Has anybody here actually ever seen the yacht MALTESE FALCON? Thumbs up, or down?

[Greenheart]

I can't help thinking, the bigger a vessel is, the scarier it is to see her heeled far over...

...I've only seen a few shots of Maltese Falcon, and that rig still strikes me as...just awful, visually. I'm sure it was a shrewd engineering choice, very low maintenance and high performance; I'm sure, because why else would any owner have agreed to it?

Perhaps it was intentional, like over-the-top botox...absurdly ugly, but deliberately impossible to miss.

How the heck do they keep those 190' tall masts up, without any standing rigging?

I think I prefer Mirabella V:

Or even the Thomas W Lawson...

 

[prv]

I think I saw her in the distance once, in Croatia or Greece.

Not a huge fan of the re-imagined square-rig either, but I wouldn't go as far as "awful". Better than yet another huge tasteless mobo, and surely you of all people ought to applaud someone trying something new?

Pete

 

[Greenheart]

...surely you of all people ought to applaud someone trying something new?

Alright. I admire the accomplishment, as much as I dislike the misplaced nod to traditional rigs, in a vessel otherwise so new.

Umm...why me of all people?

I mean, I have a few...alternativist ideas......but mostly I like solid, old stuff. Like this:

Only the French would call a majestic sailing ship Beautiful Chicken.

 

[Supine Being]

We saw her in Corfu Town in 2008, albeit briefly as she sailed past the yacht club. I can't say that she's the prettiest vessel I've ever seen, but she certainly leaves an impression. It must be something to be on a vessel that size when she's well-healed over. And it's hard not to appreciate the engineering that goes into a boat like that.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Seen both Falcon and Mirabella V sailing on several occasions. Falcon looks GOOD. Mirabella looks clumpy.

 

[Bobc]

Saw Falcon in Antigua last year (moored opposite Velsheda). I know which one I preferred...

Falcon is HUGE, and the rig is quite impressive. You'd hardly call it "beautiful" or a "yacht" though (unlike Velsheda, which is the most beautiful yacht that I've ever seen).

 

[Geoff Enigma]

My neighbour met one of the designers somewhere and showed me a glossy brochure it looks like some thing out of captain Nemo inside all flowing shapes etc looked amazing.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Thomas Lawson looks awful... and my reading would indicate that she didn't sail that well either....

W.r.t Falcon - while I understand the drawbacks of square rigs, the Royal Navy knew a bit about ships back in the day, and they stuck with the design for their bigger ships right into the steam engine age - clearly there's an advantage there even if I don't understand fully what it is...

 

[Greenheart]

Agreed, all round. That seven-masted schooner was indeed slightly mad; I only drew the comparison because she too was so vast. Broke up in the Scillies in...1907, if I remember rightly, after years being treated like a barge because she sailed so badly.

Maybe the square-rigged Royal Navy could have benefited by influences from distant trading nations. I've read that junk rig was always amazingly efficient, easily handled by tiny crews, and not much reduced in its power by damage to sails between 'battens'.

I think Pete showed us a clever junk-mainsail ketch in recent weeks, which looked very fine and very workable...

...I'd like to have seen the Macau Falcon...

 

[prv]

while I understand the drawbacks of square rigs, the Royal Navy knew a bit about ships back in the day, and they stuck with the design for their bigger ships right into the steam engine age - clearly there's an advantage there even if I don't understand fully what it is...

Mostly that a fore-and-aft rig wasn't practical at thousand-ton ship sizes. Imagine the size of the mainsail, and what it would be like to hoist and stow it. Certainly it could be engineered now, but with flax sails, hemp rope, relatively rudimentary iron fittings, and a man-powered capstan at best for motive power, it's just not feasible. Square rig splits up the sails into multiple more manageable pieces, and you send the men up to stow them in-place.

Also, don't underestimate the inherent conservatism of the peacetime Navy.

Pete

 

[Spyro]

Yes Thumbs up
Majorca I think it was 2007 at the superyacht cup in Palma.
Got this close. You get an idea of scale when you see the guy on the yard arm.

 

[Richard Shead]

Yes and its even better when they use one of the sails as a projector screen / outdoor cinema...

 

[Seajet]

Yes and its even better when they use one of the sails as a projector screen / outdoor cinema...

Richard,

is that an intentional feature, or a byproduct of crew sneaking naughty videos in the peasants' quarters under a clear hatch ?!

 

[Greenheart]

I admit, Spyro's pics show how slick the MF looks. And how monstrously vast.

I'd been wondering whether roller-reefing yards were really workable. Not so different from roller window-blinds I s'pose.

I'd like to fit slab-reefing yards to my brigantine, when the £millions land in my lap...

...I like the flaked canvas to be on show, just as much as Maltese Falcon's designer didn't. I think that vessel's a bit too tidy for my liking.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Square rig splits up the sails into multiple more manageable pieces, and you send the men up to stow them in-place.

Or, in the case of Maltese Falcon, you have motors in the yards, to wind-up the sails like a shop blind.

 

[Greenheart]

Anybody know how those 190' masts stay up, without standing rigging? Are they connected, between the mastheads?

Granted, in dimension terms, they somewhat resemble motorway bridge supports...imagine the rig's all-up weight!

I wonder what weight of cloth her sails are made from? If the vessel's (undisclosed) c.$225,000,000 cost is remotely accurate, doubtless it's some bullet-proof space shuttle kevlar weave...

 

[prv]

I'd been wondering whether roller-reefing yards were really workable. Not so different from roller window-blinds I s'pose.

Not just workable, but common on touristy "tall ships" where the punters don't get involved in the sailing and the smallish crew need to handle a lot of sail easily.

The Jubilee Trust folks use them on their topgallants and royals, and we mock them gently for it

I'd like to fit slab-reefing yards to my brigantine, when the £millions land in my lap...

Can do, but better off having more smaller sails and handing some of them when it gets windy. That's what Stavros does, and I think was common in later square sail. The Navy stuck with smaller numbers of big sails (their single topsails were huge) but they had the men to reef them.

Or, in the case of Maltese Falcon, you have motors in the yards, to wind-up the sails like a shop blind.

I believe the Falcon actually winds hers outwards from the mast, like a pair of curtains, rather than up and down. Certainly those photos don't show any sheets between the yardarms, so I can't see any other way of pulling the clews down.

Anybody know how those 190' masts stay up, without standing rigging?

Engineering.

As the junk- and freedom-rig folks say, do you also demand bracing wires on a 747's wings?

Pete

 

[Keen_Ed]

Anybody know how those 190' masts stay up, without standing rigging?

Carbon fibre.

Are they connected, between the mastheads?

No

 

[Mrs Springy]

Thumbs up. Saw her in Falmouth last July. Large, not particularly pleasing to the eye but nevertheless, still quite impressive.

View attachment 16920

 

[Greenheart]

I admit, I'm beginning to recognise that Maltese Falcon is a hell of a piece of work. It's unfortunate, her sailplan being so unusual that it prompts a gasp of surprise rather than undiluted admiration. I just realised what her masts remind me of, yards longways, at anchor...

...one of those self-supporting indoor washing lines.

I think the hull and superstructure are nicely proportioned, though. Much better than most motoryachts.