International Boat Industry – August-September 2019

ibinews.com International Boat Industry | AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2019 87

TECHNICAL

TECHNICAL FEATURE | VAN OOSANEN

 The first Hull Vane on the 42m Heesen-built Alive

 Hull Vane BV’s sales

manager Bruno Bouckaert

HULL VANE COMES

INTO ITS OWN AS NOVEL

VERSIONS ARE DEPLOYED

ROOTED IN THE ‘WINGED KEEL’ THAT WON AUSTRALIA II THE AMERICA’S CUP

IN 1983, THE HULL VANE MAKES BOATS PERFORM BETTER AND USE LESS

FUEL. THAT’S WHY WE HAVEN’T HEARD THE LAST OF IT

WORDS: ROBERT WIELAARD

IN 1983, PIET VAN OOSSANEN, helped Australia II

win the America’s Cup with a winged keel that riled

AC egos and ended a 132-year US winning streak.

The Dutch naval architect then worked for other

AC campaigns into the early 2000s.

Today, all his early fluid dynamics research is

trickling AC-inspired technology into yachts and

commercial vessels under the patented brand name

of Hull Vane.

The origins of the below-the-transom wing go

back to that winged keel research. And the Hull

Vane will soon appear in two new versions: a semi-

custom one for 10m-20m yachts and a ‘dynamic’

version for large yachts. The latter, a collaboration

with Naiad Dynamics, will also be the world’s first

active pitch stabiliser.

Generating efficiency, speed and stability, the

Hull Vane is marketed by Hull Vane BV, a company

founded in 2014, a spin-off from Van Oossanen

Naval Architects.