archive 1

The 39 people who responded were all male with ages ranging from 25 to 62 years (mean age 38.6 years). Of these, 9 classified themselves as beginners, 19 intermediate, and 10 expert (1 was unrecorded). I have added comments where appropriate.

Comments about existing sailing rigs

Two respondents do not own sailing rigs. The others commented as follows:

"Balanced lug - mast too heavy, sail a bit unmanageable in wind."

"The Bermuda rig is not the cheapest or easiest to use. I think that there is a better way."

"Neil Pryde 4.0 m pr great"

"Ok, thinking of changing to Junk rig for ease of use."

"Problem with changes in wind strength, especially dropping off later in day"

"Too much of a manual process. Too mechanical."

"My favourite so far was the Walker Wing Sail Concept, I honestly believed it to be the future of sails, but somehow they've closed. When I have a sailboat I will install a rig that is easy to manage by one person and powerful enough to move the boat at acceptable speeds to blue water passages."

"I'm a Laser sailor of about 71kg. As such above force 4 I'm starting to get overpowered. For me this is mainly a problem downwind. Its a question of hold on tight don't death roll and hope for the best."

"Main problem with current rigs (ie state of the art skiff type) is gust response. I see that as main area where development will (and is) happening."

"My Flying Fifteen's rig and sails are durable, getting little attention in recent years. The furling jib is very convenient. In high winds the sail shape adjustment runs out of steam and things get noisy. I've fitted reefing points in an old sail for casual use. Having a fixed mast, there's a lot of windage in the dinghy pen. Not such a problem for my F15, but other boats blow over."

"We sail australian skiffs, where different rigs can be carried depending on predicted weather. Obviously this doesn't always work so there is the provision for some depowering principally by using a cunningham as a "bowstring" to increase the curve in the mast and thus flatten the sail. Advantage of this rig would be the increased range of useful windstrength."

"The lug rig is old fashioned, pretty, simple and powerful. Hoisting, reefing and lowering is quite heavy work. A very practical rig, even if windwards performance isn't as good as the Bermudan."

"I think that the typical high strung, burmudan sloop rig is more work and far more expensive than most people need. Proof is the vast number of roller furling headsails on cruisers. Other rigs, such as schooner or ketches, with plenty of sail area in the working rig are much better for short-handed cruising. They have good upwind performance, and reach like mad. Most cruisers power upwind if they have to go far."

"We use a wide variety of sails, bermuda,standing and dipping lug, gaf and square. We wouldn't change on trad boats but are always looking on the more modern ones. Tarp sails are cheap! When we experiment we use polytarp."

"Schooner junk - looks good and performs well but needs battens that bend less as wind strengthens."

"As a keen windsurfer, often sailing in variable wind conditions, I have to have a variety of masts and sails and booms, etc, etc. Which is a real pain and very expensive, difficult to store and transport etc."

"Work well, look good."

"I sail a class III landyacht, which has a wing mast. It's big and heavy the sail has poor shape."

"I think that the sails I’m using ( spectra-material ) are pretty good. Nevertheless the mast and the boom could be better in respect to natural design."

"Currently I am experimenting with sailing my open canoe so the world is my oyster! Any rig is a compromise between ease of use performance looks etc. especially on a boat that is used as a means of transport as well as to race."

"Good on all counts."

"Fair"

"My Laser spars and sail are crude, heavy, difficult to adjust and have a short useful lifespan, especially the sail."

"Heavy and complex, with little control"

"Easy to use, once you understand the concept and learn the ropes (sheets, halyards, vangs and outhauls)"

"Expensive but work well, light weight and very rugged. Requires many sails to handle the variety of conditions I windsurf in on Lake Michigan."

"Easy to use, difficult to store. Very Expensive."

"I have a 14 foot catboat with a sprit rig. It works but is pretty limited . If the wind picks up, I can't reduce sail, just remove it. Still, it looks good on my 50 year old boat and is cheap."

"Boringly normal and uninspiring."

"I windsurf a lot with a single-piece fiberglass mast and dacron sail with clear window. I don't keep my sail at the marina, so being able to assemble and disassemble the board and the rig quickly is important to me. What I've got is okay, but I'll be looking for something lighter and bigger next year."

"Cumbersome, expensive and sometimes of no use depending on the wind conditions."

"Heavy to raise, awkward to store, expensive."

What do you think of the Transition Rig idea?

"Interesting. I have thought of making a batwing rig (ie fully battened heavy roach)"

"The concept appears to be quite valid. I really like the way it looks."

"Interesting"

"I think it's great. I think you’re on to something here."

"Looks great"

"The best ideas are elegant and simple; as this is. Natural selection comes up with all the best ideas. The more informed amongst us realise this."

"Although I have a few technical issues about how to manage a big enough sail to move a 40 footer cat like the one I want, seems a good concept, provided you can design the hydraulics to go with it."

"Elegant answer to an old problem. I like the idea of lowering the centre of effort. The proof will be in using it."

"Sounds good but how does this depower the sail downwind, there is still the same surface area of fabric?"

Yes, the sail area is not changeable, only the shape. The way to depower the transition rig down wind is to let it over-rotate rather like a weather vane so that the area presented to the wind is reduced... there are no stays to prevent this

"Waiting to see!"

"Brilliant! I also flew a hang glider for many years, and appreciate the effects of wing-warping. There are obvious problems in selecting materials and designing the moving parts. Effective use on a large scale may benefit from automation. My poor brain has a job managing the comparatively limited controls of a Bermuda rig!"

"Depends on:

1) can it generate similar power:drag figures to a standard non-wing mast rig?

2) can it be scaled up in size and in tolerance of wind strength?

3) does the depowering occur automatically (ie. is it useful in gusts) or only after manipulation of the degree of bend?"

Size for size, the transition rig prototypes are not yet sophisticated enough to compete with existing rigs in terms of performance. It will take time to understand all the variables at work, find the best geometry and materials, and get the best performance. Hopefully this year will see good advances in performance.

Scaling will be one of the issues we look at - hopefully the idea will be applicable across a range of sizes.

Depowering occurs automatically in the sailboarding version, being a response to increased downforce on the boom during gusts. In the dinghy version the sailor has to operate one of the controls to change the rig geometry.

"Intriguing. It looks quite intricate, which in sailing usually means it'll break. The appearance would take some getting used to, but I'm not a stick-in-the-mud. I like the physiological inspiration behind it (I researched Neural Nets, so...)."

"I like the idea. I'm not sure how it will hold up in tough conditions. I think it is well worth perfecting, to see if can work in a wide range of conditions. My reservations are strength and ease of use, not the theory."

"I have to guess a lot from the pictures, but if it is strong enough and easily repaired I have two boats I would love to try it on."

"Fantastic, I must admit that I had thought that there should be some solution to the problems above, such as a telescopic mast, reefable panels etc, however the main problem I can see would be weight for a windsurfing rig. I think that it looks great and would be fantastic if it could be produced light enough and strong enough. I hope you've got a patent."

Weight is clearly an issue, given the increased complexity of the mast. Good design and modern materials will offer some hope here.

We have a patent for the core idea and other patents are being applied for...

"Any idea on when, or if, you'll have something on the market? I'd be happy to do some beta testing in my kayak..."

We are hoping to have a product on the market sometime in 2001. Thank you for the excellent suggestion about adapting it for use on a kayak

"If you can adjust sail area without having to untie the sail then that must be good news for safety and ease/speed of use. Not having to de-rig the sail every time would make startup quicker"

"Very interesting, how will it work at 7.3 sq meter?"

"Very good idea - but i think a bird has two wings and the flexible elements of your construction should more resemble the nodes you can see in trees."

"I am a yachtsman, but was intrigued by your concept. Excellent idea would be very useful on ship lifeboats."

"Intriguing"

"It looks like a convenient rig for dinghies and other small craft for which it is desirable to have a rig whose spars are all less than the length of the boat for ease of raising and stowing. It's not clear whether the transition rig will work in higher winds or larger craft. The web site material talks about an "elastic" sail. The clear trend in modern sails has been to reduce the elasticity as much as possible so as to maintain sail shape over a wider wind range. The distortions typically introduced into a sail as the wind increases are generally detrimental to its efficiency. The transition rig looks like it would flog badly as it flexed in a high wind. "You need to back up your claims with some real data. This could be from wind tunnel tests, performance polars measured with competing rigs in similar conditions, or through side-by-side sailing of the same dinghy class, ballasted to the same weight, sailing with comparison rigs. Of course, racing is another excellent way to prove the efficiency of the rig."

You have hit several nails squarely on their heads, and we do not yet have solutions to all the points you raise. The use of an elastic sail cloth appears to be a retrograde step, counter to all the significant recent developments in sail cloth technology. However, the difference in this case is that the mast changes shape too, and with good design and choice of materials the sail cloth can be kept taut across a useful range of shape changes. Undoubtedly, the transition rig prototypes give a 'softer' feel in use than stiffer mast/sail combinations. This might appeal more to recreational sailors than to competitive sailors who have the expertise to cope with the sudden shock loads produced during gusts and squalls. The testing techniques that you have outlined will be an important part of the development process. At this stage, conventional rigs will win hands down in terms of performance compared with the transition rig, but that situation may change in time.

"Wonderfully creative"

"I want to use a sail in a seakayak. Presently Klepper is the only one providing an upwind sailing equipment. Problem is that you have to dismantle it if you want to paddle the kayak. The transition sail would solve all problems. A great and fascinating solution and idea and I think it could be adapted for seakayaks. It would be great if it could be used with a foresail."

"Brilliant"

"Not sure i understand the the concept and its performance."

"How close into the wind can your sail go? This may be the critical factor in commercial development."

It should be able to compare favourably with normal una rigs in this respect.

"Seems to overcome the primary objection of sails being used on large commercial ship... ergo, where do you put the mast and sail in port and when using the screws."

Yes - we are looking into this possibility. The initial impression is that there is currently less interest in sail assistance for larger ships than there was during the 1980s oil crisis. However, oil prices are set to rise within the next 20 to 50 years as reserves dwindle, so interest may rise again.

"It is an intriguing idea. Concerns would be how does it handle in waves, will the sail get blown out easily, do the joints add much to the weight, what wind range can this be used in, will there be different sizes for different weight sailors, can I use my existing boom and mast base?"

The prototypes have not been tried in more extreme conditions yet, but they will in due course. The windsurfing version can be adapted to different weight sailors by altering the degree of tensioning applied to the mast before sailing. So a lighter sailor would need less mast tensioning, a heavier sailor more. The aim is that the rig will attach to boards in the usual way using standard mast bases. It is hoped that existing booms will be OK, but that is not for sure at this time.

"It looks great. Will it be legal in Racing?"

The different class associations will have to consider this question...

"A great idea. Easy to reduce sail and packs away easily. I like the looks too. Anything besides a Bermudan triangle."

"I like any kind of new rig but the engineering will have to be first class. How big can the rig go? A 40 foot boat?"

"I'm pretty intrigued. The portability seems great, and the variable-size would be a great feature."

"Great Idea, I wonder how it handles?"

"Excellent idea. As long as it can actually be used in the majority of wind conditions."

"Sounds great. I would be hoping that it could be used on my feathercraft folding kayak and would need outriggers."

"Good idea."

Would you buy a Transition Rig?

Five respondents answered simply "yes". Here are the other comments:

"Depends on price. I will never buy a new rig untested for £5-600, as I did with the present one. Would consider a kit, or some kind of mockup using cheap materials. General advice would be, either design something with 15% of the cost and 75% of the functionality, or sell to OEMs."

"Yes I would be very interested in buying a Transition rig. Keep up the good work."

"$?"

"Yes. I'd like to see performance and ease of use info."

"I would like to take up windsurfing and would be interested to see if the rig was equally suited to experts and beginners. If the rig is priced similarly to the "Dyson" vs "Hoover" battle, it will no doubt easily corner the market. Good luck!"

"Yes, if it would seem the right technology for my boat"

"I can't afford any boat, whatever the rig. Too many other expensive hobbies!"

"Not for regatting unless it was class legal. For recreational use maybe."

"Wait and See! Depends on efficiency."

"Yes. Come and show it at the Dublin Boat Show, please!"

"Will try anything to go faster in a skiff (foils, the lot)"

"I'd like to look further into it. Its adaptability might prove to be well-suited to dinghy cruising. If I was building a small dinghy, I'd consider it for a reasonable price."

"I would if it proves effective."

"I suspect that price will be my biggest obstacle. Leaving out the fact that I am sure I can't afford the system, I would jump at it."

"Tempted to try it out on my junk!"

"Well I would, but I have a feeling that the cost might be a bit prohibitive @ first. However, with the backing of a major sail manufacturer. I'm sure it would flourish. My only worry is that it will go the way of many great British ideas, brilliant concept, and with the exception of a few ( Dyson, et al ), poor business follow through. I wish you the best of luck, it is truly the best idea I have seen in a long time. I can imagine a bay full of brightly coloured wings zipping about... great. Incidentally, have you had it on a sailboard, is it heavy ? Could you get planing, hooked-in etc with it?"

"If the price was comparable"

"Yes, but I have lots of questions."

"Why not."

"It would depend on the cost. I should point out though that most dinghies that are sailed regularly race so your rig would be a bit of a no no unless you could establish P.R.s for each hull class"

"Not without some real evidence that it was an efficient rig as compared to a unarig of the same span."

"yes when it is more fully developed and after i have test sailed one"

"Definitely yes. I am paddling a Feathercraft seakayak. They are planning to provide an upwind sailing equipment for their Klondike boat."

"Would like to know more before any purchase"

"YES! But more tempted to build one. Currently I'm looking at buildiing a "fishtail" boat, powerd by a pedal driven fishtail, made of flexible plastic. The fishtail moves from side to side and that moves the boat. To steer the boat, you just move the "tail" more on one side than the other. It also means you can sit in the boat, rather than on the gunwhales, since you don't have to use oars. Your sail would be a delightful addition to such a craft, since it would allow me to goof off when the wind is right."

"I would want to learn more about it and touch one first. Preferably, I would want a test sail."

"If it was allowed in racing by the RYA. How much is it? What sizes would it come in? Well done the UK needs more innovators."

"Yes. I'm on my way to building another sailing dinghy and a hi-tech rig would be nice to try. Good luck."

"Yes, definitely. Depends on price and benefits though. Best of luck with this project. It probably hasn't been easy!"

"Yes. I'd probably want to see one in use first, or at least get a first-hand account of using one, but I'd definitely be interested."

"I need my own boat, but yes, as your sail can be stored easily, great for small boats."

"Yes. This is of course dependent upon the final price, weight and acceptance by the windsurfing community."