The ‘reef-able’ rigid wingsail

You just have to see the incredible speeds reached by the America’s Cup cats, to be convinced. But these sails cannot be reefed or furled, which means they cannot be used for cruising.

VPLP Design, whose experience with rigid wingsails is particularly extensive, has just developed a completely automated wing with two flaps, which can be furled and reefed. Self-supporting and rotating 360°, this rig allows the wing’s angle of incidence to be adapted to whatever point of sail the boat is on, for optimal propulsion, while the twist and camber adjustments allow the power to be controlled.

This genuine revolution is called Oceanwings®, and the Multihulls World team of journalists has been invited to test it. We’ll tell you more in the next edition!

For more information: www.vplp.fr