However there is another aspect to yellowfin. This boat allegedly produced data that correlated a fin performance model to 0.01%; kinda weird seeing as it had no discernible torque measurement and little evidence of useful thrust measurement. I saw it run once and it overheated the control system in less than 15 minutes.
The highest GPS speed I ever saw from a yellowfin test boat was 41 knots and in one direction only, certainly not the 'well over 50 knots' you can find on the web.
The acceleration claims are also completely fiction, a normal sterndrive boat makes these drives look silly 'till full planing speed and then these is some advantage as you would expect from a surface drive.
There is a yellowfin patent here (the control side is written by someone with little understanding however..):
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2008032125
I'm named as second inventor but was not paid for any of this work although it was used to support the major shareholder anne duncan with her personal waterfront office she shared with her PA(1/4 of the building you see here):
http://www.yellowfin.com/location.asp
btw, this is no longer their trading office and has not been for well over a year despite the website claims.
Yellowfin have recently been bought by a financial investor I have heard. If this is true then the man involved is not shy of suing and I would be far from disappointed if this happened. If I had the funds I'd sue for false agreements and claims and (persistent) deception.
It is a great shame to see useful technology wrecked by personal greed. This could only have happened if investors and creditors had been lied to and for years. The company does not publish accounts... and not to protect the company value it would seem...
My personal perspective is that Ian and Anne Duncan should get their skulls smashed together. I have the 'technology 'and certainly moral justification if not pc legal. Bravado is one thing, this is very different.
I worked alongside Scand for over five years. He is a truly excellent engineer and also a highly valued personal friend. If anyone wants an excellent development engineer I cannot recommend higher (and I've worked in research at two top UK unis with scary big research budgets).
Hugo has also made comment here and he is a very fine and honourable guy.
Yellowfin technology could produce a useful product I believe but it will require realism and investment in technology development not to support lucrative hot air and pretension.
This this is the minimum I could could say. Avoid till they show something.
Hopefully I can find a way to point the new yellowfin owner to this post.