Galactica Star

Van Oossanen Naval Architects was responsible for the naval architecture of this yacht.  The design of Heesen’s 65m flagship Galactica Star is based on the Fast Displacement Hull Form (FDHF), patented by Van Oossanen. With this special hull the yacht is efficient over the entire speed range and not only in a restricted speed interval around the maximum speed.

Galactica Star is one of the Dutch yacht builder Heesen’s largest yacht to date, and also the first all-aluminium yacht with the patented Fast Displacement Hull Form. The sleekness of her underwater lines is matched by a unique helmet-shaped superstructure, giving the yacht a sporty look, a far cry of many of the wedding-cake-styled yachts in this size range.

Conventional hulls of large displacement vessels are not designed for high speed. The Fast Displacement Hull Form from Van Oossanen Naval Architects resolves this problem. The revolutionary design combines the efficiency of a full-displacement hull at low speed with the top-speed performance of a semi-displacement yacht.

The FDHF is an innovative hull form with significantly lower resistance than those of well-designed conventional round bilge and hard chine hulls. Furthermore, the FDHF achieves a good over-all performance, not only at maximum speed as a hard chine hull does, while also improving seakeeping and manoeuvrability. This results in an improved economic efficiency and less environmental impact in terms of engine-emissions.

The result of an elaborate conceptual design study was giving a platform for Omega Architects to base their novel exterior styling on. More than half a year of further development and naval architecture has blended the exterior styling with the radical new platform into a thrilling yacht.
The FDHF concept was first published to the scientific community, at the FAST 2009 conference in Athens. Since then the FDHF has attracted much attention from private clients, yacht builders, designers as well as clients and yards outside of the yachting industry.
Yacht building is generally a conservative industry that keeps genuine innovation at arm’s length. Galactica star bucks that trend.