Supermaxi that bends with the sea

American yacht designer Adam Voorhees has designed a 150 foot supermaxi that could revolutionise the shape and construction of big, fast, cruising yachts.

The as-yet-unnamed vessel is currently nothing more than design sketches and computer renderings but, given the improving world economic conditions, it shouldn't be too long before a billionaire owner starts signing the necessary cheques.

Voorhees spent some time living in Australia before moving to Southern California to set up his yacht design business.

His proposed supermaxi encompasses his belief that relationships between users, objects and environments are interdependent. To that end, the hull of his giant sloop is designed to flex with sea conditions to provide not only a faster passage but a more comfortable one for the owner and guests.

He says it is the pinnacle of his design work -- which started off with longboard-skateboards when he was a teenager.

In his quest for speed, Voorhees proposes using a shape memory alloy (SMA) called nitinol to build the structural skeleton of the yacht. The skeleton is comprised of dozens of SMA actuators arranged in specific patterns and controlled by sensors throughout the hull. The sensors control and modify the transformations of the hull.

This spider web of metal holds the flexable outer hull while the inner hull, which contains the saloon, galley and cabins, remains still. The vast cockpit is also isolated from the hull's movement.

Passengers are isolated from the intelligent hull movements that change depending on wind, waves and speed.

A semi-rigid single sail, vaguely similar to that on a Chinese junk, provides the power. It is hoisted on a towering, almost self-supporting, carbon fibre mast that has only a forestay as standing rigging. The sail can be reefed and furled, a breakthrough for a semi-rigid type sail.