The Norwegian firm Lade AS is developing a hybrid ship design, Vindskip, in which the ship sails using lift off its airfoil shaped hull. It is an intriguing design. Nevertheless, I can’t quite figure out how it would work in practice. It appears that since the hull itself is acting as the “sail” the only way to trim the “sail” for differing wind conditions is to change course in relation to the wind. Perhaps I am missing something.
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As a recreational sailor and racer, this video doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. 1) the Vindskip as shown has only a small fraction of the carrying capacity of the conventional ship, and I question the stability in inclement weather (actually, as drawn, I question the stability sitting still in the harbor … Vasa anyone?). 2) actually getting significant lift out of a sail depends much more heavily on angle of attack than they seem to allow for – otherwise the sail will stall. I’m sure that a 16 knot forward speed will keep the angle of attack forward of the beam most of the time, but I would predict a stalled airfoil the great majority of the time. I can see them getting a bit of lift, but any advantage seems to be a function of the narrow, aerodynamic, profile of the prototype.
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