A Very Slender Vessel is a high speed, wave piercing craft. A standard high speed boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

 produces an extremely uncomfortable ride over long, high-speed transits in high seas.

A Very Slender Vessel can go faster than any other vessel in the world. They are capable of speeds of more than 60 knots (117.6 km/h). They are cylindrical, with a small cross-section that can punch straight through waves, rather than going over or through the top of them.

When traditional deep V-hulled

V-hull (boat)

A V-hull, is the shape of a boat or ship in which the contours of the hull come in a straight line to the keel. V-hull designs are usually used in smaller boats and are useful in providing space for ballast inside the boat....

 boats travel at high speed in rough conditions, they jump from wave to wave and land with high vertical acceleration or g-force

G-force

The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...

. As the speed of the vessel increases or the sea gets rougher, the g-force on landing increases. Peak readings regularly exceed 20 g which is sufficient to cause injury to the personnel and damage to the vessel and its equipment.