The Great Circle project

I am pleased to announce the genesis of a new project.  I have been designing a 9.5-meter proa with the working name of Majik.  This proa is unique in that it is 9.5 meters long by 5.8 meters wide when sailing but folds to 6 meters long by 2.5 meters wide when needed for docking or trailering.  I have become very excited about this design and feel that a prototype needs to be constructed.  Unfortunately I have not been able until recently to conceive a business model that would justify the expense of the development.  I would love to offer plans or kits but from experience it is not evident that this will recover enough of the development costs to justify the project.  I am now beginning to promote a proposal that I feel could finance the construction of Majik.  I am calling this the Great Circle project.  In brief I will be seeking sponsorship to construct Majik utilizing the most ecologic sustainable materials available as a demonstration of a responsible method of boat construction.  After Majik is built and tested I plan a voyage, which includes two solo transatlantic crossings to show how such a minimalist ecologic concept can perform in the real world.  I do not feel that the current mode of recreational boatbuilding can be sustained and I feel it is time to offer my own vision of an alternative base algorithm as a way of promoting a dialog on this subject.   I will continue to post updates here as the project progresses. I am in the beginning phase of trying to have a documentary film produced about the Great Circle project.  When the project is funded I will start a website and blog to document the progress and hope I will find you there.  I welcome any comments.  More later.   Mark

November 2012 update

I now have 4 designs underway with a mind to offering a portfolio of diverse configurations with the completion of each design prioritized according to interest expressed.  The first one is the Wild Hare daysailing trimaran.  I have two microcruising monohulls in progress.  One is Djipsi, a maxi-microcruiser, and Bato, a mini-microcruiser.  Both have pram bows and a lot of accommodation for their length.   I welcome questions or comments on any of these boats from either individuals or kit boat manufacturers. 

Finally I am now working on a concept that I have been interested in for many years.  Up until very recently I could not come up with a version that I liked well enough so that I could proceed with the design.  I have long wanted a design for a minimal flying proa of about 30 foot or 9 plus meters long.  It is not difficult to conceive such a boat but I desired one additional feature that always stopped progress in this design.  I wanted it to quickly and easily fold to trailerable size.  I think I have now worked out the basic geometry and mechanicals to make a Proa of about 30 feet or 9 meters length by 16 feet or 4.9 meters overall beam fold down to the size of a beach cat and become road legal on a modest trailer.   I find this concept very exciting.  Inside the cabin is very minimal accommodation for one or two with payload for short cruises from a weekend or a week for those who pack right.  On the nearly 10 foot or 3 meter wide trampoline, one could have an awning or tent if desired for time at anchor.   If the details come together it could be folded on the water to fit into a slip that can accommodate an 8 foot or 2.4 meter folded beam.  A very simple casually stayed schooner rig completes the package. My personal preference is for two identical, slightly modernized balanced lug rigs.   Rudders to be mounted outboard of the main hull and a canted kick-up and retractable leeboard is anticipated on the lee cabin side.  A much simplified non folding version is also possible with some savings of weight and a reduced build time.

Over the years I have received many requests for information about proas or proa plans.  Who out there would like to express interest in this design?  Please contact me directly at mark (at) markbalogh (dot) com

Intellectual property protection, a real world appraisal. It makes a difference to you.

I would just take a few minutes to expound on the currently popular subject of Intellectual Property Protection.  The artists who create music and film etc have become more and more active in trying to protect their products from piracy and people who wish to download these products from the internet have one view or the other and sometimes just confusion when asked about the legality or morality of intellectual property piracy.  Each person eventually has to make their own decisions on this subject and I am not offering any clarification on the legality or morality issues but would like to take a moment to write about the economic issue, which is the crux of the subject.  I have been a designer for most of my working life and many times I have licensed my work to others so that they could produce and sell my designs as products.  The incentive for me was usually a very small percentage of the proceeds from the sale in the form of a royalty payment. In the majority of cases the companies licensed to manufacture my designs have apparently abided by our contracts and agreements.  Even some companies who I might otherwise not totally have trusted in may ways to perform in an ethical way were quite conscientious in accounting and paying royalties because they saw the value in paying these minute compensations in order to maintain a working relationship with the designer. If the design had any problems or if they wanted a new design from the same designer there was a working relationship in place to facilitate the interaction that was required. For my part I have always employed a strategy to turn these royalties into new products by reinvesting the royalties into new designs and prototypes in an effort to build a portfolio and to perpetuate the design evolution cycle. 

In some cases however the company holding the patterns or tooling to produce these designs do not act in a way that I would view as ethical or sometimes legal.  They refuse to honor the designer/builder agreements or contracts and default on the payments of royalties.  This is of course a situation that I do not like to see as it means the funding of my next generation designs is often delayed by simple economics.  It is also though a situation that is undesirable for the consumer.  Since the manufacturer forfeits its support from the designer it often follows that salesmen must fill the role of designer or engineer.   I have found from hard experience that salesmen often make very poor designers or engineers and that in almost every case the product quality and functionality suffers.   The system of designer royalties exists to enable products that the customer will find satisfying and when the manufacture defaults it is primarily the consumer who suffers by the decline in quality and functionality that follows.   The marketplace is also left with fewer new and innovative designs.   It is most often a case of simple arrogance and greed that leads to this degradation of the product to market cycle. 

As I am now working on at least 10 new designs I find that with the world economy I am forced to make difficult decisions as to where I should invest my capital and which of my designs should receive priority.  If my long-term customers wonder as they often do in emails to me why a project has not progressed as quickly as they would like the answer is almost always lack of funding.  Over the last 3 years I have been deeply disappointed by two companies who now possess the tooling and patterns to produce some of my earlier popular designs but who are refusing to pay the royalties that essentially support the design to market cycle.   One of these companies is Windrider who possess the tooling to produce the Windrider 10 trimaran design.  The owner bragged to me of how clever he was in the purchase of the company to, in his view, remove the obligation to pay royalties.  He has also changed the name of the product to Tango apparently thinking that the obligation was only attached to the name instead of the actual boat. I attempted through long correspondence to convince the manufacturer of the need and benefit to them to maintain what I view as their legal obligation but my arguments fell on deaf ears.  The manufacturer refuses to honor the designer/builder agreement that was intended to follow this product for its production lifespan.  The consumer suffers from this action in multiple ways.  One important way is that the manufacturer loses support of the designer.  In this case I can look at the product on the web to see that the boat is no longer being constructed or assembled to my original design specifications and in almost every way is inferior to the original product.  Put simply the boat is not nearly as good as it could be.   Most people would be amazed at the small percentage that the royalty payment would cost the manufacturer but still they are willing to degrade the product to save a relatively few dollars per boat.  The second but also important way this affects the consumer is that in inhibits the development of new designs.   There was always intended to be a second, larger, faster version of the Windrider 10.  I was prepared to offer this design to Windrider if they were honest in their dealings.  The customer looses out on a wonderful and innovative new design through the greed of a less than ethical manufacturer.   For me it removes an income source that I should receive on good work that I have already done at some considerable expense and it means the new versions will be delayed or cancelled.

For over 23 years I, with my partner Sam Carroll, built a company called Balogh Sail Designs and with much sweat and financial sacrifice we developed a product line of sail rigs, and outriggers to convert kayaks and canoes into sailing trimarans.   The products were best known for their innovation, quality and performance.  For many and varied reasons we were forced to sell BSD in 2009.  In exchange for a very small sum, a royalty agreement, and a short non-compete clause I parted with my creation of sweat and love.   I had an agreement that the new owner would provide 6 months a year of design work for my new design company in exchange for rights of first refusal of my new work for a period of years. The owner also agreed to maintain the high quality standards we had established.  For totally incomprehensible reasons the new owner quickly defaulted on all of his obligations.  I of course have not received a substantial income that was guaranteed to me and the sport of kayak and canoe sailing has been deprived to the flow of new designs that are the lifeblood of a sport.  By contract, all of the rights for my designs have reverted to me and I am of course released from my non compete clause so I can again offer kayak and canoe rig designs but the consumer is left without the high quality work we produced for all of those years at BSD and will have to wait longer for new designs to appear.

I make these points not to complain.  The business world is full of dishonest and unethical people and one is bound to encounter them if one has success in their work as I have.  I mention these situations as a way of explaining to the consumer how their interests are not served by the piracy of licensed intellectual property.  One might think when they purchase products from companies such as these that it makes no difference whether the company is dealing ethically or legally with the designer but this assumption is not true.  I can assure anyone who is interested that none of these products is currently produced at the level of quality or function that was part of the original designs.  The consumer is not receiving the value for their purchase price that they were when the manufacturer maintained a healthy relationship with a conscientious designer who feels that his reputation is best served when the customer can buy a product designed and manufactured to a high standard.  I offer that it is in the best interest of the consumer to be aware that ultimately it is they that suffer when manufactures refuse to honor or respect the designer and that the resulting product is always inferior.  In addition the consumer is often deprived of next generation designs that would enhance their life experience.  The unethical or dishonest manufacturer benefits only himself to the detriment of the consumer and designer.   It may be good to think about this when you are contemplating your next purchase.

New design under way.

Part of the process of preparing to produce a kit boat or boats is for me to become fluent in two, new to me, computer aided design software packages. One of these is a hull design software for shaping and calculating hydrostatics and the other is a pure CAD software for drafting all of the details for plans and providing an output for a CNC cutting machine. In the process of learning the hull design software I decided to use a design I had long ago sketched on paper as a model for development in the software. During the process I became totally absorbed by this design and am proceeding to develop it further along with my work on the Wild Hare 5 meter trimaran. The new design is for a 4.7 meter monohull micro cruiser. The working name for this design is Djipsi which is the Haitian Creole spelling of Gypsy. Djipsi is a multi-chine scow with a narrow transom bow. It is a modern efficient if beamy hull form with relatively luxurious accommodations for two below including the option of a full size double berth. Djipsi is capable of board up skinny water cruising with a draft of just 9” or about 23cm. Her beamy modern hull form with significant water ballast would also allow her to be driven hard when needed while maintaining a relatively light boat that would tow efficiently behind a modestly powered vehicle. All in all a very versatile sailboat. Auxiliary power would be a small outboard or Yuloh. Sail plan is my own modernize version of a balanced lug rig with refinements to improve the aerodynamics. I am hoping the people in the microcruising community will want a Djipsi as much as I do. Plans will be eventually made available and I am working toward US and European availability of a plywood kit version. More details to come.

Custom Sail Designing and Manufacturing

I have received an exceptional amount of response from my last post. Much of it was in regard to the mention of offering custom designed sails and manufacturing. As I have done for much of the last 30 year, I am again offering custom design services not only for small sailboats, but also for sails or small craft rigs. I can design, prototype and test a sail or small craft rig. For small craft manufacturers with sufficient demand I can then arrange for manufacturing of the sail in different locations depending upon the quantity desired. This service would save the small boat company from maintaining such a specialized in house design team while at the same time producing sail designs at very high standards of quality and performance. Small sails are not usually available from the large commercial lofts at this level of quality. With my sailmaking and design experience dating back to 1970 including design and production of winning one design sails, offshore multihull sails and sailboarding sails years ahead of others then in the sport, I applied my experience to a specialization in small craft sails. I designed and produced elegant efficient sails for 23 years while owner operator of Balogh Sail Designs before I sold the company. Small craft manufactures can now have access to the fruit of that experience with designs based on a depth of experience designing and using the BSD sails and rigs. The new sails will be based on the nearly twenty additional years of experience since I produced the original designs for most of my BSD kayak and canoe sails. As has always been the case current Mark Balogh Designs will be years ahead of any of the competition. If you are interested in an advanced, unique and ground breaking sail or rig development for your small sail craft, kayak or canoe please contact me. Of course I can also develop complete small multihull designs. Thanks to all who wrote for your interest.

MBC&D news

It is beginning to look fairly certain that there will be a kit version of Wild Hare hopefully available by the spring of 2012. If it happens we will be hoping for distribution in both the US and Europe. More details as things firm up.
Work is underway on a design for a home build kayak sail rig with outriggers to be available possibly as plans or as plans and a kit. I have received serious interest in a rig with the exciting performance of Mark Balogh designs but at a price more accessible than my earlier commercial products. Please feel free to contact me with interest in or questions about this project.
I believe I now have arranged manufacturing for high quality high performance small craft sails. Anyone interested in a custom sail design produced at a very high level of quality please feel free to contact me. Please email me at mark at markbalogh dot com

MBC&D and Wild Hare update.

A couple of quick but important pieces of news today. First, I have entered into a dialog with a major Kit Boat company to explore the possibility of offering Wild Hare as a plywood kit boat. Further discussions are upcoming and I will post any outcome here as things develop.

Second bit of news is that due to a change in status in the purchase agreement I signed when I sold Balogh Sail Designs, I am happy to announce that I am no longer inhibited by a non compete clause. This means that I am now free again to offer kayak and canoe sailing equipment designs. I have some brand new ideas about these designs and hope to pursue them when I get some version(s) of Wild Hare into production. This same change in status coincidentally returns all rights to the BSD designs to me. It is nice to have these designs in my active portfolio again.