___
Innovative Flexible Wing Sails
SoftWing Flexible Wing Sails offer increased sailing performance, simplified maneuvering but mostely improve the sail reactivity compared to conventional rigs and sails. And unlike rigid wing sails they can be hoisted, lowered and reduced at any time, including while sailing.
Developed and tested since 2011 on various platforms (pi28 foiler, F18 catamarans, T29 trimarans), SoftWings are usable on competition sailing platforms and are an alternative of choice for mega-yachts or for high performance racing-cruising boats. Finally, they have a great potential in terms of hybrid propulsion for merchant ships and maritime transport.
The SoftWing Cambrer System has been developed in three successive inventions that have led to constant improvements in performance while drastically simplifying the concept. These three inventions are protected by a series of patents, which SoftWing now wishes to make available.
___
Inventions
The SoftWing Cambrer System has been developed since 2011 in the course of three successive inventions that are protected by a series of patents.
Cambrer Original
Cambrer Scorpion
Cambrer Bow String
___
The development of SoftWing
Cambrer Original version 1 | 2011 | Pi28 is a foiling platform developed by Hugues de Turckheim and Sébastien Schmidt in 2011-2013 on Lake Geneva (Switzerland).
It was initially used to test two soft-wing prototypes. A third prototype, including the improvements studied during the previous tests, sailed during the 2013 season: the results obtained in terms of performance, handling and reliability were positive.
However, it was decided at that time that facing the challenges of foiling AND those of a soft-wing at the same time was too demanding. That’s when SoftWing was created as a stand-alone project, focusing solely on the soft-wing.
Cambrer Original version 2 | 2014 | F18 V1 was developed and tested on F18 catamaran platforms, with the aim of carrying out comparative “proof of concept” tests, with one boat equipped with the soft-wing, the other with a traditional rig.
During the test sessions in Saint-Tropez in February 2014, the main lessons learned were:
a) a very significant gain sailing upwind
b) excellent speed and performance downwind
c) an intuitive and facilitated navigation (cat-boat configuration, twist control).
In conclusion, it was decided to develop the “Scorpion” model – see below – to increase the power of the wing upwind and to simplify the wing’s structure.
Cambrer Original version 2 | 2016 | T29 SoftWing is a project that was conducted in collaboration with KISS Multihull AB in Sweden. It has resulted in a T29 trimaran being equipped with a 50 m2 SoftWing (V1 version).
The project has allowed comparative sailing with other conventionally rigged T29s, both in regattas and in cruising/delivery trips.
The results showed excellent performance at all points of sail and very safe sailing in windy and rough sea conditions.
Cambrer Scorpion | 2016 | F18 SoftWing is the result of the learnings of the 2014 V1 versions.
The results obtained in this phase of the project mainly consisted in solving the problems of stiffness on the nose that were noted on the V1 F18 model, and to achieve a significant simplification of the control of the wing, thanks to a self-steering boom.
The tests carried out on the F18 validated these improvements and attracted the attention of prominent players in the most famous sailing competition in the world.
2017 | Phenix Monohull is a pre-project that was developed for a private owner, wishing to install an innovative, efficient and easy to manage system on his 65’ yacht.
Cambrer Bow String | 2018 I SoftWing is the final simplification of the concept.
It has mainly allowed to increase the reliability and the simplicity of use of the system through a large reduction of the number of parts.
This opens new perspectives for large sailing units and for maritime transport ships, facing climate change and Co2 emissions issues.
___
The SoftWing Patents
The SoftWing Cambrer System has been developed throughout three successive inventions that have led to constant improvements in performance, while drastically simplifying the concept and increasing its reliability and ease of use.
These three inventions are protected by a series of patents, which SoftWing now wishes to make available.
The SoftWing Patent Portfolio covers three inventions concerning a profiled sail device
The first invention is protected with priority 08/06/2011 in Switzerland (CH), Germany (DE), France (FR), United Kingdom (GB), Italy (IT), China (CN) and United States of America (US).
The second invention is protected with priority 24/03/2014 in Germany (DE), France (FR), United Kingdom (GB), Italy (IT), and United States of America (US).
The third invention is protected with priority 24/05/2016 in Germany (DE) Europe (EP) and United States of America (US).
___
Contact and Way Forward
After ten years of development and investment, SoftWing now wishes to make its experience and inventions available to professional players in the navigation industry who wish to take sailing propulsion to its next level.
Get in touch!
Contact
Bernard Gander – Partner, COO
gander.gmc@gmail.com
+41 79 401 88 87
Junien Labrousse – Partner, COO
junien.labrousse@gmail.com
+41 79 860 26 48
SoftWing SA
Rue de Bourg 11
1002 Lausanne
Switzerland