identified that the taste for sailing and the boats themselves was being handed down less and less from one generation to the next. This trend had already been declining for a good 10 years, and we expect the same to happen in Europe. Other, higher profile areas of the yacht market had done very well tapping into the non-yacht owner sector. Gunboat is one example where the boats were tailored to attract first-time sail- boat buyers. Similarly, higher up the scale, superyachts are regularly commissioned by owners of large motor yachts looking for a new experience. ‘But these types of boat normally have
the benefit of professional crew – always on superyachts – and in the wider market in which we are active it was necessary to focus more heavily on finding a way to make a medium-sized “owner-occupier” craft easier to handle in all conditions. This led us increasingly towards the wing solution… or rather “a” wing solution. ‘At first we considered wing applications
for monohulls above 45ft, all multihulls and very small craft suitable for novices.’ Bénéteau’s first public tests were
conducted using a Sense 43 performance cruiser back in 2013, with considerable input from designer and sailor Guy Beaup, who had designed and built his own soft wing-equipped schooner and sailed her some 50,000 miles around the world. Now, however, all research and development has been moved in-house at Groupe Bénéteau, with the exception of aerodynamic calcula- tions which are performed in collaboration with aero engineer Giorgio Provinciali. Testing identical boats against each
other, one fitted with a conventional rig the other with various evolutions of wing rig, it became clear early on that sailing under white sails (ie without a spinnaker) the wing was always slightly faster, by margins
of 3-8%, even though the aerofoil shapes used at that time were ‘far from being optimised’, says Bruno. ‘With a kite the wing was now faster dead
downwind as well as upwind. But what we’re first and foremost targeting is ease of handling, for learning and hassle-free sailing purposes: a pure performance-based appli- cation may come later in the process.’ Interestingly, more race-oriented develop-
ments are also of interest to none other than Marc Van Peteghem of VPLP… though for different reasons. For Bénéteau, looking at leisure sailors searching for simplicity and trying to anticipate as well as answer ques- tions from charter companies is the main point of focus, concludes Bruno Belmont, adding that catamarans – on which the Bénéteau group collaborates with VPLP –
Above: now you see it now you don’t. The lateral-thinking prize in the reefable wing debate must surely go to sailmaker and paraglider manufacturer Edouard Kessi who is using his converted 5.5m as test mule for this inflatable sail with telescopic mast (inset) that can be hoisted, dropped and reefed like a normal soft rig. The current downside looks to be weight and pitching – the boat has so far only been trialled on the Swiss lakes; worth noting too is that a smaller inflatable rig mounted on a Laser dinghy has shown well against a standard rig in terms of performance. Bénéteau was the first big manufacturer to invest seriously in wing development; this rig (left) was first trialled back in 2013 on a Bénéteau 43 – with the mast area heavily reinforced to take the extra loads
should be their first production boats to feature wings as standard or as an option.
Wings across the oceans… on trade routes VPLP’s Oceanwings concept, a reefable, automated rig, has drawn quite a lot of attention recently, so we gave Marc Van Peteghem a call. ‘Working on the Oracle project in 2009 led us to think that we should work on a hoistable and droppable version of such a wing, with the possibility of reduc- ing surface area to achieve a reefing function. ‘From the outset we looked at this
through the prism of shipping, considering the potential for such rigs to be adapted to commercial vessels to reduce fuel consump- tion and emissions.’ And even though the Oceanwings prototype could imply that VPLP are primarily having a shot at leisure sailing, Marc says this ‘industrial’ applica- tion is still their priority… ‘It’s not only shipping of goods, though; cruise ships as well as a portion of the fishing industry could benefit from the wing concept – for whom fuel costs sometimes reach 45 per cent of their operational expenses.
SEAHORSE 37
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