Mary Slim:

Until recently limited to military craft, the wave-piercing attributes of the Very Slender Vessel (VSV) design has now made its way into the civilian boat world in the form of the MarySlim, a stunning 72-foot, £1.5 million, long-range cruiser built by Cornwall based Multimarine Composites that debuted last year at the Royal William Yard in England. The unique shape of the yacht allows it to cleave through waves, eliminating the power-consuming, bruising bounce of other crafts, and allowing users to explore greater areas through harsher weather conditions.___Gizmag

Below deck, the nature of the design's narrow length/beam ration of 4.8 obviously puts limitations on the available living space, but the 72 foot craft still has room for an three berth cabins including the main en suite cabin and a six-seat dinnette underneath the three seat helm.

Of course, less energy consumption also means less environmental impact, an aspect of the VSV that Multimarine hopes to expand on. Not only does Multimarine wish to run the VSV on bio-diesel, like the Earthrace yacht, but it has coated the bottom of the boat with Ecospeed, a layer of resin and platelets of glass that inhibit the growth of barnacles and algae, thereby eliminating the need for damaging poisons.

The Mary Slim also allows the "wind kite" option for fuel-saving sail power, of a sort. I wonder whether the "wave-cutting" hull design would work for a real sailing yacht? More comfortable in a storm, perhaps, and possibly safer? What about speed--for racing? A lot of questions, so we will have to watch and see.

Multimarine