Sailors often compare the shape of a sail to that of an airplane wing to explain how sailboats can sail upwind, since the physics of both (the Bernoulli principle) is similar. And now the new fixed wing sail of the US contender in the America's Cup race this February will literally be using a wing—and one that is actually much bigger than the wing of a Boeing 747. The huge BMW Oracle trimaran has begun trials using a 58-meter carbon-fiber wing instead of a traditional fabric sail on a mast.
After the latest court ruling, the race is now scheduled for Valencia in February. The trimaran with this gigantic thin wing looks so futuristic that it's sure to attract lots of excitement and awe during the race. Although it's called a fixed wing, in the sense that it cannot be hoisted or lowered like a traditional sail, it nonetheless has moving parts to allow for shape changes on different tacks with different wind gradients. As this Scientific American article describes, the wing is a much more complex engineering feat than an airplane's wing. We've come a long way from what now seems a very simple Marconi rig!
Photo courtesy BMW Oracle
Comments
Trimaran is not a classic boat, therefore it must not be allowed in American Cup.
This is tasteless decadency, typical American trick.
I was at a talk recently – last week at my club, the talk was by Juan Kouyoumdjian. He has had a hand in ABN AMRO, Erickson 4 etc. He spoke about the plane mainsail and was very interesting on the topic.
I know the Trimaran is not a classic boat, but sailing needs to become exciting to the viewing public if sponsorship is to help the sport grow – So change can be good
I’m part of the avid viewing public and devoted to monohull boats – until this competition…the speed was exhilarating and I confess to enjoying that aspect. Nevertheless, I think technological improvements in sails, mono hulls, and rigging are enough…average man on the street is not going to come to admire sailing through viewing a multi-million dollar creation that no one in his sail club will ever touch. Putting the great sailors in front of the public regularly: Gary Jobson, Brad Butterworth, Russell Coutts, Randy Smyth – these men and others are the ones with the charisma to spark interest! And, for the ladies, sailing competitions when the participants can wear less clothing is always great!