Professional BoatBuilder - December-January 2018

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018 49

section, and a see-through,  lm-on-

frame a ersection, which tapers to a

slim bolt-rope track at its trailing edge.

Hoisted in that track is a very high-

aspect, full-battened, conventional

sail.  is basic arrangement is nothing

new. However, its added capacity for

full 360° rotation, in a stayed rig, is

unique. It’s that combination that sen-

tenced the innovation to two years of

incarceration in the U.S. Patent O ce,

which explains why this race was the

 rst time the hybrid wing was exposed

to public view.

A er three days of living on a cot-

sized soaring trampoline, through a

turbulent  ight, Smyth does his best to

answer my questions about the rig, but

his diction sounds like one-bar cell-

phone reception: “Weathervane...fun-

nel clouds...crazy gusts...three-sixty...

 ngertip...turn it on...shut it o ...quick

and silent...always balanced...li to

drag...leave it up... walk away...less

stress...more speed...”

As Smyth wanders o for a well-

deserved shower and nap, I’m joined

on the beach by Tommy Gonzalez,

who came up with the concept that has

evolved into the hybrid wing. He

explains the rig for me like this: “First,

the wing sits on a pin at its base and is

guyed by a plain ‘three-wire’ rig

wherein the two synthetic shrouds and

single headstay all lead to a triangular

‘three-cornered hat’ perched atop the

wing. Bearings at the top and bottom

allow the wing to rotate through 360°

inside the rigging.” As I stare up, Gon-

zalez con rms that there’s no standing

T

high-deep in water and shin-deep

in mud, I wade out to witness the

surprise approach of a twiggy little tri-

maran as it glides past toward a patch

of man-made beach at the old Pelican

Motel in Key Largo, Florida. It’s the

 rst boat to  nish the 2017 Everglades

Challenge, a 300-mile hardcore endur-

ance race for trailerable boats that

skirts southwestern Florida from

Tampa Bay to the Keys.  e course is

mostly in the open sea but partly in

the daunting swamp, and this cra is

arriving so far ahead of its competitors

that only a few of us are on the beach

to honor the winner. He is Randy

Smyth, who, we soon learn, has actu-

ally sailed a course some 70 miles lon-

ger than the other racers.

I know Smyth, one of America’s

most accomplished living sailors (see

sidebar, page 51), and Sizzor, his

remarkable 21' (6.4m), 200-lb (90-kg)

trimaran that resembles a pantograph

made of pick-up sticks (see sidebar,

page 52). He has won the Everglades

Challenge in this boat three times

before, but the otherworldly rig on it

this year is new to me.

“Congratulations, Randy,” I shout.

“What’s that new contraption sticking

up from your old contraption?” He

grins and waves again, a casual sum-

mons to come closer.

 is is my  rst look at his hybrid

wing, arguably the world’s  rst practi-

cal rigid-wing sailing rig, which com-

prises two elements, a rigid wing and

a so sail.  e wing is made of a fat,

all-carbon D-spar in its forward

Text by Jim Brown

Photographs by Scott Brown (except where noted)

Facing page—Caliente, a 40' (12.2m)

catamaran, serves as a test platform for

the hybrid wing sail that Fast Forward

Composites is developing in Bristol,

Rhode Island. Above—Sailor Randy Smyth

won the 300-mile 2017 Everglades

Challenge in Sizzor, his 21' (6.4m), 200-lb

(90-kg) trimaran. The race was the debut

of the hybrid wing sail, which, unlike most

rigid wings, can be reefed.

FIRST ENCOUNTER

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