wing sailer sailboat

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

How wingsail technology could revolutionise the shipping industry

• October 26, 2022

Do superyacht designers have the answers to the future of efficient sailing and shipping? Mark Chisnell reports on why variants of wingsail technology could be coming to an ocean near you

On a summer weekend there’s always a bustle of activity on the foreshore at Hamble-le-Rice, on England’s south coast. The whirr of electric air compressors has been the soundtrack to the rise and rise of the inflatable paddleboard . And it may be about to initiate another transformation, simplifying sailing to the point where it returns to its birthplace; commercial shipping.

Matt Sheahan reviewed the Inflatable Wing Sail (IWS) for Yachting World more than three years ago and was impressed by the invention of Edouard Kessi and Laurent de Kalbermatten. Based on an unstayed, telescopic mast, the IWS inflates via an integrated air compressor to a surprisingly low pressure, just two millibars.

It creates a soft, symmetric wingsail with many of the efficiency advantages of a hard wingsail (amply demonstrated in America’s Cup and SailGP racing) but none of the problems – it’s very simple to raise and lower, and just disappears down to the deck when you don’t need it. Matt predicted that the much-simplified handling could mean a significant future for the IWS in superyachts and commercial shipping.

The simple to handle Inflatable Wing Sail (IWS) we featured in 2019

Simplifying the way that sailboat rigs work is far from a new idea. The IWS follows in the wake of many of these initiatives with its unstayed mast, an idea that has its origins in the Chinese junk rig.

Gary Hoyt’s Freedom Yachts utilised this approach in the mid-1970s. Meanwhile in the 1980s, a building beside the very same River Hamble produced the AeroRig, a free-standing mast with a rotating boom on which both headsail and mainsail were set. The forces were easily balanced and controlled by the mainsheet alone.

A descendant of the AeroRig is the Dynarig, developed by Dykstra Naval Architects and built by Magma Structures in the UK for two spectacular superyachts, the Maltese Falcon and Black Pearl . A recent partnership agreement with Southern Spars means that the Dynarig will now be developed with the support of one of the marine world’s most sophisticated technology providers. The rig is targeted at the people who want to keep it simple, and this can include superyacht owners interested in reducing crew numbers and handling issues.

Dykstra has a Wind Assisted Shipping Project (WASP) in process, a multipurpose cargo ship which uses the Dynarig masts as cranes, and is working with Veer on the world’s first emissions free cargo fleet. The Dutch design house, responsible for some of the most iconic superyacht and J Class projects, also tells us that it is currently working on a couple of new classified Dynarig superyacht projects.

This is where most of the momentum is headed with these new technology rigs in the superyacht world. VPLP is perhaps the world’s most successful yacht design groups since Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost set up their business in 1983.

They’ve won the Vendée Globe , the Jules Verne , the Route du Rhum , and in 2010 the America’s Cup with the huge wingsail on BMW Oracle. “Marc [Van Peteghem] saw the potential of that highly efficient automatable wingsail,” explained Simon Watin, president of their maritime division.

“He’s been at the forefront since that period, really pushing in parallel the maritime transportation and the yachting together,” continued Watin. VPLP started drawing the concept in 2016 and built the first Oceanwing to fit on a small trimaran. It’s an automated wingsail that hoists on an unstayed mast – similar to the IWS but using battens to create the wing’s shape, rather than inflation. It’s a two-element rig though, allowing for a more efficient foil and higher performance. VPLP built two 32m2 Oceanwings for Energy Observer , a former racing catamaran now circumnavigating as a technology platform. They also started to pitch eye-catching concept designs into the superyacht community.

“The people we are looking to convince are people that would normally go for a pure motor yacht,” explained Watin, “and who would not be so much interested in the sailing aspect itself.” Watin pointed to the gains in fuel economy, range, comfort and autonomy. The Seaffinity is a streamlined, concept trimaran from VPLP, “with a large main hull and two smaller floats featuring two Oceanwings, one behind the other,” explained Watin. “And this is really an illustration of a new superyacht that could have been a pure motor yacht, but actually benefits from the Oceanwing.”

Dykstra’s Dynarig projects, made famous by Maltese Falcon and Black Pearl (pictured), are being adapted for shipping

Superyacht concepts

Another VPLP/Ayro collaboration has resulted in the radical Nemesis One superyacht concept, a 101m/332ft foiling catamaran capable of 50-knot speeds. The fully automated, push-button craft uses a modified Oceanwings wingsail which can furl and reef and automatically adjusts its angle of attack. There’s no question that this and the Seaffinity are striking vessels, and that the technology could make a significant dent in the operating carbon footprint of yachts that might otherwise have been engine-only.

The first large scale Oceanwing will be a commercial shipping project. The step came when VPLP and the shipping company Alizé successfully bid for Ariane Espace’s tender for a new concept ship that could carry parts of the Ariane 6 rocket from European ports to French Guiana. Once it had the contract, VPLP created Ayro as a separate business to develop the cargo ship Canopée. She is scheduled to launch in late 2022, at 121m long, and will be powered by four 363m² Oceanwings set on 36m masts. VPLP thinks the wingsails will reduce fuel consumption by 15% without compromising speed.

“The technical concept is aerodynamic efficiency with the solid sail with two elements: so reaching maximum lift coefficient. Automation; so no lines, no unnecessary human intervention for trimming, adjusting, hoisting. And much less impact on the deck plan, which is quite major, especially for a superyacht,” said Watin.

The WASP uses its masts as cranes to unload cargo

The difference in the physical and mechanical realisation of the Oceanwing for superyacht and commercial shipping markets is interesting. The version for merchant ships will stick to industrial suppliers as far as possible – electric actuators that would normally mobilise cranes, for instance. The wing will use a reinforced PVC fabric skin, the type of material that would make a truck tarpaulin.

The masts will remain in place in normal use, and the fabric wings will raise and lower on cables powered by electric rams, so the sail area can easily be reduced. A tilting mechanism will allow the mast height to be reduced for ports and bridges.

Unsurprisingly, the superyacht version will be a lot more sophisticated, but is still based on the same self-standing mast and 360° rotation of the sails. “We would use higher technology material, lighter fabrics as well… and for the yachts, we have to be more cautious about the weight of the installation itself, because the sail area is going to be quite a bit larger in comparison to the boat. And obviously, the design is going to be important so we will package all the actuators in a much nicer way – you don’t want a ram sticking out.”

The 48m VPLP design Evidence uses automated and stowable wing sails

Bold initiatives

Ayro is now responsible for all the design and engineering on the Oceanwing, with its own 35-strong design office, but VPLP remains involved. “Ayro has successfully raised quite a bit of funding to sustain its growth,” Watin told me.

It was 2019 when Matt Sheahan made his prediction for the future of the IWS in his Yachting World review, and three years later it appears that the commercial shipping development is also well ahead of the superyacht market.

The WISAMO system is an initiative from Michelin, with two-time Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux associated with the project and testing. It’s the same concept as IWS, an inflated wingsail, set on an unstayed telescopic mast.

“When I discovered that system, I thought it has checked a lot of boxes compared to other systems,” said Desjoyeaux. “It has a plug and play system which is very easy to install and use, whether it is for a refit, meaning an addition to an existing boat, or for a newly built ship; you lower the mast into the boat, plug it in and off you go. Once you are out of the harbour, you push a button and the machine does everything. It unfurls the wingsail and automatically chooses the correct setting for cargo ships. This is crucial because there aren’t many crewmembers on the bridge, and they don’t necessarily know much about sailboats. They need a system that operates autonomously.”

VPLP Oceanwing projects on Energy Observer

At the beginning of 2022 Michelin announced a partnership deal with Compagnie Maritime Nantaise to test the WISAMO. The system will be fitted to one of their roll-on roll off vessels travelling between Bilbao in Spain and Poole in the UK. The plan is to have the ship in service by the end of this year. Meanwhile, tests with Michel Desjoyeaux’s own boat continued through last winter in the Bay of Biscay.

Michelin are claiming the system could save up to 20% on fuel costs. It’s in the same ballpark as the Oceanwing, and while it sounds good – particularly at today’s fuel prices – it’s actually only half of what the shipping industry needs to achieve by the end of the decade.

Reducing emissions

The shipping industry pumps out a lot of carbon dioxide – the most recent (2012) estimates being that shipping is responsible for 2.2% of global emissions. The International Maritime Organisation, an agency of the United Nations, has published a strategy for reducing carbon. Global shipping must achieve an average 40% reduction by 2030, increasing to 50% by 2050. The European Union is acting to give these targets legal force, and the first deadline is just eight years away. The task is immense, and the clock is ticking. That’s why the money and energy pushing these new sailing technologies forward is coming from commercial shipping.

Radical superyacht concepts such as Seaffinity feature Oceanwing wingsails from VPLP

One thing that’s been learned in the 150 years since sail last dominated the world’s oceans is that changing the world’s merchant shipping fleet takes time. In 1866, the year of the Great Tea Race, an auxiliary steamer left China eight days after the clipper ships and it arrived in London 15 days ahead of them. Steamships already had a significant speed advantage, but it was more than another 80 years before the last sailing ship ceased trading. This is the problem for the shipping industry; ships are built to last. The world once again needs to restock the entire global merchant fleet with a new technology, but this time there’s a deadline.

The same pressure is unlikely to be felt in the superyacht market for a while, and perhaps it never will. Still, once these new technologies have been developed and proven in the highly competitive shipping industry, it seems likely they’ll start to migrate to superyachts.

No easy options

There are many possible technical solutions but the easy changes – more efficient routing through weather systems for instance – will not get the industry to anything like the 40% required by 2030. The developments that will – new propulsion systems, fuel sources or hull designs – are still in development and/or will require massive capital investment. It’s taken a while, but the shipping industry has finally woken up to the scale and the timescale of the challenge it faces.

“They’ve got a massive problem on their hands,” said Simon Schofield, chief operating officer of BAR Technologies, a spin-off from the British America’s Cup team led by four-times Olympic gold medal winner, Ben Ainslie.

Nemesis One is a 101m foiling supercat concept capable of 50 knot speeds thanks to a fully automated Ayro Oceanwing rig

“In the last two years we’ve seen a marked difference in the industry. Two to three years ago when we were talking about this [wingsail] technology, people were like, ‘Yeah, it’s nice. People have been talking about this for years, but no one really wants sails…’ And now it’s, ‘How quickly can we have wings? What else have you got? We’ve got to move, we’ve got to get going.’”

Unsurprisingly, there is no shortage of people trying to solve this problem. The reward for developing any cost-effective way of reducing a significant chunk of those 40% of emissions will be a massive new business. The scale of the shipping industry is enormous, it’s a global business with a total value of more than US$14 trillion. So, there’s no shortage of ideas either, and kites were early leaders in this field.

The SkySail was a stand-out that got tested at full scale, installed in a custom-built ship, the MV Beluga Skysail , and tested on an Atlantic crossing in 2008 after 10 years of development. It fell at that hurdle, with the company turning instead to developing airborne wind energy systems for power production. The fate of the shipping project is sadly recorded on their website: ‘The SkySails propulsion system for vessels is currently not marketed any more.’ There’s no mistaking the significant risk in these ventures.

Fortunately, risks have never stopped people trying to innovate and there are plenty more projects with potential. The Flettner rotor is a tall, smooth cylinder mounted vertically, that rotates in the airflow passing the ship. It uses the Magnus Effect (the same thing that causes a spinning ball to curve in flight) to generate a force that helps to push the ship along. Norsepower have already installed a rotor on one tanker and it provided just over 8% fuel savings – good, but still nowhere near enough.

Oceanwing projects also shown here on cargo ship Canopée due to launch this year

It’s now the wingsail that seems to be grabbing the bulk of the investment. A Swedish group, led by Wallenius Marine, has formed a joint venture with Swedish industrial company Alfa Laval to develop the Oceanbird, a wind-powered car carrier with fixed wingsails that will stretch an extraordinary 100m into the air.

More sailing ships to come

In France, Neoline have developed a more conventional sailing cargo ship and agreed a letter of interest for its construction. They plan to use the Solid Sail being developed by the French shipbuilding and fleet services company Chantiers de l’Atlantique. It’s a freestanding mast with a rotating boom setting a fabric headsail and solid panel mainsail – panels that Multiplast are building.

There are several projects in the UK. British yacht design firm Humphreys Yacht Design and sailing software tools designer, Dr Graeme Winn, are involved with Smart Green Shipping. In late July, they announced a £5m investment from a mix of private industry and Scottish Enterprise for a three-year R&D project to develop and test their FastRigs wingsail and digital routing software. They plan to put a demonstration unit on a commercial ship by 2023.

Also out of the UK is the Windship project, with a board of directors that includes yacht designer Simon Rogers and former Sparcraft director David Barrow. They’re proposing sets of three vertical wings, each 35m high.

Oceanbird is a Swedish programme with a car carrier in development using folding 40m high wingsails. The company estimates each sail will save around 480,000 litres of diesel per year

“We believe,” Simon Schofield told me, “that wind technology has become mainstream in shipping… we’re seeing announcements almost weekly of new technologies being trialled and fitted to ships and we are set up specifically with a supply chain for volume. We’re doing a run now, but we want to be doing hundreds next year.”

Yes, that’s right. Hundreds. If there is such a thing as first-mover advantage, BAR Technologies appear to have it.

BAR started the WindWing project with a computer simulation, but merchant ships presented new problems. “The ships have a yaw balance [weather or lee helm] problem,” explained Schofield. “They’re not designed for wings. So, you’ve got to monitor rudder limits.” This is exactly the kind of problem that’s fundamental to designing well-behaved, fast and comfortable superyachts, and it’s no surprise the same approach was taken by VPLP with a similar background in elite yacht racing design.

BAR Technologies predicts there will be hundreds of ships using its WindWings by next year

Complications

The problem is even more complex with commercial ships. The leeway the wings induce has other side effects. The loading on the propeller changes, and that impacts its efficiency. “We also needed to model the engine plant, because we are moving engines away from their optimum efficiency points, so their fuel consumption changes,” said Schofield. Eventually, using these tools, they developed the design parameters for the WindWings.

“They are three-element, rigid wingsails,” said Schofield. “The first ones we’re doing are 37.5m aerodynamic span, about 20m in chord and rising to about 45m off the deck. So big bits of kit… We operate in up to 40 knots of true wind speed, with a 25% gust factor on top. So if it’s 40 gusting 50, that’s fine.” After that the WindWings are feathered, much like a wind turbine.

Despite the advanced state of BAR Technologies’ WindWings project, it’s probably too early to predict who the big winners will be in this race. In fact, given the demand from the world’s merchant shipping fleets, it’s likely there’ll be several.

We can also be sure all this energy, innovation and investment is going to produce significant advances in sailing technology. Perhaps, in a few years’ time, the gentle whirr of electric air compressors will have found their way from the paddleboards on the beaches of the River Hamble, to former motoryachts in the river’s many marinas.

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The design of a wingsail

Application of a holistic design optimization methodology

A wingsail is an aerodynamic structure analogous to an airplane wing, fitted to a marine vessel in place of a traditional sail. Over the past decade wingsails have become more and more popular among sailboat designers, owners, and skippers, due to their ease of use and control, but most importantly, for their advanced efficiency, compared to the traditional sail.

In this project Optiphore used design optimization and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technics to investigate the aerodynamic performance of two types of wingsail that can substitute the existing traditional sail of a sailboat. The first, a rigid single-component wingsail geometry, with variable chord length and varying airfoil geometry. The second, a flexible single-component wingsail geometry with variable chord length, varying airfoil geometry, and twist.

While new sailboats can be designed from scratch with a wingsail configuration, in this case the goal was to find an appropriate geometry that could also be retrofitted on an existing sailboat, producing equivalent sail characteristics by roughly maintaining the existing centers of gravity and effort respectively. Therefore, while the developed design methodology is generic and can be applied to a plethora of sailboat models, the end-result is a custom wingsail geometry, designed specifically for the needs of a certain sailboat model.

The applied strategy for obtaining a wingsail geometry is divided into two parts. In the first part a proprietary evolutionary algorithm is used to generate airfoil sections at various wingfoil spans, taking into account the wind’s speed and the airfoil’s angle of attack at each wingsail span. Every airfoil is described with an appropriate parametric, mathematical representation and subsequently, a panel-method software is employed to evaluate the airfoils’ lift-to-drag ratio. This is a versatile approach that can produce optimal product design solutions by exploring among a huge number of feasible designs, inside a given design space. It can be coupled with any type of third-party software to evaluate the validity of all the different design variable combinations it explores, promoting optimal solutions as result.

In the case of both the rigid and the flexible wingsail types, each airfoil section is submitted to a different wind velocity, based on its wingsail span location, to conform for the wind's velocity profile. In the case of the rigid wingsail, all airfoils have the same angle of attack, as a rigid wingsail cannot support a twist. In the case of a flexible wingsail a linear twist is applied to reduce its induced drag, with the angle of attack at the tip equal to zero.

In the second part of the utilized strategy, the 2D airfoil sections are used to produce the wingsail’s 3D geometry. At a first glance, any unexpected features of the wingsail shape can be identified, so the 2D analysis of specific sections can be performed again. A CFD analysis of the resulting shape can provide insight about any three-dimensional phenomena that occur on the wingsail, which cannot be identified with a 2D analysis. Moreover, its overall performance can be assessed at this point, by calculating the lift-to-drag ratio of the 3D shape and validating that the resulting shape is appropriate for the sailboat's needs.

Optiphore offers a comprehensive design optimization methodology. Starting with a blank canvas and a set of design requirements, a number of ideas get produced with the help of our proprietary design exploration tools. Those ideas can be evaluated often at a reduced computational cost. Eventually, the performance of the most promising ones is thoroughly evaluated to converge to the final design. Most product development design cycles can greatly benefit from such an approach.

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The ZEN50 is a game changer. World’s first series production catamaran equipped with a wingsail, it defines a new distinctive class of its own, where genuine zero-emission meets high comfort and performance, limitlessly. 

Designed from scratch for ZEN Yachts by award-winning naval architect Julien Mélot , this full carbon catamaran is the ultimate essence of technology driven, high performance and luxurious, eco-friendly leisure yachting. 

The blue water capable ZEN50 lightweight racing carbon hulls are combined with a huge solar roof for an unrivaled solar power vs. displacement ratio above 1:1 (18 kW / 17 tonnes), making this yacht completely energy self-sufficient. A revolutionary, fully automated, wingsail - by Ayro© - can be added as a range and speed extender. The yacht’s high capacity battery bank powers a powerful silent electric propulsion, allowing the ZEN50 to achieve 14 knots and maintain high continuous speeds in unrivaled safety and comfort, indefinitely… 

The ZEN50 is offered with or without wingsail and comes in 3 main different versions: Racer, Cruiser and Explorer, each dedicated to a different usage and owner profile. We use these versions as a basis to define a final, bespoke specification for each of our valued clients and ZEN Community Members. Scroll down for more details, specifications and prices.

1st WINGSAIL series production yacht in the world!

The OceanWings32 - by Ayro© - was initially developed for Team Oracle, for the America’s Cup 2010 in Valencia. Over years, it has further been developed and automated by VPLP and was installed on Energy Observer in 2019. Two years of field feedback have allowed the Ayro team to fine tune the algorithm commanding the wingsail. The ZEN50 is the first series production leisure craft to be equipped with this fully automated wingsail. It is controlled at the touch of a finger on screens, is automatically adjusted and has several safety modes and features. The two parts of the wingsail can be hoisted and lowered independently and with the simple touch of a button. The wingsail OceanWings32 is the ideal complement for the solar roof for those wishing to cruise long distances off-shore with zero-emissions.

Greatest ratio SOLAR POWER / weight on the market

At 17 tonnes lightweight and 18,000 W of peak solar power, the ratio of the ZEN50 is at over 1 kW per displaced tonne of water or beyond 1:1 which is far beyond any other blue water CE Cat A yacht in this size range. Lots of solar power for little water to displace is the strong and healthy foundation the energy self-sufficient ZEN50 is built upon.

Performance CARBON sandwich hulls

The hulls of the ZEN50 have been designed from a blank screen for ultimate efficiency - understand minimum drag or minimal energy consumption for a range of speeds from 6 to 10 knots. Their shape is aggressive, sharp and slender. Their reverse bows cut through water like a sword cuts through butter and their curvature is reminiscent of graceful dolphin bodies. These hulls are undoubtedly of the performance type and are built with the best available composites: Carbon fibre and Corecell™. The combination of high strength, low weight and performance design allow the ZEN50 to reach speeds of up to 14 knots.

INFINITE range at high CONTINUOUS speeds

With maximized solar and wind power and minimized energy consumption… the ZEN50 can sail continuously at speeds varying between 6 and 10 knots. Thorough simulations in various sea states and weather system have consistently shown the ZEN50 will be able to achieve performance catamaran speeds continuously without using a genset. With the ZEN50, the world is your oyster and the wildest destinations are within your reach with this self-reliant vessel!

True ZERO-EMISSION operation

The first ZEN50 unit, whose construction started in March 2023, will not be equipped with a genset at all and will not have any fossil fuels onboard. The ZEN50 energy system with its very large capacity 160 kWh battery bank, has been designed to function for days in complete safety with minimal solar energy harvest and no wind. It is perfectly safe with no backup genset and operates 24/7 without any polluting emissions.

NO FUEL , no costs

Naturally, requiring no fuel to operate day in day out is great news for the environment, it is also fantastic news when sailing into remote areas where fuel bunkering might be near impossible or where the fuel quality might be an issue. Finally, it also makes a massive difference in this yacht’s costs of operation. Imagine the hundreds of liters of diesel saved over just a week, the obsolete engine maintenance schedules, the clogged filters and dirty tanks from another age… Welcome to a new burden-free, energy self-sufficient era, welcome to clean and graceful eco-yachting, welcome to ZEN Yachts.

Highest SAFETY & reliability

At ZEN Yachts, we have made some design choices to attain energy self-reliance with the ZEN50 that reduces the habitable volume in the hulls, similar to performance catamarans. Where we have not and will never compromise is on safety. Our main voltage system is 48V making it perfectly safe to work on. The level of redundancy of the batteries and solar panels is 10! The main electrical architecture is split in 2 so that should anything happen on 1 hull, the entire vessel can still operate normally. There are 2 independent helm stations and the ZEN50 is packed with special safety features, nonsubmersible compartments and we can even offer an in-depth practical course on safety equipment usage and management. Sailing with the ZEN50 is not only exhilarating and clean, it is ultra safe!

Unrivaled space & COMFORT

The ZEN50 offers the speeds of a performance catamaran, the comfort of a large motor yacht and the simplicity of an electric car. No less than 2 large day beds, 3 dining areas for over 10 people, 1 professional galley and 2 wet kitchens, 5 heads, up to 4 double ensuite cabins, 1 bunk double and 1 single together with both saloon and dining areas converting into extra sleeping areas, this is simply unrivaled on a 50 ft. catamaran. Add an electric tender, dive compressor, satellite internet, 2 helm stations (cockpit and flybridge), a solar roof that converts into a gigantic upper deck to enjoy the most epic sunrises and sunsets, welcome onboard the ZEN50!

SPECIFICATIONS

Main particulars.

• Length Over All: 15.7m

• Beam: 8.4m

• Depth Molded: 2.7m at midship

• Displacement (light) : 17 T

• Draft (design): 1.3m (4.3ft) incl. keel

• Passenger Capacity: 12

• Berths: 12 (4 x double + 2 x single + saloon)

• Building Material: Carbon Fiber - Corecell™ composite

• Certification: CE Cat A - Unrestricted with 12 persons

Note: Some of the above figures may vary between versions

PROPULSION & ENERGY

• Propulsion: 2 x 50 kW brushless DC motors

• Main Battery Pack Capacity: 160 kWh Lithium

• Solar Roof Peak Power: 18 kWp

• Wingsail: Oceanwings® OWS 3.2 by Ayro©

• Backup Battery Pack Capacity (Nav/Com/Wing): 5 kWh Lithium

• Main System Voltage: 48V - Low voltage for total human safety

• Accommodation Voltage: 110V or 220V

SPEED & RANGE

• Max. Speed on e-motor only: 10 kn

• Max. Speed on e-motor & Wingsail: 14 kn

• Cruising Speed for continuous operation - solar only: 4.5 - 5 kn

• Cruising Speed for continuous operation - solar and wing: 6 - 10 kn

• Cruising Speed day time: 8 - 10 kn

• Range Over 24 h: 180+ nm

Note: These values may vary between versions and sea / weather conditions

EQUIPMENT INCLUDED - RACER VERSION

• Integrated power management system

• Solar power & energy storage system

• Electric propulsion system

• By-wire steering system

• Helm stations at cockpit & flybridge

• Galley counters, storage, sink, oven, stove, fridge, freezer

• 4 en suite heads with enclosed shower, toilet, sink & faucet (in each head)

• All cabin furniture (as shown in layouts)

• Aft deck fixed dining table and aft sofa with collapsible back rest (as shown in layouts)

• Fore deck day bed and lateral seats (as shown in layouts)

• Outdoor marine cork decking / indoor saloon natural bamboo decking

• All cushions In/Outdoor upholstered with Sunbrella® fabric

• 6 deck hatches

• 2 x 500 liter (2 x 132 gal) fresh water tanks

• 2 x 100 liter approx. (2 x 26 gal) fresh water tanks + 1 fresh water pump

• 2 x 350+ liter approx. (2 x 92 gal) holding tanks

• Railings, cleats and fore deck trampolines

• Mooring equipment: 33 kg Rocna® stainless steel anchor + 50 m stainless steel chain 10 mm + 150 m nylon rope + e-windlass

• Regulatory navigation equipment including navigation lights & mast

• 2 x chart plotter 16”; 2 x VHF with DSC button

• Regulatory Life Saving Appliances

• Critical spare parts kit

Note: The above equipment is for the Racer version. Cruiser & Explorer versions carry additional equipment

ZEN50 Solar Wingsail Electric Catamaran - Solar Roof Layout

ZEN50 Solar Wingsail Electric Catamaran - Flybridge Layout

ZEN50 Solar Wingsail Electric Catamaran - Main Deck Layout - Asymmetric D (subject to changes)

ZEN50 Solar Wingsail Electric Catamaran - Cabin Layout - Asymmetric D (subject to changes)

ZEN50 Solar Wingsail Electric Catamaran - Cabin Layout - Asymmetric E (subject to changes)

SOLAR & WINGSAIL

OCEAN RACER

Solar power & Wing, basic configuration, navigation, safety, fridge, etc.

EUR 2 150 000

WORLD CRUISER

Solar power & Wing, well equipped with A/C and water maker

EUR 2 400 000

ARCTIC EXPLORER

Solar power & Wing ultimate configuration with all available options

EUR 2 650 000

Solar power, basic configuration, navigation, safety, fridge, etc.

EUR 1 700 000

CONTINENTAL CRUISER

Solar power, well equipped configuration with A/C and water maker

EUR 1 900 000

TROPICAL EXPLORER

Solar power ultimate configuration with all available options

EUR 2 100 000

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Wind Propulsion Innovation Awards 2021

Winners -  small vessel sector.

ADVANCED WING SYSTEMS

DECARBONISING THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY

Aws working towards net zero by 2050.

GET THERE EASILY

You may be cruising to that idyllic location or aiming at your next line honours or regatta win.  Either way the SRW (Semi Rigid Wing) can make it easier.

The most advanced soft wing sail technology in the world is here. Simple, light, robust and breath-taking performance.

If performance racing is your objective, learn more about how the SRW drives the performance cycle improving not only your aerodynamic but also your hydrodynamic performance.

For making your cruising easier, more comfortable and more enjoyable - Find out more

Why Choose Advanced Wing Systems

​ • Light weight

• Cost effective • Suitable for multihulls and monohulls

• Able to be retrofitted to existing boats

• Able to be stayed onto narrow hulls that require rigging with spreaders • Able to be fitted to existing hulls with conventional staying arrangements • Able to withstand the rigours of knock downs and capsize • Able to be reefed and stowed • Will support headsails and spinnakers

• Simple, robust, reliable • Thick, asymmetrical wing section • Variable section thickness • Variable camber • Variable asymmetry (i.e. asymmetry can be swapped from port to starboard) • Easy to rig • Easy to sail

OUR PARTNERS

UNITED KINGDOM

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Wingsailer - Wingsailer / STW003415

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DOCUMENTS: Wingsailer

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Technical forum: wingsailer.

Show all the components of the Wingsailer, as I want to assemble mine. Thanks, Uwe Nusser 08/03/2023 by stw-4585

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Inflated Wing Sails

La voile-aile gonflable, une aile souple, + simple + performante + user friendly, inflated wing sails (iws), laurent de kalbermatten, aviator and iws creator, edouard kessi, sailor and iws creator, based on paragliders and on inflatable aircrafts.

• A double skin forming a symetrical airfoil
• Fans placed inside the leading edge, stabilizing the sail’s shape for every wind conditions
• Free-standing and retractable mast located at the airfoil’s aerodynamic center

The IWS for yachts:

A soft and groundbreaking wing, the advantages.

• The sail flies vertically
• The NACA airfoil has been studied to develop a high driving force for a low righting moment
• Using a symetric airfoil allows to tack from one side to another without having to trim the sail shape
• The symetric airfoil is balanced and place itself in the best position to maximise the driving force
• The aerodynamic center stays stable in every wind condition
• This kind of sail could easily be driven by an automatic system

reduces effort on the boat:

• Shape control using the internal pressure
• no local stress
• better aging
• The wing flies vertically and does not create local stress inside the membrane (light sail cloth used for both ribs and the fairing)
• Little heel angle upwind
• Perfect for gigantic sails such as superyachts
• Free-standing, retractable and light mast hidden inside the wing
• Less leeway control needed, lighter keel and boat reinforcements
• A refined deck free of any hardware

IWS behaves like a muscle,

Stabilized by high internal pressure.

• No flapping
• No dynamic stress
• Spectacular absorption of the pitching effect
• Wing twist controlled by internal pressure

IWS sailplan

Is balanced around the mast:.

• No compression forces in the rigging which allows the use of a retractable mast
• No leech tension. The sheet is only used to adjust the wing in its best  angle
• The free-standing rigging allows gybing with the wing going forward around the mast, which makes the manœuvre a lot easier

IWS controls the sail area

By mast height:.

• Mast and sail expension varies according to the desired sail area
• Dropping the IWS is made by deflating the wing and retracting the mast
• The light boom, called “Nest” ® , is integrated inside the wing base and receives the part of the sail that has been dropped and deflated
• Being able to retract the mast allows a huge decrease in drag and pitch forces during motoring or while at the dock

is ideal for:

• Cruising Yachts purified from deck hardware and easier to sail.This type of rigging offers a brand new yachting philosophy
• Huge sails for passenger or cargo ships. With IWS, there is no more stress inside the sail cloth, the rig or the ship structure. This system would allow sail propulsion for this kind of vessel

the history

• prototype created using a Laser dinghy.
• International patent application.
• Comparison between a normal Laser dinghy and one with the IWS system.
• Performances and advantages validated.
• To analyse all the advantages of the IWS system, a 42m² wing has been built for a 5,5m one design boat. The retractable mast made out of 5 sections deploys up to 13m using a pneumatic system
• Test period is finished. The boat sails on lake Geneva and is at your disposal for sea trials
• Our experience aquired on the IWS proved that this system is very simple, efficient and user friendly

Our ambition

WISAMO -Wing Sail Mobility- aims at contributing to maritime transport decarbonization, improving the environmental footprint of commercial ships through its innovative wind propulsion solution. 

Discover our wind-powered innovation to decarbonize maritime transport

Growth in maritime transport  has led the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to impose regulations requiring drastic reductions.

The 2023 IMO revised strategy strengthened levels of ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping “close to” 2050. GHG emissions must be cut at least 20% (striving for 30%) by 2030, and at least 70% by 2040  (vs. 2008).

New players are emerging to develop more climate-friendly wind propulsion solutions and accelerate the decarbonization of sea freight.

WISAMO, a MICHELIN innovation, develops an unic wind-powered solution offering ease-to-use, robustess and performance.

ENGINEERING the sustainable future of shipping

At the forefront of this new industry, WISAMO is engineered around three key features : an inflated fabric wingsail and a telescopic mast , raising and lowering automatically thanks to a digital control system .

As the telescopic mast unfolds, the fabric inflates via an integrated fan system. Thanks to our low-pressure technology, the wingsail keeps a completely symmetrical shape, avoiding any wind deformation and effectively absorbing shocks.

A telescopic mast consisting of several segments raises and lowers automatically. Its fully retractable design facilitates loading and unloading operations as well as passage under bridges.

A digital control panel allows you to raise or lower the wingsail automatically, without any human action. Sensors detect the wind direction and force to maximize performance and make it completely safe and easy to use.

UNIC technology

WISAMO is at the forefront of this new industry using the free, clean and inexhaustible energy of the wind to propel ships more sustainably.

The wingsail is a “plug and play” system, for all   type of vessel, including new builds   (Original Equipment) or existing vessel (Retrofit), with no impact for the crew and reducing their carbon footprint.

Based on 5 criteria, the Solar Impulse label is performed by external independent experts

WISAMO WINGSAIL AWARDED "SOLAR IMPULSE EFFICIENT SOLUTION" LABEL

In July 2023, our WISAMO wingsail is certified as an efficient solution for economic and clean growth with the Solar Impulse Foundation's label. Joining more than +1,000 projects in the world combining profitability and sustainability, WISAMO embodies now a vision of a society committed to a more sustainable world.

The Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label is the only label combining positive-impact companies for environmental protection and financial profitability. It supports WISAMO in its commitment to carbon-free shipping with a simple, effective solution.

Testimonials

WISAMO is a reality, it is an innovative wind propulsion solution developed by Michelin to help decarbonize maritime transport. ​

​ Gildas Quemeneur – Director WISAMO Michelin ​

WISAMO wingsail can fit any boat that is looking at using wind energy

Michel Desjoyeaux - French Navigator and WISAMO Technical Consultant

Got a question about WISAMO?

Interested in implementing the WISAMO wingsail on your vessel and want a free diagnostic?

Please get in touch with us.

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WISAMO is supported by the French government for the project France 2030.

Founded in 2018, the Conseil d’Orientation pour la Recherche et l’Innovation des Industriels de la Mer (aka CORIMER) to finance innovative maritime projects.

Discover more on https://corimer.fr/

A cargo ship with 123-foot ‘WindWing’ sails has just departed on its maiden voyage

Retrofitted with 123-foot ‘WindWings,' 'Pyxis Ocean' is testing two giant sails on its six-week journey from China to Brazil.

By Andrew Paul | Published Aug 21, 2023 2:30 PM EDT

• Environment

A massive cargo ship retrofitted with a pair of nearly 125-foot-tall “wing sails” has set out on its maiden voyage, potentially providing a new template for wind-powered ocean liners. Chartered by shipping firm Cargill, the Pyxis Ocean ’s journey will take it from China to Brazil in a test of its two, rigid “WindWings” constructed from the same material as wind turbines. According to the BBC on Monday, the design harkening back to traditional boat propulsion methods could reduce the vessel’s lifetime emissions by as much as 30 percent.

Per an official announcement on August 21, Pyxis Ocean ’s WindWings can save 1.5 tonnes of fuel per wing, per day. Combined with alternative fuel sources, that number could rise. During its estimated six week travels, the cargo ship’s sails will be closely monitored in the hopes of scaling the technology across both Cargill’s fleet, as well as the larger shipping industry. Speaking with BBC , one project collaborator estimated a ship using four such wings could save as much as 20 tonnes of CO2 every day.

[Related: These massive, wing-like ‘sails’ could add wind power to cargo ships .]

“Wind is a near marginal cost-free fuel and the opportunity for reducing emissions, alongside significant efficiency gains in vessel operating costs, is substantial,” explained John Cooper, CEO of project collaborator, BAR Technologies.

In addition to being a zero emission propulsion source, wind power is both a non-depleting resource as well as predictable. Such factors could prove extremely promising in an industry responsible for around 2-3 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions—around 837 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Less than 100 cargo ships currently utilize some form of wind-assisted technology, a fraction of the over 110,000 operational vessels throughout the world. Depending on Pyxis Ocean ’s performance, the massive WindWings could help spur increased green tech retrofitting, as well as new builds already coming equipped with the proper systems.

Elsewhere, similar wind-based vessel projects are already underway. Earlier this year, the Swedish company Oceanbird began construction on a set of 40-meter high, 200 metric ton sails to be retrofitted on the 14-year-old car carrier, Wallenius Tirranna . According to the trade publication Offshore Energy , one of Oceanbird’s sails could cut down emissions by 10 percent, saving around 675,000 liters of diesel per year.

“The maritime industry is on a journey to decarbonize—it’s not an easy one, but it is an exciting one,” said Jan Bieleman, president of Cargill’s ocean transportation business.

Andrew Paul is Popular Science's staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work also featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.

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The Lightweight, Carbon-Fiber Wing Dinghy is a Classy, Rowable Sailing Dinghy

Diana russells superlight dinghy matches up against bruce binghams trinka..

It is a shame that just as the materials for an ideal rigid dinghy have become readily available, outboards and rubber inflatables have all but swept conventional dinghies from the waterfront.

For those who still appreciate the feel of a good pair of 7-foot, feathering spruce oars and the ring of bronze oarlocks, a new tender from Wing Systems offers hope. The lines for the tender date back to Nat Herreshoffs Frost Fish, a timber-built dinghy with a reputation for performance both under sail and when being rowed. Her moderate beam, gently curving buttocks lines, plumb bow and wide but graceful transom deliver stability, load-carrying capacity and an ability to be rowed into a stiff breeze-all very valuable attributes in a tender.

Photo courtesy of Wing Systems

Diana Russell is the president and chief designer of Wing Systems, a small sea-going think tank that has come up with solutions for sailing craft that range from efficient sailboard hull shapes to patents on fuel-saving sails for super tankers. Diana got her start as part of the Sparkman and Stephens research and development group that pioneered the development of sailboat velocity prediction programs. Her keen interest in dinghies, canoes and kayaks, and her firm commitment to “messing around in small boats” has led to some very worthwhile innovations. For cruising sailors, her 9-foot Wing Dinghy is a good example of how modern boatbuilding materials and technology can make a classic design better than ever.

To evaluate the Wing Dinghy, we compared it to the popular Trinka 10, a rugged Bruce Bingham design that has served many cruising sailors over the years. The evaluation points were sailing ability, rowing ability, durability, ease of hoisting, and towability. The Wing Dinghy proved to be a better sailer and was much easier to hoist, while the Trinka scored highest in the durability department. Both dinghies were evenly matched in the rowing and towing evaluations.

At the top of the list of attributes is the Wing Dinghys light weight hull (55 pounds). 

Photo courtesy of Ralph Naranjo

In comparison, the popular Trinka 10 weighs in at 140 pounds. By carefully controlling resin volume and using high-modulus materials to build the Wing Dinghy, the result is a stiff and durable hull thats easy to launch and retrieve.

Wing Systems and the tenders builder, the Savage River Works, a builder of racing and recreational canoes, have eschewed heavy teak trim and hand lay-up for advanced composites technology. The dinghy is built with either a conventional fiberglass FRP skin or a lighter and more expensive carbon outer and Kevlar inner hull skin. A controlled resin transfer process and vacuum-bagging ensure consistent bond and eliminate excess resin. What doesn’t contribute to the structure of the vessel needs is eliminated.

The boat benefits from Dianas time spent sailing small craft, and its these little details from an experienced sailor that contribute to the dinghys success. Take for example how the all important bow pennant is secured to a bonded stem tube using no hardware at all. Other builders rely upon massive U-bolts that they add to the stem, not recognizing the damage that such a protrusion will do to the topsides of the mother vessel and other boats approached with a little too much enthusiasm. Similar nuances such as oarlock placement, thwart positioning, and gunwale protection are delivered with the same attitude toward form and function. Missing is the teak trim and gingerbread that may seem attractive to onlookers, but adds little to the structure and lots to the weight of the boat.

The Wing Dinghy is a dinghy in the way that a Leica is camera. Like the Leica, the price tag is commensurate with the quality of the product. Its true that for the same investment, one can find a RIB and an outboard that will plane across the bay, but for those who enjoy the solitude and silence of natural surroundings, and welcome a morning row and an afternoon sail, the Wing Dinghy is both a practical solution to getting to shore and an elegant way to get there.

• Wing Dinghy
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So how does it row, unloaded and loaded? How does it handle different wind speeds and directions, and sea states? Can you climb back in after capsize? Can you haul it up a pebble beach or leave it in a dinghy park in a blow? It looks like you forgot to include the review portion of the review!

I have all the questions Ben asks! Looks more like a press release than a Practical Sailor review.

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Wingsail Yachts?

• By David Schmidt
• Updated: October 1, 2019

French design house VPLP is using its experience penning grand prix-racing sailboats, ­including the America’s Cup winner BMW Oracle Racing 90, to create an expedition-grade trimaran series from 130 to 260 feet. The Komorebi series will have a hybrid propulsion system with electric engines and fully automated wingsails—a first for expedition-level cruising.

Unlike rigid, film-paneled America’s Cup wings, VPLP’s Oceanwings use supporting carbon-fiber spars and (possibly ­photovoltaic) sailcloth that’s ­hoisted to create two-element wingsails.

While VPLP says it has several ­interested customers, to date the Komorebi concept exists only as lines plans and scale models. Marc Van Peteghem, VPLP’s co-founder, points to three main challenges in reaching this point: hoisting and lowering sailcloth, reefing, and wingsail trim, all of which will be tackled by automation.

The wingsail-powered trimaran platform should deliver less roll ­motion than catamarans and greater comfort and speed than monohull yachts. “A wing can work at every ­apparent wind angle—it’s one of [its] big strengths,” Van Peteghem says. “With no wind, only the engine will be used; up to a certain wind speed, both engine and wing will play together, and above [this wind speed] it could be only wingsail. It’s very flexible.”

Take the next step: vplp.fr

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Cargo Ships Reclaim Wind Power With High Tech Rigid Sails

Canvas sails once powered the cargo ships that sailed the 7 seas, and now the modern day shipping industry is taking steps to reclaim its wind power heritage — with a high tech twist, that is. In the latest development, last week the French startup Zéphyr & Borée received validation for a new container ship decked out with 8 rigid sails engineered by the firm Computed Wing Sails.

This New Wind-Powered Ship Is No Small Potatoes

The new sails received approval in principle from the leading global certification firm Bureau Veritas, which has developed a new classification system for oceangoing wind propulsion systems .

BV certainly had its work cut out for it with the Zéphyr & Borée project. The ship is no demonstration-scale venture. It is a full sized, 185-meter (about 607 feet) cargo ship with a capacity of 1,800 TEU, which refers to the number of 20-foot containers it can hold.

That’s not nearly as big as the biggest cargo ships at sea today, which can easily top 20,000 TEU. However, it’s big enough to showcase how wind power can be scaled up to help decarbonize the global shipping industry.

High Tech Sails For More Wind Power

Zéphyr & Borée was founded in 2014 on a platform of shipping industry decarbonization , and it is casting a wide net in the wind power area.

The rigid wind power harvester designed by Computed Wing Sail is a thick, asymmetrical sail that resembles the wing of a glider. Depending on the wind conditions, it can fold down to hold a position half its height for optimal efficiency.

Zéphyr & Borée has also been working with the naval architecture firm VPLP, which has contributed its experience in designing rigid wing sails for racing yachts .

As described by Zéphyr & Borée, one challenge is to design a rigid sail that can be furled, meaning it can be folded into a more compact shape during rough weather.

The new sails also meet the challenge of minimizing crewing and training requirements.

“The control of the rigging does not require additional sailors, the settings are entirely automated and the structure meets the robustness and reliability imperatives required by maritime regulations and commercial ship activities,” Zéphyr & Borée explains.

How About Some Solar Power With Your Wind Power?

The idea of a rigid sail brings up the potential for adding on a layer of thin film solar panels. The Japanese firm Eco Marine Power introduced a patented rigid sail that doubled as as solar energy harvester back in 2011. Somewhere over the years, EMP separated the sails and the solar panels, which can be installed individually or as an integrated system.

By detaching the solar panels from the sails, EMP also gave the solar side more room to grow. EMP notes that its solar technology is lightweight and flexible, so it could be installed on awnings and other surfaces of a ship.

Earlier this year EMP received approval in principle from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai for its “Aquarius Marine Renewable Energy with EnergySail” solar and wind power combo.

EMP emphasizes that its clean power system can continue to generate electricity when the ship is at rest.  That’s a significant consideration in the context of the ongoing shipping bottleneck, which has left thousands of cargo ships waiting to dock while running their diesel engines.

New Shapes For Wind Power

Another interesting development to pop up is a cylindrical sail that resembles a smokestack, engineered by the firm Norsepower under the name Rotor Sail. The cylinder can be tilted down to allow for low bridges and other infrastructure, which opens up a broader array of shipping routes and destinations.

The Rotor Sail made its first appearance at CleanTechnica in 2015, when our friends over at Rocky Mountain Institute explained that the tubular design is an update of the Flettner rotor, a wind-powered device that spins within a cylinder.

“The rotor generates thrust for the same reason that a spinning baseball curves through the air after it’s thrown — the Magnus effect. When air moves across a rotating body, it exerts a force perpendicular to the direction of the air,” RMI explained.

All was quiet for a few years until 2019, when the tubular, tilt-able sails popped back onto the CleanTechnica radar in 2019. Norsepower has been awfully busy since then.

Among the recent developments is an agreement with the global mining and shipping giant Vale to outfit one of its “Valemax” Very Large Ore Carrier cargo ships with an array of 5 Rotor Sails .

Last month, Norsepower also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the global maritime technology firm Kongsberg Maritime .

The new agreement adds wind power to KM’s growing portfolio of decarbonization solutions for the shipping industry.

Oskar Levander, SVP Business Concepts for KM, explains:

“This co-operation with Norsepower is an additional step towards KM’s ambition to become the leading integrator of green shipping technology, such as auxiliary wind power, alternative fuels/energy sources and energy saving devices…Together we will offer support to shipowners and shipyards looking for the most efficient and effective ways of applying Rotor Sail technology, and collaborate on new ship designs to integrate these technologies and improve energy efficiency overall.”

Onward & Upward For The Decarbonized Shipping Industry Of The Future

Of course, if people would just stop buying so much stuff from faraway places, there wouldn’t be nearly as much carbon emissions from the the shipping industry. However, that’s not going to happen. In fact, the whole industry is headed in the wrong direction.

According to the International Marine Organization, the global shipping industry (including fishing) has improved its carbon intensity in recent years. Nevertheless, the industry’s total greenhouse gas emissions are already 90% higher than the benchmark year of 2008 and they are projected to keeping increasing by up to 130% in 2050.

Meanwhile, IMO hopes to cut emissions back down to 2008 levels by 2050. It appears that wind power will be part of the solution, though only as a means of reducing fuel consumption. It’s difficult to imagine a Valemax ship of 360 meters and 400 tons dead weight powered exclusively by the wind, but using wind power to reduce carbon emissions from marine fuel can make a significant difference.

Norsepower confirmed a savings of more than 8% on fuel for its Rotor Sail back in 2018, and the company anticipates a savings of up to 25% under some conditions.

Battery-electric technology will also play a role. Though today’s batteries might not be up to propelling a full sized cargo ship, Yara has just launched a modestly sized electric ship in Norway that will amplify its own emissions savings by replacing thousands of truck trips annually on local roads.

Zero emission hydrogen fuel cells are emerging as another decarbonizing option, at least for ferries and other smaller watercraft, but only to the extent that the global supply of green hydrogen continues to grow (the primary source of hydrogen today is natural gas, but alternative sources are emerging).

For larger craft, shipping industry stakeholders are beginning to dip into the green hydrogen-ammonia field, in which renewable ammonia can be produced by combining renewable hydrogen with nitrogen from ambient air. That’s a huge sustainability step up from the current state of the ammonia supply chain, which leans heavily on natural gas.

There being no such thing as a free lunch, the shipping industry will have to do something about nitrogen oxide emissions from burning ammonia in a combustion system, so stay tuned for more on that.

Follow me on Twitter @TinaMCasey .

Image: Rigid sails provide wind power for cargo ship (courtesy of Computed Wing Sail ).

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Our first wing sail:

Oceanbird Wing 560

The first wing sail from Oceanbird is named after its size: 560 square meters. It can be installed on both existing and new vessels, as main propulsion or wind-assist to support the engine.

The main energy force comes from wind, but the wing has more in common with airplane wings than traditional sails. Therefore, aerodynamics are important in developing the concept. The wing consists of a main sail and a flap, optimizing the aerodynamics forces. When entering harbors, passing under bridges or if the surface area needs to be reduced due to strong winds, the smaller segment folds into the other before the whole wing sail is tilted.

Short facts

Height: 40 meters (131 feet) Width: 14 meters (46 feet) Total sail area: 560 m2 (6028 f2) Two segments: Consists of a main sail and a flap, optimizing the aerodynamic forces by creating camber Materials: High strength steel, glass fiber and recycled PET Safety philosophy: Always tiltable, even in strong winds Actuation: Variable hydraulic drive Energy consumption: Low (passive system) Performance: One wing sail on an existing RoRo vessel at normal speed, can reduce fuel consumption from main engine with 7-10 % on favorable oceangoing routes. This means a saving of 600 tons/675,000 liters of diesel per year, which corresponds to approx. 1920 tons of CO2 Suitable for: Wind propulsion or wind assistance, on both newbuilt and existing vessels Developed by: Oceanbird – a joint venture between Alfa Laval and Wallenius, founded in December 2021

Newbuildings

There are a lot of advantages in considering wing sails already in the design phase. To design a new vessel to be wind-ready is often a quite small procedure, and then the decision to go for wing sails can be taken later on.

Oceanbird Wing 560 can installed as a full set to have a fully sailing vessel where the main part of the propulsion comes from the wind, or one or two wing sails to complement the main engine and then have a wind-assisted vessel. The wing sail doesn’t care which engine that drive that drives the vessel forward. It could complement conventional as well as new fuels, which enables smaller fuel tanks and less dependent on a big global supply.

To achieve a shipping revolution, we need to address the 60,000 commercial vessels on sea today. Reducing a lot of a emissions from a few, and even more from a lot. Our first focus is car-carrying vessels but we are also looking into other segments.

Retrofitting an existing vessel is one way to pro-long the life-time of vessel with conventional fuel that need to comply with new legislation. The wing sail could be removed and installed on another vessel. Most existing vessels need hull strengthening measures which could be carried out during docking, and of course comprehensive stability calculations.

What happens now?

We will do the first retrofit installation on the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vessel Tirranna in 2024. Tirranna will be get hull strengthening and a wing foundation installed during her planned docking in May. The wing sail will be installed onboard later that year, or beginning of 2025.

Meanwhile, another full-scale prototype is being installed at the Swedish shipyard Oresund DryDocks in Landskrona. Testing will start taking place during fall, and the site will also work as a training center for crews on wind-powered vessels.

The EU project Orcelle Horizon are supporting both the two prototypes and the building of Orcelle Wind, the first vessel from the Oceanbird concept. Wallenius Wilhelmsen and 10 project partners, among them Oceanbird, have secured a Horizon Europe funding totaling EUR 9m.

This project has received funding from European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework program under grant no 101096673.

Wing on existing vessel

How a bird´s wing can move a vessel

Do you consider wind propulsion?

There will not be one silver bullet for the green transition of the maritime industry. The beauty of wind propulsion is that it can be combined with other alternative fuels, which allows you to spread your eggs in different baskets. Wind is a free and constant energy source, and requires no additional infrastructure.

If you want to find out if wind propulsion is suitable for your vessels, either on newbuildings or retrofits, as main propulsion or wind assist to the engine – don’t hesitate to reach out!

Stay up to date

Tirranna is bringing her wing foundation to docking

The foundation that will connect the wing sail with Tirranna, is currently laying in place on the vessel´s deck. In about a month, it will…

A bird with six wings

The fully sailing vessels from the Oceanbird concept have taken several forms since its creation but are now getting closer to the final design. The…

Assembly is about to begin

The first big parts to the full-scale wing prototype, have arrived at the shipyard Oresund Drydock in Landskrona, southern Sweden. Assembly will soon begin, which…

Soft wing-sails are the next generation of sails 

Why soft wing-sails .

Why do we keep using sails like the old Dutch windmills rather than wings like the modern wind turbines?

Why do we try to make the sails look like wings rather than using the real thing?

Why do we use sails, knowing that wings are more efficient in terms of driving force and upwind pointing?

​ As a fighter pilot and an enthusiastic sailor for long time, I discovered that there are lots of similarities between flying and sailing, such as driving a machine on fluids, no brakes, windage effects on the bow / stern, the propeller walk, etc., However, the most and remarkable similarity is the use of lift force .

Airplanes use lift force, created on the wing due to the air flow around it, in order to hold the airplane up in the air. Sailing boats can use the same lift force, created on the sails as their driving force.

The answer to the questions "why" above was to make Omer Wing-Sail which is a simple structure wing-sail , easy to use, reliable, and good for all cruisers / cruiser racers in any weather condition.

Extensive sailing with the Omer soft wing-sail, strongly convinced me  that wing-sails are the next step in the evolution of sails.

Omer Wing-Sail

Why free-standing mast?

The idea of a mast without wires is foreign to most people. It is hard to fathom how a sailboat mast can stand, all by itself, without something to hold it up. However, those airplanes that long ago got rid of the wires holding the wings on in exchange for a spar, fly very safely. No one really thinks that the wing spar is not strong enough, and that an  airliner wing will fall apart.

Unstayed masts are designed to take the heeling and sailing loads the same way wing spars take the loads of the airplane.

The unstayed mast is held up by two parts - the heel fitting and the deck fitting. It puts no downward compression loads on the hull, which makes for a lighter hull structure as well as saving chain plates,  shrouds, turnbuckles and other fittings.

There are already many boats sailing out there with free standing masts such as the Superyacht "Black Pearl" that has three 64 meter free standing masts and the "Dwinger" with its 63 meters long free standing rotating mast.

In order to be efficient in almost all wind directions, the wing-sail should be able to freely rotate into the wind and maintain it's 0°-10° angle of attack. A free standing rotating mast is the perfect solution.

Omer wing-sail design

​Omer wing-sail is based on a rotating A frame mast, that supports both sides of the wing, having an accurate wing cross section as well as high moment of inertia. 

The wing is made of three different sails: two main sails and one U shape leading edge sail. All three sails are sliding independently up and down the mast. When all three sails are hoisted, we get a wing that one can reef and drop down like any other conventional sail. 

With the same sails area, we get a 10%-15% faster boat while pointing higher. 

Main design differences between America's cup wing and Omer Wing-sail 

Omer Wing-Sail cross section

AC 40 wing and jib cross section

37' Omer Wing Sail Cruiser

37' omer wing sail racing (optional), america's cup ac40, patents granted: .

US 6863008, 7603958, 8281727

EU 1373064, 2404820

NZ 529216, 586805, 593939

AU 2002236181, 2008344923

SA 2010/04809

OMER Wing Sail Ltd. 

23 Hohit St. Ramat Hasharon,

Israel, 47226

Tel: +972-3-5401675  

Mobile: +972-54-4277617

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