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In 1967, a German hydraulics engineer named
Wilhelm Prölss proposed a square-rigged bulk carrier with six steel tri-
pod masts. The innovative vessel was designed as a fuel-saving solution
for commercial shipping in response to the looming OPEC oil crisis,
but decades passed before the advent of lightweight composite materi-
als, advanced hydraulics and optic sensors meant his theory could be
put into practice. It took nearly 40 years before the venture capitalist
Tom Perkins latched onto the DynaRig concept for his radical Perini
Navi sailing yacht, the 289-foot (88-meter) Maltese Falcon.
Each successive rise in oil prices has led to renewed interest
in sail-assist technologies. SkySails in Germany, for example, has
tested high-altitude kites attached to the bows of cargo vessels with
positive results. But only in recent years, as yacht owners come
under increasing pressure to be seen as green, have designers
started devising hybrid superyacht concepts that harness the wind
to reduce fuel consumption.
Oliver Stacey is a British designer who honed his skills work-
ing alongside industry veteran Martin Francis. Together with naval
architects from BMT Nigel Gee, Stacey has developed a 262-foot
(80-meter) sail-assisted explorer concept called Norse, after the
Viking longboats that inspired it.
“Despite appearances, Norse is a hybrid electric motoryacht
that uses the wind as a secondary source of power,” Stacey says.
“Sail-assist is a readily available technology that, in the right condi-
tions, can save on fuel consumption at least 20 percent.”
The vessel’s low-aspect sailplan has three identical wing masts
and in-boom furling mainsails, a configuration that enhances reli-
ability and flexibility while requiring minimum manpower for
handling. Sail-assist mode would be engaged to reduce fuel con-
sumption during long-distance passagemaking, and is expected to
improve the vessel’s motion.
“One of the original themes that we wanted to address was eco-
sensitivity,” says James Roy, yacht design director at BMT Nigel
Gee. “When we actually sat down and thought [about] how we
could achieve that, you can’t get away from the fact that using the
wind was the obvious solution. But we didn’t just want to design a
sailing yacht. In a way, this is the ultimate hybrid.”
Norse is designed with multiple climates in mind, but would be
built to Polar Class compliance for cruising to remote destinations
and higher latitudes. The yacht would have a shallow draft, dynamic
positioning for increased maneuverability in restricted areas, and
zero-discharge capability for environmentally sensitive areas.
Breaking with convention, Stacey says that only the super-
structure would be fully faired and painted, with the aluminum
hull unfilled and unpainted. An A-frame crane integrated into the
stern could launch and retrieve a seaplane to extend the range of
exploration.
VPLP Design in France has come up with a similar con-
cept. First proposed in 2015, the 282-foot (86-meter) Komorebi
explorer—named after the Japanese word to describe sunlight fil-
tering through the leaves of trees—draws on a stabilized monohullNorse uses an integrated A-frame crane for seaplane operations.The transom ramp is lowered ...the plane is attached to the crane ...and hoisted onto the aft deck.