Yachting USA – August 2019

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INSIGHTS> TRENDS> Komorebi Wingsail Yachts

KEY FEATURES

1. Komorebi designs have
   heliports and seaplane-lifting
   cranes. 2. Electric or hydraulic
   actuators raise and lower
   sailcloth, and reef and trim the
   wings. 3. Computer modeling

indicates that the Komorebi 130

w i l l cr u ise at 15 k nots u nder

power. VPLP designed the

Oceanwings for effi ciency at

all wind angles and velocities

to generate a 12-knot

cruising speed using primarily

wingsails, not the props.

70 YACHTINGAUGUST2 0 1 9

TA KING FLIGHT

VPLP is leveraging wingsail technology for a hybrid-yacht series.

by david schmidt

F

rench design house

VPLP is using its expe-

rience penning grand

prix-racing sailboats,

including the America’s Cup winner

BMW Oracle Racing 90, to create an

expedition-grade trimaran series

from 130 to 260 feet. The Komorebi

ser ies wi l l have a hybr id propu lsion

system with electric engines and

fully automated wingsails—a fi rst for

expedition-level cruising. ¶ Unlike rig-

id, fi lm-paneled America’s Cup wings,

VPLP’s Oceanwings use supporting

carbon-fiber spars and (possibly

photovoltaic) sailcloth that ’s hoisted

to create two-element wingsails.

¶ While VPLP says it has several

interested customers, to date the

Komorebi concept exists only as lines

plans and scale models. Marc Van

Peteghem, VPLP’s co-founder, points

to three main challenges in reaching

this point: hoisting and lowering sail-

cloth, reefi ng, and wingsail trim, all of

which will be tackled by automation.

¶The wingsail-powered trimaran

platform should deliver less roll

motion than catamarans and greater

comfort and speed than monohull

yachts. “A wing can work at every

apparent wind angle—it’s one of [its]

big strengths,” Van Peteghem says.

“With no wind, only the engine will be

used; up to a certain wind speed, both

engine and wing will play together,

and above [this wind speed] it could

be on ly wingsa i l. It ’s ver y fl exible.”

Take the next step: vplp.fr

V P L P ’s Kom or ebi m ega-ya cht ser i e s i s d e si gn e d ar oun d a com bin at i on of el ect r i c en gin e s an d win d power.

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