LCA for the BMW i3 car includes an analysis of the production of ‘raw’ materials and manufacturing, through the use phase to recycling, with an impact assessment performed based on the Institute of Environmental Sciences’s (IES) method developed at the Dutch University of Leiden.

A carbon footprint vs an overall impact footprint
In the Landing School LCA, fossil CO2 emissions are accounted for in three ways: material extraction, material processing and manufacturing and associated transportation. We call this a ‘cradle-tocommissioning’ assessment – tracking the materials’ CO2 footprint from the forest or factory to the boat leaving the facility ready for use. Because we use large quantities of wood it also accounts for the CO2 sequestered within that wood.

Why focus on design and not operation?
As designers and manufacturers of boats, we are in a position to quantify our impacts and effect change within these domains. We focus on designing efficient hulls and material and manufacturing processes to mitigate impact on the environment. We do not design and manufacture propulsion systems. Whether a 19ft runabout is propelled using an electric outboard charged by a solar panel, or by a two-stroke engine is the decision of the consumer. How that consumer chooses to operate and dispose of the boat at the end-of-life is also outside the parameters of this process.

Industry interest
Although still a prototype, the Landing School LCA tool has received good interest from the marine industry. Copies have been supplied to Sabre Yachts, Goetz Composites, Sparkman & Stephens, and Stephens Waring Yacht Design for beta testing. We continue to develop the tool based on the feedback from these New Englandbased companies to create a robust, user-friendly product.
Dr Schuhmann is the president of the Landing School and a Landing School wooden boatbuilding graduate (1987)

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