The bow of Truly Classic 127 under construction at Claasen Shipyards
NETHERLANDS, Edam. Last week we flew to Holland to meet with naval architect Andre Hoek to discuss the studio’s latest projects, as the Dutchman prepared to host a lecture in Hong Kong together with Royal Huisman on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies the studio has conducted over the past three years.
Founder of Hoek Design Naval Architecture, Andre Hoek and managing partner Ruurt Meulemans share a strong passion for sailing. Their enthusiasm for yacht design has led to the production of over 400 boats since the studio was established in 1986, with Royal Huisman’s 47.6m Wisp and 52m Elfje being the most recent launches. At the time of our visit, Hoek was finalising his notes for a lecture he was to give on the value of CFD, having spent half a year researching and developing Elfje's hull shape before starting the design of the yacht.
The Truly Classic 127 is due to be launched in the summer 2015
“I will be talking about the research work we did on the two Royal Huisman projects we’ve done and a little about the J-Class projects we’ve worked on,” said Hoek. “The presentation will focus on computational fluid dynamics studies and also the velocity predictions that we’ve carried out. I will also discuss the type of work we do for hull shape development when we do a custom design and the research we’ve done for the J-Class, and how we analyse existing hulls.”
Truly Classic 127
Hoek went on to explain that this research revealed what works for this hull type, how to distribute volume (further forward or back), deeper or shallower, the bilge radius (should it be smaller or bigger) and so on. It has also created a general rule that the studio uses on smaller projects. J8 under construction at Holland Jachtbouw is due to be launched at the end of April 2015
Among the projects underway is J8, a 42.7m J-Class under construction at Holland Jachtbouw, with J11 (43.6m), Truly Classic 127 (38.8m), and two Truly Classics 90s (27.5m) all in build at Claasen Shipyards. On the smaller end of the scale, two 11.1m day sailors called Essence are under construction, as is the 11.4m Wally Nano at Doomernik.
“We are also doing a 75ft composite boat in Turkey, which is a Volvo Ocean look-a-like boat with modern styling,” said Hoek. “We are doing another 55ft pilot classic in Turkey, which is in composite and is a production boat. Added to that is a whole range of new designs including a 136ft pilot classic, which is like Elfje but smaller.”
TC 90-3 under construction at Claasen Shipyards
With over 13 projects at various stages of design and in build, the studio has plenty to keep the team of 10 designers busy. Look out for a case study on the studio in SuperyachtDesign later this year.Related Links:
Hoek Design Naval Architects BV
HJB (Holland Jachtbouw)
Claasen Jachtbouw BV
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