ORC GRAND PRIX LEVEL RULE - DESIGN DEVELOPMENT APPROACH AT JSA

The ORC Grand Prix Level rules have been released and with them worldwide enthusiasm has been triggered in every area of our sport and industry. The rules, for the three level classes: 26, 33 and 42 foot, intend to provide a design space for high performance and safe racing sailboats. Following the success of other box rules, the ORC rules also intend to promote boats within a design space.

Winning sailboats in the ORC classes, just like in any other class or rule, will be those that will have, among other factors, the right combination of design parameters. For new rules like the ORC Level Rules, without enough experience or a comprehensive research effort these parameters will be difficult to define.

In order to avoid the guess work and trial-and-error approach typically used by most designers for this type of projects JSA offers its clients a systematic approach towards design development. Based on our success in past projects, JSA approach to ORC Class design will encompass advanced technologies such as CFD modeling and Velocity Prediction studies with custom VPP programs. These technologies have been successfully used in the development of our designs, but are limited to the definition of performance of the designs considered. We believe that a more comprehensive approach should include a systematic exploration of the design space with the objective of identifying the combination of parameters that will produce the winning boat.

To achieve this objective and be consistent with our philosophy of offering our clients innovative solutions, JSA has supported the development of a design optimization methodology developed by Claudio Fassardi and Karsten Hochkirch. Applying this methodology to our ORC GP Class design development, a baseline design will be produced and the design space will be explored using a combination of advance geometric modeling and performance prediction tools. After identifying the designs which feature the best combination of parameters for owner selected racing conditions, a final and more rigorous assessment of performance of the designs will be performed using state-of-the-art CFD and VPP tools. This methodology has been described in the February 2006 issue of Seahorse Magazine and presented at the High Performance Yacht Design Conference, Auckland, New Zealand in February of 2006. For more information please check:

http://www.sailboat-technology.com/links/HPYD-Conference-2006.pdf

At JSA, we look forward for an opportunity to assist you and participate in the success of your ORC Grand Prix Level Class program.