Sometimes a single moment is enough to change the course of events. It took ‘Palanad 4’ six weeks to overturn old certainties, perhaps for good.
“Palanad 4” demonstrates what modern scows are capable of
When the Mach 50, designed by Sam Manuard, sets sail for Antigua at 8 a.m. local time on 19 January, victory in the RORC Transatlantic Race long since assured. Under a blue gennaker, staysail and a single-reefed mainsail, she is racing downwind at 20 knots towards the finish line. Realising that something groundbreaking is unfolding here, the organisers send a helicopter with a film crew to meet her. The footage captured by the media team will continue to be the talk of the sailing world for months to come.
They show a boat that seems to glide weightlessly across the choppy sea, its bow hovering far beyond the inner stay over the blue Caribbean waters. A hull so round and smooth that it looks like a bar of soap. At a 15-degree heel, ‘Palanad 4’ surfs over the choppy trade winds as if running on shock absorbers. No pitching, no pitching, just pure speed.
Owner Olivier Magré, who previously owned a Class40 from the same designer, will later speak of a “historic development” whilst at the dock.
In fact, “Palanad 4” did not merely win; on corrected time, it left the entire field trailing in its wake. It finished a full 21 hours ahead of the runner-up, “Ino Noir”, a Carkeek 45 that had been fine-tuned over many years. In terms of elapsed time, only “Raven” finished ahead of the Mach 50 – a 111-foot maxi built by Baltic Yachts with pivoting T-foils.
And that wasn’t ‘Palanad’s’ only triumph. Five weeks later, she secured the class victory in IRC Zero at the more tactically demanding Caribbean 600, a varied, zigzagging regatta between the Caribbean islands around Antigua. When she returned to Falmouth Harbour on 25 February, Antoine Magré, the owner’s son, spoke happily of a “proof of concept”, a confirmation of the design principle. “We have always believed that a scow can be competitive under IRC. But we needed to prove that under real offshore conditions. The overall victory in the Transat and the confirmation in the Caribbean 600 show that this is the way forward.”
Is that the case? Do two victories mark a turning point in yacht design? And if so, how significant is the change – limited to the racing sector, or does it also extend to the mass production of cruising yachts? What exactly makes modern scows so high-performing? And how can this be applied to the majority of the market?
“You can’t sail into the wind under power on a scow. It makes a terrible crash. That’s why I’m not convinced the design works for cruising boats – at best as a hybrid with a sharper waterline at the bow and plenty of volume above it.” Sam Manuard
From the US inland sea to the deep-sea revolution
To clarify this, it is worth taking a look back. Boats with round or flat bows have been around for more than 175 years. They evolved from barges used for transport, which, due to their shallow draught, required a high degree of structural rigidity.
They did not establish themselves as recreational boats until around 1900, primarily on the inland lakes of the USA, where the first class association was also founded with the 38-foot A Scow. Until the 2000s, Melges produced no fewer than four different regatta dinghies of this type – ranging from single-handed dinghies to the modern A Scow, which is sailed by a crew of seven.
In offshore sailing, however, it was not until 2010 that the idea really took hold. Designer David Raison shocked the sailing world at the time with the design of his Mini 6.50 prototype ‘Magnum 747’, which caused a sensation a year later under the boat name ‘Teamwork Evolution’. Initially ridiculed for its clunky-looking bow, its victory in the 2011 Mini-Transat triggered a development that could now become a trend with the “Palanad 4” and other designs, perhaps even a scow revolution.
After all, viewing habits have changed. What many people found downright ugly in 2010 is now regarded as state of the art. They say success makes things sexy. And there is certainly no shortage of success.
You may also wish to read our article on the Development of hull shapes.
First of all, the Scow-Bug made its mark in the Minis class, helmed by David Raison. His Maxi 6.50 has established itself in recent years as a sort of Leading boat in the series standings has become established – and has largely displaced the more conservatively designed Pogo 3 from the winners’ lists. Every new design since then has been a scow, even the foilers in the Proto class.
As the next Box Rule class in which only a few dimensional limits apply, the Class40 switched to round-bow designs. Here too, David Raison was the driving force; the “Crédit Mutuel”, which he designed, won the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre by a clear margin. Subsequently, other renowned architects such as Marc Lombard, Sam Manuard and Guillaume Verdier also switched to scows.
Performance has skyrocketed since then, as is clearly demonstrated by the results of the recently concluded Globe 40, where the three scows – including Melwin Fink and Lennart Burke’s Pogo S4 – were in a league of their own.
The time gaps between the Deltas and the sharp-bow boats at the finish line were usually several days – within the very same class! For example, the fourth-placed crew in the final leg from Recife to Lorient, Thibaut Lefevere and Maxime Bourcier on ‘Free Dom’, finished no less than three days and eight hours behind the overall winners, Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier on ‘Crédit Mutuel’, after covering just under 4,000 nautical miles. Their average speed: 12.4 knots, compared to “Free Dom’s” 10.0 knots – an increase of almost 25 per cent.
Even with the IMOCA 60s, the bows have become considerably wider over the past six years. Admittedly, not quite as drastically as with the Minis, because the class rules limit the maximum dimensions of the bow section in a similar way to the Class40. But the trend was essentially the same, even if the latest designs, such as Boris Herrmann’s ‘Malizia 4’, are becoming slimmer and more pointed again.
In that respect, “Palanad 4” is not an outlier or a one-off, but simply the most consistent and successful adaptation to date outside of construction classes.
An increase in volume at the bow can also be observed elsewhere: the ORC-optimised XR 41 X-Yachts, for example, have a very full bow, much like the scows, though without taking the concept to its absolute limit. IRC racers such as the JPK 1050, which races from one regatta victory to the next, the Pogo RC, or performance cruisers such as the First 30 adapt the design concept in a toned-down form. Sam Manuard refers to them as ‘hybrids’ and sees them as a potential route to the mass market.
“The scow hull, optimised for high speeds, offers unrivalled comfort both at sea and at anchor, whilst ensuring safe and confident sailing. It combines the best features of monohulls and multihulls.” Benoit Marie
Why the wide bow generates so much speed
The most important, though by no means the only, advantage is the hull shape’s greater righting moment. Merfyn Owen of Owen-Clarke Design can back this up with concrete figures. The Class40 ‘Longbow’ (hull number 143) he designed in 2015, a typical example of what is now known in the class as a ‘Sharp Bow’, achieves a lifting moment of 8,265 kgm at a 25-degree heel. His “Scowling Dragon”, hull number 200 from 2024, by contrast, achieves a righting moment of 10,543 kgm – an increase of nearly 28 per cent. It can therefore carry significantly more sail and consequently gets up to speed earlier and faster than older designs.
The difference stems from the waterline width, which in scows tapers only slightly, if at all, well into the fore section. This increases structural stability. As the longitudinal centre of buoyancy shifts forward, this results in another key factor: longitudinal trim that remains largely symmetrical even when the boat is on an angle.
When a scow is sailing on its side, which is shaped as a round or hard chine, its waterline remains almost parallel to the centreline when at rest. Instead of trimming over the bow like conventional yachts, it runs as if on rails, requires fewer rudder corrections and produces less resistance in the wake. This results in reduced heel, which in turn improves the efficiency of the propellers.
In addition, the full bow section ensures maximum dynamic lift. “Whilst traditional hulls pitch or understeer when they encounter head-on swells whilst planing, scows keep their noses up,” says David Raison. “They sail over rather than through the waves.” Because this reduces non-linear pitching motions, they can maintain high average speeds over a longer period. What’s more, they stay drier in the process.
Merfyn Owen sums it up as follows: “Scows are designs that combine raw propulsion with finely tuned manoeuvrability. They sail more rigidly and smoothly, and are easier to steer, particularly in gusty conditions, which leads to less fatigue – an important factor, especially in offshore races sailed single-handed or double-handed.”
The advantages are so varied and significant that they more than make up for the larger wetted surface area when at a standstill and the shorter waterline caused by the large forward overhangs. It is only in calm seas and light winds that scows struggle to outperform more conventional boats.
Even when tacking, they perform better than many might expect: the ‘Palanad 4’ tacks at an angle of 80 degrees in 12-knot winds and small waves – these figures don’t quite match those of a modern TP52, but they are on a par with good cruiser-racers. And as soon as you give the sheets a pull, there’s no stopping it, because the Mach 50 starts planing at a wind angle of just 60 to 65 degrees – and only gets faster from there.
Where the concept reaches its limits
So, pleasure without regret? Not quite. To bring out their best qualities, scows must be built lightly – particularly, though not exclusively, in the fore section. This is no trivial matter, as high peak loads can sometimes occur here. This happens when the broad bow, travelling at high speed, does indeed slam square into a steep wave – something that can never be completely avoided, despite the dynamic buoyancy.
Sam Manuard reports that during the transatlantic race on ‘Palanad 4’, which he sailed as a crew member to gather ideas for further optimisation, it happened just once. “We experienced a severe drop in speed from 25 to 12 knots.” The design has to cope with such forces, which requires a substantial stiffening structure consisting of ring frames and longitudinal stringers.
On a racing boat, where the foredeck is usually empty anyway, this isn’t a significant drawback. On a performance cruiser, however, which also needs to be suitable for cruising, it reduces the space that the scow design offers.
The engine is particularly noisy when idling at idle speed, with no sails and no trim. “It makes a terrible racket!” says Manuard. “Bang, bang, bang – it’s almost unbearable!”
Jean-Pierre Kelbert also sees this as a problem. The founder and head of JPK, whose 1050 is just as dominant in IRC regattas as the Mach 50 “Palanad”, is planning a more civilian version of the successful boat for next year.
Like the 1050, the JPK 35 Fast Cruiser will not be a pure scow, but will nevertheless feature a very full bow and a short waterline. “It won’t be easy to build the boat so that it is both light and strong enough to prevent delamination, even under power,” says Kelbert. However, the hull shape, which tapers more sharply towards the waterline, should help to reduce excessive negative acceleration.
How much of the Scow design will soon be incorporated into the production boat?
Whilst genuine round-bow scows such as the new Mojito 32 or if the futuristic-looking Skaw A is only built in very small or small batches, more conventional designs such as the upcoming JPK might be better placed to help the concept achieve a breakthrough in the mainstream market. A modern take on the Pogo 32 also seems long overdue. And even at Beneteau, they are thinking along these lines.
Andraz Mihelin, the founder of Seascape and the man behind the First series, has been following the development of the scow from the very beginning, having been a Mini sailor himself. Although he is aware of the limitations in light winds and when motoring into the wind, he is generally open to the design principle.
“Scows lead the way because they’re fun,” says Mihelin. “Our First 30 has already adopted some of their features: a relatively large volume in the foredeck, a short waterline, and a flat-bottomed stern.” With the next model, he will “probably go even further”. He already has the right designer for the job: it is “Palanad” designer Sam Manuard.
Advantages of the design principle
Better balance, greater righting moment – that’s what makes ocean-going yachts with a full foredeck fast.
Few people in this country are familiar with the French yacht designer Thomas Tison. He is regarded as a specialist in highly innovative custom-built yachts, such as the “Elida” and “Pink Gin”, both built by Jan Brügge Bootsbau. He regularly works for America’s Cup syndicates, most recently for Ineos Team Britannia. Scows have long been a subject of interest for this resourceful mind, who holds degrees in naval architecture and aeronautics. “Their hulls are characterised by a number of fascinating properties: high structural stability, the ability to adjust certain hull characteristics for both heeling and upright sailing, reduced drag and a lower tendency to trim over the bow.“All of this,” says Tison, “contributes to the speed potential.”
Jochen Rieker
Herausgeber YACHT