archive 5

Twelve people responded to the online questionnaire during this period. All the respondents were male with ages ranging from 23 to 58 years (average age 45 years). Two classified themselves as beginners, 7 as intermediates, and 3 as expert sailors.
Comments about existing rigs
"it’s impossible to state, there are so many variations" "Simple, light, durable, reasonably affordable" "It’s hard to get out of way when you want to put your boat on land. Or under a bridge." "My mast and sail combination , roller furling - self tacking Genoa and in-boom furling - full batten main works well for me. I sail a 57' sloop single handed." "18 m high bermudan sloop rig (on a 42 feet sailboat). The old mast got damaged, and the insurance paid for a new one!" "In surfing on the "Veluwe Meer" I use a sail of about 5 meters. The cost is not high, but when surfing with strong wind, I have to use a smaller sail."
"I am not a sailer of boats, but a flyer, designer, and maker of kites. I have made several single line kites of the box and delta style. These kites are excellent lifters and are good for performing experiments with parachutes, and remote control devices such as aerial photography. My favorite is the delta. It is a simple design easy to launch, relatively stable, will lift a reasonable payload. A drawback of the delta is it prefers lower wind speeds (less than twenty miles-per-hour [thirty-two kilometers-per-hour]). Which means it is sometimes not a good choice on a very windy day. It also happens that one launches the kite and gets it up in the air when the wind speed increases, and destabilizes the kite."
"It is cheap, simple, and not flexible in use. I have to set different sails for different kinds of weather." "I have no sailing experience but I am very interested in all aspects of propulsion and wind power."

Comments about the transition rig idea
"Perhaps there are a few areas where this concept could be used. Definitely not for high speed sailing, such as modern windsurfing and iceboating. (I´ve tried both a lot) Perhaps for a small dinghy and other sailing craft which are quite slow. If it could be made totally collapsible it could be used as a sail for skaters on the frozen lakes up here in the north. Then it should be handheld and the mastfoot supported by the leeward foot. (Not a big commercial market but may be a lot of fun.)"	I was reminded of this picture that appeared in the 1895 Christmas edition of the Boy's Own Paper. It shows a skating club meeting on a large lake near Berlin. The artist G. Durand worked from a sketch provided by E. Hosang - that might explain why the flags indicate the wind is blowing from left to right while the skate-sailors are leaning as they would if the wind was coming from the opposite direction. (I am grateful to Martin Rosander for pointing out to me that skate-sailors stand on the leeward side of their rigs, unlike windsurfers. See for example http://www.sssk.se/segel/ - the Swedish association for sailing on skates.) Notice how the skaters at the back appear to be tacking by raising their rigs over their heads from one side to the other. As you suggest, it would be fun to try this with a transition rig...
"For sailboards, appealing on two fronts: first, one sail could cover a much broader range of windspeed, therefore fewer rigs to own and use. Second, the potential ability to better deal with gusts." "Great. I want to put it on a catamaran. It is possible to get motor boat and sailboat in one." "Interesting, but I dislike the inability to reef the sail." "I would like to know more about it!" "Neat design. As a biology student, I like the idea of man learning from nature once again." "A fine idea. I hope that it will become usable on the surfboard." "Very intérested by the idea. I would like to try it on my speed sail. I practise this sport on the sans beaches of the north of France: at BERCK and formerly HARDELOT."
"I would like to investigate the use of the Transition Rig as the basis for a kite design which would be either manually adjusted or sized in flight via remote control radio."	A great idea - I shall be most interested to hear how you get on if you decide to try this. One way would be to arrange for increasing flexion of the transition wings of the kite as the tension on the towline increases, as shown in this sketch: You will need to find a suitably lightweight stretch material for the wing membranes.
"This will be more expensive, but in use it will be very flexible. I see also for sailing boats an advantage. In Holland are a lot of bridges. The trend is that they do not open for open sailing boats. It must be easy to lower the sail enough in this case."	Good point. We are hoping that a similar argument will be persuasive when we present the idea to the operators of larger shipping such as tankers.
"Very interesting. I think it's smart to look at the elegant solutions developed by evolution. After all, it has been working on problems for hundreds of millions of years." "Very innovative."

Would you consider buying a transition rig?
"depends on the price" "yes, if the costs were not unreasonable." "Yes. But the price must on the same level as other rigs." "As a replacement/upgrade for a sailing dinghy. I think the current windsurfing sails twist off nicely when overloaded by gusts." "Why not! I am open minded and like unconventional ideas." "YES! (on a surfboard anyway, not sure about a sailboat-rig)" "Of course; and I hope to sail with my grandchildren in the future. I wish you good luck with the further development of the sails and masts."
"I would like quotation and delay, please."	We are not yet able to say when the first transition products will become available or what they will cost, but will let you know on this website when that becomes possible.
"Depends on the price. Probably not a full sized one for a boat." "Like every Dutchman would say, it depends of the price. But it is interesting. Good luck and success."
"Yes. I'm researching potential power sources for a wind assisted/recumbent pedal vehicle with 4 widely spaced (for stability) wheels, a front mounted lightweight "pod" for the rider and a vertically mounted sail or airfoil positioned on the midline, about 1/3 of the way from the back of the machine."	The idea sounds excellent. The rider will need a rear-view mirror to ensure that the sail is correctly trimmed for the conditions. One of the advantages of the transition rig is that it can be folded down into a small container on the vehicle when it is not required.
"If the price is right and the bugs are worked out. Will it be developed for larger craft?"	In time, hopefully...