YACHT RACING

Yacht Racing Design

Dr.-Ing. Rodrigo Azcueta has been at the core of simulation based America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race design campaigns for 15 years, always pushing the boundaries. Our designs and engineering solutions have helped three sailing teams win the famous Around-the-World Volvo Ocean Race: ABN Amro in 2005/06, Ericsson Racing Team in 2008/09 and Groupama Sailing Team in 2011/12. We have been involved in 4 America’s Cup Campaigns: the 32nd with BMW Oracle Racing, the 33rd with Team Origin, the 34th with Artemis Racing, the 35th with Land Rover BAR.

After our successful involvement in the design of the foils of the previous HUGO BOSS, without doubt the fastest boat in the fleet during Vendee Globe 2016-2017, we were proudly commissioned again by Alex Thomson Racing to assist in the design of the new foil system for the recently launched, next generation IMOCA Open60 HUGO BOSS.

How we can help you win races?

Running simulations to help design the sails, hull and appendages of your boats
Running Velocity Prediction Programs to assess the yacht performance and optimising your design for a given handicap system

Using state-of-the-art optimisation methods and algorithms to come up with the best design for a given condition or multiple conditions in yacht racing
Obtaining accurate load cases for reliability or for designing structures to the edge when it matters

What are the main features of our simulations?

We use the best CFD package available on the market, STAR-CCM+ by CD-adapco. We don´t compromise on the tools we choose.
Our work flow is highly automated, which allows us to run hundreds of simulations per day
We have access to a large cluster and large amounts of software licenses
Hydrodynamic simulations at full scale including all appendages, the free surface deformation, the dynamic sailing attitude of the yacht, and complex physical phenomena when present, like transition laminar/turbulent flow, cavitation, ventilation, sprays
Hydrodynamic simulations with multiple degrees of freedom. i.e. with 6 DOF, fully balancing the yacht with the aerodynamic forces

We simulate motions of the yachts in incoming waves of any direction, also surfing down a wave possible
There is no restriction on the amplitude of the motion, even capsize event possible
Aerodynamic simulations in steady state or transient flow, coupled to FEA model for deformation of sails
Fluid Structure Interaction for lifting foils and other structures
Slamming loads, sloshing, water entry, wave piercing, water on deck and any associated dynamic phenomena
We have done years of verification and validation with model testing in towing tanks and wind tunnels

Making a difference

Cape Horn Engineering ́s methodologies have been developed and rigorously tested in a highly competitive environment, where the slimmest of margins can make the difference between winning and losing a race. Besides America’s Cup, VOR70 and Open60 we have helped design winning yachts for ORC, IRC, Superyacht class, 12 and 6mR, Olympic classes including Formula Kite hydrofoils, TP52s, Mini Maxis, classic yachts, production boats, the list is endless.

Case studies

See our case studies on Yacht Racing

Hugo Boss – Alex Thomson Racing Superyacht Liara Wide and Light Project

Land Rover Bar Volvo Ocean Race Italia Yachts Innovative Yacht Concept

SEE ALL OUR CASE STUDIES

Simulations

Please view our simulations

In 2018 Cape Horn Engineering was proudly commissioned once again to assist in the design of the new foil system for HUGO BOSS. The CFD approach involved setting up 4 and 5 ‘degrees-of-freedom’ simulations, where the fully appended yacht is free to move in space and the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic forces are mostly balanced and the yacht finds its floating – or semi flying attitude – during the simulation.

After our successful involvement in the design of the foils of HUGO BOSS, we were delighted to be commissioned again to assist with CFD analysis to refine the design of the enclosed cockpit.

The complex behavior of the sailing yacht in reaching waves with forward speed is studied, with all the 6 DoF let free during the unsteady RANS simulation. The two different hulls show non-linear response to the wave caused by slight difference in hull form.

Cape Horn Engineering have developed a 1-button click RANS calculation to simulate the viscous flow over the rigid sails, mast, boom, hull, and any other required elements (crew, stacked sails, …). We start 1-button click simulation with a IGES file as input, computation time of 2 hrs, viscous effects taken into account, automatic detailed PDF reporting Pressures in Membrain format.

Cape Horn Engineering have run thousands of simulations in the quest of designing the perfect Formula Kite Hydrofoil for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Hydrofoils registered as official equipment for the Games. More to come…

CFD analysis of a yacht flooding and sinking due to water ingress through an open seacock while sailing in stormy weather conditions. Yacht sailing upwind in 20 knots of wind and corresponding developed sea state.

Your advantage

You will be working with a team that looks back on many years succeeding in highly competitive environments requiring the greatest level of accuracy. We are persistent and passionate about what we do. Research and development have a major role in our work, we are always on the edge looking for solutions for problems so far unresolved.

Online Sail Design Service

Our online CFD computations are for sail makers, naval architects and yacht designers.

We will analyse and evaluate the performance of your sails (and the boat), from a single sail design to multiple geometries, weather conditions and racecourse conditions. Accurate results of the best possible sail geometry plus an efficient visualisation of the sail loads will be available in just a matter of hours.

Go to AeroSim Portal