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The Design Office.
The well known design office
NAUTATEC is the responsible for VLC35. It’s principal members, the
naval architects Manolo Ruiz de
Elvira and Manuel López have been
involved in America’s Cup designs
since 1992 while working in other
projects, from very high speed
crafts to just nice cruising boats.
Their background and innovative
spirit made the ideal choice for
Muller Yachts and the VLC35 design.
www.nautatec.com
Boat design.
The balance between a light
displacement hull, stability and a
reduced beam has become the key
point for any modern design office,
and here NAUTATEC opted for a
fix keel and also a lifting keel solution
for shallow waters. This way the
boat could get into shallow marinas
at the same time that enables her
road trailer-ability. CFD research
was done over 6 models, especially
for calculating boat control at high
speeds and the height of the stern,
to av oid back water wake resistance
and to optimize the hull wetted
length as well. Another area of
special interest was the internal
self supporting structure interior
lay up: the boat is one piece and ev
erything works in a direction that
no additional weight is added to
support her interior comfort.
Boat construction
Built by means of resin infusion
vacuum process, it ensures optimum
resin/fiber ratio, and an
exceptional adherence of the core
PVC/Corecell foam. The manufacturing
process is clean and environmentally
respectful. With the infusion
techniques the shipyard guarantees
very similar displacements for all
the One Design units, and determine
an equivalent excellent quality.
VLC35 always fit HALL SPARS carbon
mast.
Resembling a dinghy, the lack of
backstay makes it easy to trim mast
and sails. The forestay and shrouds,
these ones swept 30º to the stern,
define a very stable tripod, where
the only set to perform is done
through a forestay tensioner. The
forestay fixation point height has
been calculated to increase the jib
performance and to reduce the trim
shrouds changes for the different
wind ranges.
Deck design.
The deck has been carefully designed
to optimize the handling of the boat,
bearing in mind that most of the
time the crew spends onboard is over
the deck. Nevertheless, once inside
there is room enough to comfort five
adults, although there are berths
for six. We designed VLC35 to sail,
but to rest as well in a spacious
and practical accommodation. For us,
deck and interior has to be one.
All the deck hardware (winches,
travellers, rails, blocks...) is
from HARKEN; the stoppers and
spinnaker blocks are from SPINLOCK,
so the tiller extension.
The cockpit is divided in two areas
by the main sail track, being the
aft part a perfect place for a
swimming platform and the stowing of
the life-raft. The forward cockpit
area becomes the working space: two
secondary self-tailing winches for
the main sail sheet 2:1 and two
primary winches for the jib. On top
of the roof, another couple of
winches are devoted to the stoppers.
From the helm position it is very
easy to reach both while sitting on
the coaming. When fully crewed, the
main trimmer is aft from the
helmsman. This is particularly good
for the skipper’s visibility .
There are trimming marks for the
main sail traveller and jib sheet,
and bearing lines too.
The coamings have been calculated to
keep the side seats dry , but
maintaining an easy access to the
foredeck. They are very comfortable
when heeled.
All the stoppers are concentrated
over the companionway, avoiding roof
holes.
Longitudinal short genoa tracks
combined with inners are essential
for a quick and easy trim, giving
the possibility to close sheet angle
to an incredible point for race
starts.
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