Wierd 'Winged' trimaran off Teignmouth

[dukes4monny]

Whilst out for a sail yesterday evening I spotted this wierd looking winged trimaran.
It seemed to be going quite well gybing downwind.........although I thought I could hear an engine running
What sort of performance would this sort of thing be capable of?
The other question which popped into my mind while watching it was "How do you handle it in a real blow"..........in a normal yacht you can run under 'bare poles'........

 

[jhr]

Eeeeek! A Walker Wingsail .

Be very careful what you say, everyone, - the lawyers will be watching

 

[snowleopard]

The theory is that in a blow you de-power it by allowing the rig to weathercock. Having seen one manoevering I can confirm that the rig moves very easily on its bearings.

It relies on a computer and some fairly complex cabling to control the angle of incidence so how far one would rely on it is a matter of individual choice. I spoke to the owner of a newly-built one in Plymouth some years ago. He had come back to Plymouth for repairs to the control system after the delivery passage to the solent. He was unable to berth to an upwind pontoon under power, even in flat water.

There is one down here that has been sitting around, on and off the water for about 3 years. It has no rig and I heard from a local boatbuilder that the rig had broken.

For those of you who don't know, a review of the WW, in YW IIRC, resulted in a record damages claim so IPC is very sensitive on this issue. Expect this thread to vanish rapidly!

 

[sarabande]

hmmm, that brings back memories of my first major investment in a startup business.

The original brief was to bring a small wingsail to the market, but it escalated into a very sophisticated machine whose development outran the capacity of the company.

Like many other investors, I believe that had the company experienced less tempestuous legal storms, Britain would have had another world beating winner, and that the originator's wife would still be with us.


I believe John Walker has some commercial wingsail developments which are currently under evaluation, and wish him every success in the project.

 

[Tranona]

For those of you who don't know, a review of the WW, in YW IIRC, resulted in a record damages claim so IPC is very sensitive on this issue. Expect this thread to vanish rapidly!

Pretty sure IPC won on appeal and Walker (company) disappeared taking a lot of investors' money with it.

 

[sarabande]

yes :shrugsshoulderssadlyicon:

 

[jhr]

Pretty sure IPC won on appeal and Walker (company) disappeared taking a lot of investors' money with it.

IPC appealed against the original award of about £1.5 million (with good reason, because imho it was a ludicrous amount) but eventually dropped the appeal, allegedly under pressure from their then owners, Reed Elsevier, and settled out of court. By the time they'd paid legal fees, they were probably still out of pocket to the tune of over £1 million although the payment made to Walker was, iirc, about 1/3 of the original amount awarded.

The case is still used as a "deadly warning" case study in every Magazines editorial training course I've ever heard of.

Opinions are mixed about the merits of Walker's case, and whether what was said in print was anything more than fair, albeit robust comment. Without recourse to what was originally said (for obvious reasons) it's difficult to make a judgement.

 

[AIDY]

DISCRIBED AS A PLEASURE CRAFT

 

[photodog]

Bizarre.. given its fixed shape... how could it ever be depowered..... even if point straight into the wind... its gonna be generating lift... and if its off the wind its either gonna have more lift or a load of drag....

 

[snowleopard]

Bizarre.. given its fixed shape... how could it ever be depowered..... even if point straight into the wind... its gonna be generating lift... and if its off the wind its either gonna have more lift or a load of drag....

It's not like an aircraft wing, the foils are symmetrical so when the angle of incidence is zero there is no net lift.

Yes, there is drag when feathered but the total drag on the rig is less than for a conventional mast plus stays of a boat under bare poles.