The terms "fast" and "eco" sound like a contradiction in terms. However, "Smeralda's" predecessors "Silver" and "Silver Two" prove the opposite. One went to Arab waters as "Rabdan", the other as "Dragonfly" to its young US owner. On a voyage from Perth to Dubai via Cocos and the Maldives, the one demonstrated how to cover
5103 miles at an average speed of 18.26 knots and, with two MTU engines and a generator, consumed only 326.18 litres per hour during a voyage lasting eleven days and 15 hours. That is not much more than a standard production yacht of around 25 metres in length consumes on a Sunday afternoon at slower speeds.
"Smeralda" looks as if she can easily emulate these performance characteristics. A pair of more powerful MTU engines helped her reach a top speed of almost 30 knots during test runs off Western Australia in late May.
How can this be possible? The secret lies in an eco-concept and the shape of the hull. The idea comes from the early years of the new century, rigorous tank tests at the Krylov Institute for Shipbuilding Research in St. Petersburg, at the SSPA laboratory in Gothenburg and, in the case of "Smeralda", at the Dutch research institute MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands). The result is probably the most revolutionary hull of a large yacht available today...
You can read the full article in BOOTE EXCLUSIV issue 5/2012.
