Soft wing-sails are the next generation of sails
Why Soft Wing-Sails ?
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Why do we keep using sails like the old Dutch windmills rather than wings like the modern wind turbines?
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Why do we try to make the sails look like wings rather than using the real thing?
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Why do we use sails, knowing that wings are more efficient in terms of driving force and upwind pointing?
As a fighter pilot and an enthusiastic sailor for long time, I discovered that there are lots of similarities between flying and sailing, such as driving a machine on fluids, no brakes, windage effects on the bow / stern, the propeller walk, etc., However, the most and remarkable similarity is the use of lift force.
Airplanes use lift force, created on the wing due to the air flow around it, in order to hold the airplane up in the air. Sailing boats can use the same lift force, created on the sails as their driving force.
The answer to the questions "why" above was to make Omer Wing-Sail which is a simple structure wing-sail , easy to use, reliable, and good for all cruisers / cruiser racers in any weather condition.
Extensive sailing with the Omer soft wing-sail, strongly convinced me that wing-sails are the next step in the evolution of sails.
Ilan Gonen
Omer Wing-Sail
Why free-standing mast?
The idea of a mast without wires is foreign to most people. It is hard to fathom how a sailboat mast can stand, all by itself, without something to hold it up. However, those airplanes that long ago got rid of the wires holding the wings on in exchange for a spar, fly very safely. No one really thinks that the wing spar is not strong enough, and that an airliner wing will fall apart.
Unstayed masts are designed to take the heeling and sailing loads the same way wing spars take the loads of the airplane.
The unstayed mast is held up by two parts - the heel fitting and the deck fitting. It puts no downward compression loads on the hull, which makes for a lighter hull structure as well as saving chain plates, shrouds, turnbuckles and other fittings.
There are already many boats sailing out there with free standing masts such as the Superyacht "Black Pearl" that has three 64 meter free standing masts and the "Dwinger" with its 63 meters long free standing rotating mast.
In order to be efficient in almost all wind directions, the wing-sail should be able to freely rotate into the wind and maintain it's 0°-10° angle of attack. A free standing rotating mast is the perfect solution.
Omer wing-sail design
Omer wing-sail is based on a rotating A frame mast, that supports both sides of the wing, having an accurate wing cross section as well as high moment of inertia.
The wing is made of three different sails: two main sails and one U shape leading edge sail. All three sails are sliding independently up and down the mast. When all three sails are hoisted, we get a wing that one can reef and drop down like any other conventional sail.
With the same sails area, we get a 10%-15% faster boat while pointing higher.
Main design differences between America's cup wing and Omer Wing-sail
Omer Wing-Sail cross section
AC 40 wing and jib cross section
Patents granted:
US 6863008, 7603958, 8281727
EU 1373064, 2404820
NZ 529216, 586805, 593939
AU 2002236181, 2008344923
SA 2010/04809
CONTACT US
Ilan Gonen
OMER Wing Sail Ltd.
23 Hohit St. Ramat Hasharon,
Israel, 47226
Tel: +972-3-5401675
Mobile: +972-54-4277617