An Alternative Wing Sail Concept for Small Autonomous Sailing Craft

An alternative wing sail section shape was developed as a potential improvement to either a soft sail or the common NACA00XX section used on some small autonomous sailing craft. The prototype wing was developed as an evolution of a traditional square sail. Evaluation included wind tunnel and on-the-water tests followed by performance estimates from a Velocity Prediction Program. The test vessel was the 1.2 m long Version 2 MaxiMOOP. Advantages of the wing sail over the current voyaging soft sail design include: higher speeds in some conditions, increased durability, increased buoyancy in the case of capsizing, and easier implementation of control systems. Some potential theoretical advantage was found over the NACA0009.