I have been trying to do some research on wing sails. i have found one website who make rigid wings and they claim that a wing sail puts out twice the power on certain tacks. What i want to know is when you sail by wire what exactly are you controlling? alerons? i have seen pic on a c-class cat that has a wing sail.

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FYC, Nacra 5.2 "Chris's Flyer" & Nacra Playcat
Previously owned: Trac 14, H14, H16, H18, N5.0, G-cat 5.0
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Would you be controlling both wing angle to the boat and some kind of flap adjustment? I am not familiar with rigid wing sails, but it looks like the battens on a cat sail do some of the same principles as the soft wing sails I found on the internet.

With claims of twice the power, I would wonder what they are comparing to. Also when not on those certain tacks, how do they compare.

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Scott,
‘92 H18 w/SX wings
‘95 Hobie Funseeker 12 (Holder 12)
‘96/‘01/‘14 Hobie Waves
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instead of using drag for down wind sailing the wing just rotates so that it lifts the boat down wind. i think that the wing would dominate upwind but that would be about it. i bet it floats nicely when capsized

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FYC, Nacra 5.2 "Chris's Flyer" & Nacra Playcat
Previously owned: Trac 14, H14, H16, H18, N5.0, G-cat 5.0
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There are pictures of a wing sail on an A-Class cat during the 2007 Worlds at
http://www.thebeachcats.c…pictures&g2_itemId=36427

I don't think it proved to be a big advantage, and handling the thing is a major operation requiring a giant storage box. Pretty cool experiment though.



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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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check out the aero skimmer on youtube. that looks like the thing to do

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FYC, Nacra 5.2 "Chris's Flyer" & Nacra Playcat
Previously owned: Trac 14, H14, H16, H18, N5.0, G-cat 5.0
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