Soft wing sails in America's cup 2021

[schakel]

Widely spread through all of the teams now on the water for the next cup are wingsails.
Two sails over each other that create a profile compared to a airplane wing.
Battens are essential since they bend the sail in the desired profile.
First there was testing:

Then all the four teams are sailing and foiling at high speed with sprays behind their foils never been seen before.

 

[fishwics]

1. Yes, The hardwings on the AC75, 45 and 50's are likely to be more efficient
2. No, they didn't make the choice for soft wing sails for nothing - as managing hard sails when not actually sailing is a PITA.

... and your concern is?

 

[schakel]

1. Yes, The hardwings on the AC75, 45 and 50's are likely to be more efficient
2. No, they didn't make the choice for soft wing sails for nothing - as managing hard sails when not actually sailing is a PITA.

... and your concern is?

The soft wing sails are a revolution in my opinion:
It's a comparison in aerodynamics and "handling when not sailing".
You needed an army to get the wing going was the expression.

Yesterday New Zealand capsized, In the time of hard wings this leaded mostly to damage to the wing.
This time there was no damage at all.
EmiratesTeamNZ on Twitter https://twitter.com/i/status/1207446810127519744

The AC75 claims to be self rightning but that feature wasn't available yet.

 

[fishwics]

Double-surface soft sails are not actually new - they were around decades ago (Ljungstom, Hasler) but these are probably the most sophisticated yet in terms of control.

 

[schakel]

Double-surface soft sails are not actually new - they were around decades ago (Ljungstom, Hasler) but these are probably the most sophisticated yet in terms of control.

But they are new in the America's Cup. The cup is what fashion shows in Paris, London and New York are.
It leads to a new fashion.. I have high hopes for soft wing sails.
The application of foils is increased after the cup started with foils.
UFO foiler is great succes, hope to see a spin-off like this with softwing sails.

The teams are silent about how they control the soft wing sails.
I am planning to follow this new development.