Here is my Wing Sail story.
My name is Kjell Dahlberg from Sweden. I have my business in Mallorca Spain.
I have been working with yachts sense 40 years. I am Skipper and Marine Engineer.
1997 one of my customers asked me to find a modern sailing yacht for long cruising with few crew. I toke contact with Walker Wing Sail and went out on a test trip on his Zephyr. The Zephyr was to small for my client but I liked the Wing Sail system even if the Walkers system was too complicated . As I am a designer and inventor and I like to understand how things work. When I was back in Mallorca I started to investigate and learn how the system was working. As I find the Walker System too complicated I started with the idea of simplifying it. I did not like to have a computer to control the servo motors in the Wing. I made a R/C model of the Walker System and it worked well. I understand why Walker has the computer. It is to prevent the capsizing risk with the high wing .

R/C Wing Sail v1	R/C Wing-Drive v1	R/C Wing-Drive v2

I made a new R/C model a Catamaran with my Wing Drive. It works very well My R/C models was tested with different types of wings. To bee able to compare the different wings I build a Wind Tunnel. My idea with the Wing Drive was to make Sailing Simple and Safe. The speed was not the main factor.

Take one example.
A retired sailor and his wife like to spend there time in making long cruising with the boat that is now there home. To make long cruising you has to use the wind. Somebody has to handle the sails. In bad weather you need strong hands. You cant sail safety without having a crew onboard. Good crew cost money and they eat and sleep onboard and your freedom is gone.

The Wing Drive resolve all those inconvenient. The WD is ready use no sail has to be hoisted. Capsizing risk is eliminated by the low rig. With a hand operated mechanism you can set the angle of attack you need for every moment. No need of adjustment for wind shift because the WD adjust the apparent wind angle automatic even when the course is altered. The wind gusts don’t affect the healing they only affect the speed of the boat. If the wind is too strong just reduce the angle of attack. As on all sailing boats the speed is depending on the wind speed and with WD it is the same. The thrust from the WD works in combination with the Engine trust and can save the fuel consumption. When WD is set to cero trust the resistant of the wings is les then of a normal rig without sail. This has been verified in the Wind Tunnel.

In the summer of 2000 I made the Wings for my EcoCat.
They was made of carbon fiber to be strong and light. An Aqua Cat was modified to be used as test boat for the Wing Drive.

The wings.	The wing platform.	The controll unit.	The Wing-Drive I

The EcoCat 2002, part from higher wings the wind propulsion has solar cells, Battery and an Electric motor installed in the rudder. For downwind a spinnaker fitted to the wings giving you an automatic trimmed sail that is not fixed to the hull

My experience of three summer of happy sailing with WING-DRIVE has shown me and my friends how easy sailing can be.

Palma de Mallorca.01. 2008
kjellgood@gmail.com

Home page