With the BMW Oracle America’s Cup boat tossing their conventional sails for an enormous wing this week, questions have been pouring in from all over the world with readers wanting to know about these strange looking “sails.” Uncommon on private sailboats, wing sails have been used for decades by speed sailing enthusiasts – where portability and adaptability are of little concern when world records are on the line …Â Details & Pictures
Archive for the ‘Sailing’ Category
CONSIDERING that none of us newbies had any idea what we were doing, the voyage south from St. Lucia was going well. At 10:30 a.m., amid gray but not ominous skies, the S.V. Illusion — the 75-foot, two-masted schooner on which I and two others were novice sailors — had weighed anchor off the coast of Vieux Fort, a sleepy city at the island’s southern tip, and steered into deeper waters. The sea was … Details
l’Hydroptere’s record campaign in the Mediterranean ended in great style last Sunday as Alain Thebault and his ten crew smashed the record over one nautical mile, exceeding 50 knots.
An average speed of 50.17 knots (92.91km/h) over one nautical mile (1.852 km) is the new record to beat over this distance.
Since April 2007, l’Hydroptere has continually improved the existing records over this distance.
This last record is …Â Details & Great Pictures
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Gilles Martin-Raget presents an image gallery of the US America’s Cup Challenger BOR90/USA in action off San Diego, using her wingsail for the second day. This time she ventured out into the ocean off Pt Loma, still in light winds …Â Details & Picture
Testing of the Wing Sail begins off Point Loma, San Diego.