COMPUTERIZED SAILING - VIA WINGSAIL 

Ever since the days of Cleopatra's barge operating a sailing ship has demanded a great deal of human muscle to continually adjust sails for what used to be considered optimum efficiency. Now the 1990s are bringing a better way to ride the waves .... THE WALKER WINGSAIL, which does not require all that brute force. With a women's more gentle touch, coupled with advanced computerization, a member of the fairer sex may become the world's leading racing sailor. The Wingsail appears to have been designed by an aeronautical engineer rather than a traditional mariner.

Catamarans have been around for decades. Even the modern offshore cruising yacht, for all its push-button reefing, autopilot and asymmetric cruising chute, is still a boat of the past. Now two production yachts break the traditional mold. Planesail, a 48-foot cruising trimaran, provides luxury sailing for six, while the 30-foot Zefyr is a high performance day boat. The difference between these yachts and what has gone before is a pale blue wing -- power via a vertical wing!

Three principal components make up the wingsail: a vertical wing in the front of the boat, an aircraft-style flap behind the wing that can be angled to adjust the camber thus increasing power, and the tail, located downwind of the wing/flap. All components operate on an arm that rotates around a point below the wing.

Any sailor can see the advantages. There is no need for rigging to hold up the sail and by using the tail to rotate there is no need for sheets. The only rope aboard is for the anchor. The sail can be left up year round by simple feathering as on an airplane propeller. And no matter what the rotation angle, the wingsail never protrudes beyond the extremities of the hull, so the boat can be safely left next to other yachts in a marina without risk of contact. Everything is under fingertip control.

The built-in computer system called MICROMARINER, automatically optimises the settings for any course and wind speed, by comparing its database of windtunnel information with the data being fed in by wind instruments on the boat. The computer maximizes the settings until a wind strength is reached that could capsize the boat, then it automatically reduces the setting to within safety range. No crew is required. Wind speeds up to 109 knots have been experienced and the units have been tested through seven hurricanes. Four separate electrical generation systems are aboard and even without any onboard power, fail-safe actuators can be worked by hand.

The interior is different also. Like an airplane there are no steps down from the cockpit into the cabin .... just a straight walkthrough layout with large windows and remote controlled wine racks that glid up from below at the touch of a button. The helmsman's control position has a Recoro seat, like a Porsche, along with display control buttons and a wing thrust control lever. For the first time here is a yacht with sybaritic comfort that can compete with a villa in Malibu or Majorca.

More information: Walker Wingsail Systems PLC, Devonport Royal Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 4SG, England.

Phone: Plymouth (0) 752/605426. Fax: Plymouth (0) 752/605428.

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