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Black Ice is the eighth IOM design by Dario Valenza.
The current boat is a development of Light Ice Mk2.
Please see our Evolution page for a detailed account of our development journey so far.
At 202mm, overall beam is just on the narrow side of the class consensus.
The concept is to have sufficient form stability to hang on to the big rig as high into the wind range as the other mainstream designs, with minimum drag penalty.
This is achieved through careful manipulation of the section shape and volume distribution.
A high forward prismatic ensures minimum wave drag and good pitch damping.
The characteristic semicircular midship cross sections are optimised to maintain balance and trim without discernible ‘steps’ in the heel range.
This contributes to linear and predictable behaviour, allowing automatic micro-adjustments without continuous inputs from the helm.
Hydrodynamic and hydrostatic centres are painstakingly constrained to render a smooth and seamless transition as the hull is heeled.
The deck is all new, bringing our IOM design into line with our current thinking.
There is a mast gate at gooseneck level to offer both fore/aft and athwartships support to the rig.
However there is no sharp step in the deck, unlike the current trend in the class.
Instead the deck flows smoothly aft for minimum aerodynamic drag, efficient water shedding and enhanced structural rigidity.
As well as improved detailing such as concealed turnbuckles for the shrouds, the most innovative feature of BlackIce is a novel fin box arrangement optimised for the class rules.
UPDATE 27/12/2009: We have selected a builder who is tooling up to fulfill the first crop of orders for BlackIce and Octave.
Stay tuned for updates on progress and details of the state-of-the-art techniques selected.
As always we remain committed to working with competitive sailors to campaign our boats and continue developing.
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