Following the success of SpeedDream 27, the SpeedDream team is gearing up to build an oceangoing prototype of SD27 for launch in late 2014.
Yandex, the group’s technology partner, is expected to play a major role in the design process. Yandex, whose primary business is Internet search, has the computing brawn and engineering manpower to work with extremely complex algorithms. The hope is to test the new design before the build process even begins.
While speed is clearly a key objective, SpeedDream II brings the concept into uncharted waters in racing yacht design — the ability to not only sail at remarkable speed, but also to build a boat capable of handling any ocean in the world, in all conditions. The proposed new boat will be 50 feet over all and incorporate many of the features proven in SD27.
The group is expanding their design team to include some of the best-known European race boat design offices. The design team and the builder have yet to be announced, but it appears that Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding of Thomaston, Maine, the builder of SpeedDream 27, is a strong contender.
