We consulted our business navigational charts and set our sights on Autonomy and Ai in last year’s article on the 58m Tempo concept. We examined all our onboard systems and tested our ideas for sea-worthiness in our SuperYacht Times article last fall.

The history of autonomy that DLBA, a Gibb & Cox division, has to draw from dates back to 1955. In that year, Gibbs & Cox launched the 30’ (9m) Sea Legs for the U.S. Navy.

Ferry service is one of the maritime industries last year to take a major hit from COVID-19 shutdowns. But as some discovered, sometimes a shutdown is an opportunity to refurbish and improve – do the things we’ve been wanting to do for a while, but haven’t had time to do. DLBA Naval Architects has been right there as Haig Point Transportation has decided to rethink their Ferry boat, Haig Point II and update its look.

When launched in 1931, MV Savarona was the largest luxury yacht in the world at length of 446’ (136m). Named for an African swan living in the Indian Ocean, the ship was designed by Gibbs & Cox in 1931 for American heiress Emily Roebling Cadwallader, grand-daughter of John A. Roebling, engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge.

DLBA’s Director of Workboats, Jonathan Soja, led DLBA’s largest incline experiment to date in March, 2021 in tandem with Norfolk Dredging Company. The experiment was performed to determine the vessel weight and center of gravity for U.S.

IMO Tier III regulations changed as of January 1, 2021 regarding emissions control on recreational vessels. Craft with a load line length of 24 meters (just under 79 feet) or greater are now required to meet the new limits with regards to Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) levels in the exhaust of marine diesel engines (a reduction of as much as 70%).

DLBA is excited to be working with Silver Ships, Inc. on a 40ft Buoy Tender for US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Two, and maybe three, buoy tenders of this design will be operated the Pittsburgh District of the USACE.

DLBA is continuing to support the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in their effort to modernize the ocean engineering laboratory in Norris Hall. Over the last year, we have been working with the customer to develop a concept that meets their performance objectives.

Since the founding of DLBA, we have always said that the design of high-speed boats requires the combination of rigorous science and a little bit of art.

Charging into the new year, the DLBA and Sea Force teams are continuing to develop the new SeaForce 410 – the first in a new line which is changing the paradigm for what is possible with outboard powered boats.