Day two of the Superyacht Design Synposium and after much hot air, things sunk to new lows.
The hot air came in the form of Helicopters and helicopters provide more hot air than most. A presentation that covered operation, legislation and some very interesting views from the design perspective of having to incorporate the rather large, flat helipad into a suitably sexy look. In a short time everyone became aware of some of the simple factors that affect helicopter use aboard yachts which are apparently, not widely known. The moral of the story was quite clearly, plan before you decide to use a helicopter aboard a yacht and ask an expert, preferably someone who has flown helicopters from ships, a lot, for advice first.
The helicopter briefing actually managed to answer questions I didn’t even know I had. The themes of training and planning were very clearly evident and frankly, given that helicoptering is almost certainly one of the most risky things we do aboard yachts, safety planning and training is highly significant.
The new lows were courtesy of the presentation on the underwater submersible called the Super Falcon. The first of these machines was fitted for use aboard the famous Maltese Falcon. There was an interesting talk on the facts and figures that underline the safety and incredible technology that has gone into this machine, which, incidentally, is positively buoyant and therefore the reason it is a submersible and not a submarine. However, what was captivating was seeing the imagery and hearing firsthand the stories of “flying underwater” with large fish and dolphins. Stealthily, stalking hammerhead sharks so as not to harass them and being close enough to have reached out and touched them as they prowled around an underwater summit on the lookout for a quick bite. These machines are about 1.5 million dollars apiece and the consensus was that they will sooner or later be popular if not common aboard the world’s large yachts.
So what of the event overall? Having designers, technical experts and owners sharing often nothing more than their vision and answering questions and comments from an equally diverse group of industry experts was a unique experience. However there was little talk of where crew fit in to yachting. There were several senior crew members there but no opportunity to discuss how crew and yacht operators could provide an insight into the day to day operations of yachts and how they may be able to influence and perhaps inform design.
I could not help thinking that from simple ergonomics all the way to sound eco friendly operation so heavily relies on the crew that their perspective would in itself provide a useful body of experience for the great and the good of yachting to communicate with. Anyway there is always next year and I for one will be looking forward to being there again.