+justjohnny05 Nice idea, but, unfortunately, the numbers don't support your proposal. 1) Horizontal solar panels generate MUCH more electricity than Vertical panels - especially when the sun is strongest, at Noon! 2) The "domestic" power you need is under 1 Kw but the propulsive power you need is many tens of Kw, involving many tons of batteries. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BBranor_PlanetSolar

panels are getting more efficient and cheaper all the time so one day it will but you could also cover the top surfaces of the vessel with the same flexible panels and use one or more helical wind turbines as well in fact one giant helical rotating turbine could be part of the mast in the center of the plane sail

+justjohnny05 Another nice idea. Thank you. I would LOVE to be wrong,. However the numbers say no again! The maximum theoretical efficiency of a PV panel is under 34%. Modern PV panels get up to 24%, so there is only a 40% increase in efficiency possible for PV panels. If you propose using "one or more helical wind turbines as well in fact one giant helical rotating turbine could be part of the mast in the center of the plane sail" then, I believe, you would get much more propulsive power from the non mechanical wingsail than you could hope to get from any turbine coupled in some way to propeller(s), because of the massive mechanical losses. If you wish to "store" the helical turbine energy in a battery then I propose you continue with this mathematical exercise and determine the weight of batteries you would need to move the boat after 3 days of light winds that are too light for the turbines to generate any power, but are adequate for the wingsail to drive the boat.

I assume that this vessel probably has a gas engine for when theres little wind it would still be better to have an electric motor powered by batteries and or using power when theres alot of wind and sun to convert sea water into oxygen and hydrogen to later maybe when no wind or at night convert back to electricity with a hydrogen fuel cell that will also produce drinkable water as well.

+davidnatha btw i saw where they have solar panels up to 37% in a lab and they are now using micro lenses on pv's to increase solar intensity to get that number up higher.

Who do you think pays for "green"?

+toranamunter HTH: Soul Survivors - JAMIE KALETH Sound recording 3:06 - 4:09 play match Incognito - JAMIE KALETH Sound recording 0:00 - 1:09 play match Caribbean Cocktail 2 - PAUL GREEDUS Sound recording 1:09 - 2:08 play match Jamaica Roll - PAUL GREEDUS_AdShare2013 Sound recording 2:07 - 2:37 play match

Thanks, awesome boat :-)

+Mazda rx7 Please see my reply to jolllyroger1 below. Thanks!

+Roger Crier Yes, I'm sure it was pretty traumatic for all. In my opinion, much of the danger was because there were a PAIR of strops fixed to the bottom, on the OUTSIDE of the wing. These strops were "held / located" in a couple of slots at the top of the wing. All very well when stepping the mast, when the pair of strops could be properly fixed in the slots whilst the wing was on the ground, horizontal. Just imagine the problem of unstepping the wing. John Walker's "solution" was to propose hoisting someone up to the top of the wing, with socks but without shoes, to avoid wing damage. This person would, somehow, pinch the strops in the slots so that they would not jump out during the unstepping, resulting in catastrophic damage to life and property. I believe that a major design flaw was the omission of a hole at the top of the wing. A SINGLE lifting strop could then have been threaded, down the CENTER of the hollow wing so both stepping and unstepping the wing could have proceeded without the slots introducing unnecessary risks.

+jolllyroger1 After extensive wind tunnel testing and optimisation, John Walker claimed that his rigid wing design was equivalent to a single surface wing three time the area. Do you have numerical data that supports your claim?

+davidnatha it's in years and years of data beginning with the Wright brothers who used 2 wings both were single surface ..... and I personally have been designing and building aircraft for 37 years .... I can look at a shape and tell you is efficiency. ... as great as all the ideas people come up with are in theory reality comes in with safety being the number one concern. ... for anyone sailing the world their number one desire is to arrive at their next destination. it's wondrous fun and I love sailing at high speed for the fun of it ..... but once I get out 15 miles only 2 things are important ..... simplicity and durability ..... and with aircraft once you leave the ground is the same. once you're 15 miles out even your bed sheets can be used as sails ... yet few people have made the attempt because they are under duress and the thinking becomes narrow minded. anyone that goes to see should consider the other uses for every item they bring on board. .... sheets and blankets should be selected for their use as sails possibly and as fiberglass cloth replacement for hull patching if that need arises. .... the more complex your systems become and the more you rely on things that are not basic the more your life becomes at risk. GPS is great when it's working when it stops completely it sucks but when it is off its most dangerous... same with a compass. .... risk factors go up exponentially with speed

+davidnatha I guess I should say that one of these rigid sails up in changing winds would break the sail and the boat. imagine sailing along in 45 mph winds when hit by a 45 mph wind gust at 45 degrees different angle ...... what you will see is a disaster yet with your soft sails the blow will be softened.

+jolllyroger1 > a stiff dacron, mylar and Kevlar... sail will perform nearly as well as these but they can be reefed and controlled< Do you have numerical data that supports your claim? The video shows footage taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Claudette. The only Walker Wingsail trimaran to attempt a circumnavigation, Angel B, arrived without mishap. More details can be found on my Planesail.com website, including an enginering drawing of the Zefyr Wingsail. Questions: 1) I would value your opinion (and CL number) of how "efficient" the Walker Wingsail is. 2) I would value your estimation of how many ropes a rig with your (conventionally) reefable sail rig needs. For the Walker Wingsail this number is zero. > imagine sailing along in 45 mph winds when hit by a 45 mph wind gust at 45 degrees different angle< Please unconstrain you mind with the amazingly conventional thinking of >I personally have been designing and building aircraft for 37 years< Since the Wingsail is unconstrained, it weathercocks in around a second. Nobody needs to go on deck. Nobody on board has to do anything whatsoever. In contrast, please consider the skill level / lack of skill level that your >hit by a 45 mph wind gust at 45 degrees different angle< glibly implies when there is the minimum crew on watch, the rest asleep, exhausted from handling (safely?) several previous scenarios of >sailing along in 45 mph winds when hit by a 45 mph wind gust at 45 degrees different angle< In the scenario you described above, please elaborate on your theme of "safety being the number one concern". Kind regards!

+jolllyroger1 finally somebody who understands. My boat's bedsheets are all made from old spinnakers, and we sleep on rolls of greenhouse plastic in case we have to make sails. I won't allow anybody to come sailing with me unless their clothes are made of Dacron, which is available in many fashionable colours. I once made a sail out of nothing but G strings, but it took so long we all died of thirst. Since then I've switched to Dacron MC Hammer pants and couldn't be happier.

Skiiwa My website Planesail.com lists shows details of my boat, Planesail, and the 4 smaller Zefyr models (both seen in the video) built by Walker Wingsails.

davidnatha The Advantages and Disadvantages section of your website Is what I been looking for! I really couldn't see any downside to these things. Now I see 1 of the big issue is you really need to be able to collapse them. Why aren't they suitable for a live-aboard though? Because its always whipping the boat about?

Skiiwa There are constant wind shifts in a marina or mooring. It takes the wingsail (with the tail angle set to 0) a few seconds to align itself with the wind. The boat sheers back and forth till the rig is (re)aligned with the wind. At sea, the worse the conditions, the more of a joy they are to have.

That why I was interested in the first place was because they sounded like a dream in bad weather. Not to mention they are perfect for solo sailors!

how do you reef in a storm.... a wing is great but in to much wind you still have a plane up and if winds shift often your f'd

onenut4you > About how fast can you get them to go... before having trouble's controlling it The computer sets the flaps to 35 deg if the wind is below 18 knots, to get the maximum thrust. The flap is set to 0 deg when the wind speed is above 18 knots. At higher wind speeds the angle of the tail is progressively reduced. This eliminates any risk of capsize. If there is any problem with the two motors controlling the tail and flap, they can be operated by a hand crank in a few minutes. Planesail had daily runs of 14 Kts. > will they act better then Sail's do There is no "fuss" with the wingsail. When the wind turns the rig turns, without friction. Gybes are silent, without any flapping of sails.

Hello Lord Jim. thank you for your comment. I would like to understand your aesthetic sense a little better. Planesail's wingsail rig has zero ropes. How many ropes does a rig that you consider beautiful have?

i am with you on this i seen 1 up close if i had to pick a catamaran or this i will pick the catamaran it looks realy stupid

Hi Bjørn, Thank you for bringing up a common misconception about Planesail. I was informed by her designer, the late John Walker, that her freely rotating rigid wingsail had, in fact, much less windage that any conventional mast and rigging. The drag formula normally used states that round objects like masts and rigging have around 10 times more drag compared with streamlined shapes of the same thickness. Please see www.princeton.edu/~asmits/Bicycle_web/blunt.html. HTH, David