Running on Waves with d&b
It is a fact that the oceans know no boundaries; so it is that famous international mariners, even fictional ones such as Captain Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones from the mythical Black Pearl, do eventually visit every possibility. That’s a maxim which inspired a most unusual craft; even its name is evocative of that sense of unbounded imagination, ‘Running on Waves’.
Unusual in name and possibly unique in concept, Running on Waves is by modern standards an antique, being as she is a three-masted barque. But looks can be deceptive, beneath those oaken decks she’s every inch a twenty-first century technological marvel; pin-point accurate navigational equipment; automated rigging; and an AV system that wouldn’t embarrass a multinational boardroom.
Conceived as a hybrid cruise ship come state of the art diving vessel, Running on Waves springs from the imagination of Ruben Khokhryakov, the owner of ARIS, arguably Russia’s leading AV provider. At sixty four metres long with a 9.5 metre beam, she sits in the top twenty list of large sailing ships; she also boasts an ecologically sensitive living system with on-board desalination plant and a biological waste water treatment plant. Yet as Mr Khokhryakov pointed out, “with the fresh water problem solved she can stay at sea for extended periods, but how do you keep up morale and the voyagers entertained?”
Naturally he answered his own question by drawing on the resources of ARIS. A passenger lounge for the full compliment forty five people boasts Barco projection for that cinematic experience with a d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system comprising E8 loudspeakers and E15X subwoofers from their E-Series, “physically small enough to fit unobtrusively in this hi-tech lounge,” said Alexander Fetisov, installation designer at ARIS, “yet this fully professional system delivers a sound quality on a par with the luxurious nature of the vessel.” Fetisov was also charged with implementing an ‘outdoor’ system on deck, “again this needed to deliver yet not visually intrude, and again E-Series provided the perfect solution with four of the very compact E0 loudspeakers.”
The whole vessel received the hi-tech approach, Fetisov aided by Evgeny Shuev, ARIS’s specialist in Alarm and Voice Evacuation systems fitted every cabin with satellite TV and Internet connection; direct channels include connection to the ship's navigational system and a real-time underwater camera and masthead view. “For my passengers they will be treated to living in a world within a world,” said Khokhryakov. “The experience onboard will be every bit as thrilling, colourful and exciting as that which they experience when they go diving in the waters below. Unbounded and visiting every possibility.”
