About the author, Anders Ansar, Stockholm, Sweden
About the author Anders Ansar, Stockholm. Sweden
Abstract
His 185 articles has been published in some 20 countries, in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Milan, Hamburg, Stockholm....
With a Master of Science in Physics he sometimes ads a technical touch to the articles.
He has been successfully active in sail boat racing and skate sail sail design and racing. Booth disciplines requiring knowledge and attention to detail with respect to equipment and execution for winning.
He has have owned and raced: A C-class sailing canoe (local Swedish design.) An Elvström Trapetz two man dinghy. A Star Boat. Two Tornado Catamarans, once an Olympic class. Two Laser dinghies.
When he showed his first Tactical Compass to sailors he was engaged as tactician on a 6 m R-yacht and a Scampi Half Ton Class yacht.
He is the designer of the Ice Wing, stand inside skate sail, which is some 30 % faster than its predecessor.
Anders is the inventor of several patented tactical compasses for racing sail boats.
He has always enjoyed traveling, and traveling light, minimalistic, which among other things also sometimes requires creativity.
Anders now spends plenty of his time abroad and have visited some 90 countries.
Anders Ansar at the pyramids and the spinx, Egypt.
Anders Ansar in St Petersburg, Russia.
Anders Ansar in one of the some twenty stand inside ice skate sail wings he has designed, build and raced. Frontal view.
Anders Ansar mainly produces extreme sports articles for magazines.
Anders Ansar Laser dinghy sailing and camping on large Lake Saimaa in Finland for half a month with a friend in his dinghy.
Anders Ansar always carries a camera and some means to take notes. He is mainly producing extreme sports articles for magazines. E.g. about ice and land sailing in the US. Picking up and selling material while he is traveling - five round the world trips. He has visited some 90 countries.
With a Master of Science in Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, he sometimes ads a technical touch to the articles.
He was probably first to show that skate sailing on ice (that is with skates on the feet) standing inside a wing, see photo right, was much faster than the traditional design with the sailor standing on the leeward side of a single layer sail.
Up till then the rules for skate sailing in Sweden were free: "Sail and skates of any design." When Ansar turned up on the racing and championship courses sailing some 30 % faster the design was banned. Now these wing sails sail in a new all free class.
Anders is also an inventor with several patents, mainly tactical compasses for racing sail boats. See compasses at right.
He has raced several different sail boats. Sailing Canoe (a Swedish national class), Star Boat, two man Elvstroem Trapeze Dinghy, Tornado Catamaran and Laser Dinghy. He has sailed with a friend in his boat from Sweden to Island, via west England and south Norway. "A very rewarding three months trip, half of the time at sea."
A memorable win in USA land yacht sail regatta
Ice Wing skate sails
Tactical compasses for racing sail boats
Ansar 1 Compass
He was probably first to show that skate sailing on ice in a wing was much faster than the traditional design with the sailor standing on the leeward side of a single layer fabric sail.
The improved performance is mainly due to the sailor making no air resistance as he is inside the wing.
These wing sails are some 30 % faster than their predecessor - an enormous increase in performance. In sports improvements are usually minute.
Ice Wing skates sail. Top speed is some 75 mph, 120 km/h. Special speed versions can sail much faster.
"It helped me to gain at least three or four places in each major regatta", writes Ed Baird, about the Ansar 1 Compass, in his book on Laser sailing.
He is the 1980 Laser Dinghy World champion.
He has been skipper or helmsman of several America's Cup boats.
The advantage of the Ansar 1 Compass is that it shows the same figure on opposite tacks making it much easier for the racing sailor to keep track of the shifts in wind direction which can be utilized to get quicker to windward.
The Ansar 1 Compass design is copied by the big manufacturers Silva, Plastimo and Ritchie.
An article about this sport is available together with building and sailing instructions.
Reprint from Yachting Magazine USA
Ansar stupefied ice sailors in the New York-New Jersey area when he raced a fleet of DN-class boats at Peach Lake, N.Y., in moderate winds and easily beat them. This was quite a feat, since Ice-Wing has less than half the sail area of a DN. Says George Blair, of Red Bank, N.J., who is the first buyer in the U.S.:
"I am absolutely enthralled at the beauty and simplicity of this thing. We should ask ourself why we didn't think of this before Ansar did. It's very forward, basic and simple."
"On this occasion, after I beat the DN ice boats, it was suggested I should race the present Skeeter ice boats. I did, and beat them too. The sailor of the fastest Skeeter then wanted a two lap race because he felt he needed some time to get his heavy boat going. We sailed a two lap race and I won again.
The Skeeter is a quite large ice boat: length 9 m, 30 ft, width 6 m, 20 ft, and height 7 m, 23 ft. The wing skate sail is a dwarf in comparison.
Ansar 2 Compass
This compass have an analog indication of where the wind direction is between worst header and best lift. It is adapted to be read from the windward side of the boat.
Ansar 2 compasses were bought for the Swedish Olympic sailing team by the Swedish Sailing Association. Used in more than thirty racing classes.
Ansar 3 Compass
These compasses shows the actual wind direction when sailing to windward.
"One of the more memorable sail races I participated in was in western USA. I was taking photos at a land yacht regatta. Famous land sailor and land yacht builder and designer Nord Embroden was kind to take me there.
One of the race officials said I could take part in the race with his Freedom Yacht.
This was my first land yacht race. Wind was very light at the start. I leaned out to leeward checking the sail telltales which indicated the all important air flow over the leeward side of the sail. I adjusted the sail and course too keep the air flow going.
I sailed with full concentration for several minutes before checking the competitors. When I looked they were well behind. Probably because they were very heavy guys.
We rounded a mark and sailed down wind. The wind was picking up. I turned the leeward mark cautiously - it was my first turn at speed in a land yacht.
The wind was getting strong and the other guys now had a speed advantage because of their weight. They were closing in very fast. Just before the finish line I tacked upon the nearest competitor throwing the turbulent wind from my sail onto his - slowing him down enough for me to finish first. I also won the two remaining races."
The wing sail I used on this occasion is much slower than today's best wing sails, which are made with a larger stiff forward part.
Also there were several constraints on the design as I carried it in pieces as checked luggage across the Atlantic and as it had to be easily assembled with simple tools when in the USA. The thin plastic front. e.g. was rolled tight into a small diameter cylinder - resembling skies, which could be checked without extra charges."
Ansar 4 compass
This compass have an analog indication of where the wind direction is between worst header and best lift. It is adapted to be read from around the center line of the boat.
To my travel light page https://sites.google.com/site/1ozluggage2/
Things from my desk. Sailing boats I have raced and sailed. My cars. My humble abode. Water color drawings.
100 MPH?, 160 km/h? My design High Speed Wing Skate Sail. Sailor in wing The only one in the world, as far as I know.
This is a small area wing sail and should therefore be able to reach higher speeds before you are over powered.
With this wing over powering should come around 100 mph, 160 km/h.
Wing still in modification and testing phase - and right high speed conditions are very rare - about once a year.
Photo: The wing hangs on the shoulders and I wear ice skates.
It sails 4 times faster than the wind.
Some 100 have been built world wide. I have designed, built and raced some twenty of these wings.
I think I was first to show that skate sailing in wings is much faster that its predecessor with the sailor standing to leeward of a fabric sail. Top speed is some 75 MPH, 120 km/h. That is 30% faster than its predecessor.
75 MPH, 120 km/h. My design Course Racing Wing Skate Sail
Small boat sailing to Iceland on the cold northern Atlantic OceanSailed with a friend, Lennart Berglund, in his 28 ft boat. A very rewarding three months trip: From Stockholm, down east coast Sweden, Kiel Canal in Germany, west of England, Scotland, Faeroe Islands, Iceland, (from there by airplane to Greenland, Kulusuk), Shetland Islands, Norway, Goeta Canal from west to east through Sweden, Stockholm.
At night 39 F, 4 C, approaching Iceland.
On the west coast of England we got a Gale Warning. As the nearest port we had a chart for was Liverpool we headed there. (As charts were expensive then, USD20, we only had a few). We got in before the storm hit....
Boats that I have sailed and raced
A C-class sailing canoe (local Swedish design). An Elvström Trapetz two man dinghy. A Star Boat. Two Tornado Catamarans, once an Olympic class. Two Laser dinghies.When I sold my first Tactical Compass, Ansar 1, to sailors I was engaged as a tactician on a 6 m R-yacht and a very successful Scampi Half Ton Class, Lady Luck.
Photo. Camping trip in a Laser Dinghy This was on large Lake Saimaa in Finland for half a month with a friend in his dinghy.
The view from my humble abode in central Stockholm, Sweden. Beyond the water, a bay, lies the Karlberg Palace. The bay is connected to the seven oceans. There is a public small wooden jetty just outside my abode so you can arrive by boat for a visit.
The construction of the palace started 1634. (I just saw that the construction of Taj Mahal (which I have visited some three times) started 1632.)
My second car, so far the last, was the very powerful British Jaguar Mk II, 3.4 litre, 1962. 120 mph, 200 km/h, with a 210 hp engine. "The 3.8 litre Mk II had outstanding performance and was for a long time the fastest production saloon car in the world."
At the back of the front seats were little fold down tables - appreciated by my friends when they had a drink. A girlfriend wasn't apparently at all impressed by the car - she thought it was a ca 1950 Volvo Taxi, 90 hp. Video of driving Jaguar Mk II at full speed. My Jaguar car full spec here.
Freelance photography and writing. E.g. my E-Book: 100 steps to Ultra Light Luggage and Less Heat Stress
Photo: No-Bag-Travel. All in the pockets for weeks!
After decades of traveling light on the world's hot roads in sixty countries, several circumnavigations, minimizing, testing and eliminating gear - finding ways to manage without, I have writen the above E-Book.
My Tactical Compasses for Sail Racing.
Wind shifts At-A-GlanceAnimation: The position of the central pointer gives you the wind shift information At-A-Glance! Wind is here from the right. "It helped me to gain at least three or four places in each major regatta", writes Ed Baird, about the Ansar 1 compass.
Other famous buyers are Iain Murray, Australia, Peter Norlin, Sweden.
Me in my first car, a MGA 1959. Bought second hand around 1962, when I was 20 years old. Nice British job. Top speed 93 mph, 150 km/ h. 72 hp. It came with a Hard Top - came handy in the cold and snowy winter conditions in Stockholm, Sweden.
I was lucky - it was bought with an inheritance from an aunt. Thank you very much Auntie! She sadly passed away at a relatively young age. Video of nicely restored MGA. Full car spec here.
Me in my first car, a MGA 1959.
Jaguar Mk II, 3.4 litre, 1962. Mine was black and did not have wire wheels.
My water colored drawing of my Star Class sailboat.
Illustrating an article, in the Swedish boating magazine Båtnytt (for which I wrote many articles illustrated with my photos). I owned a Star Class sailboat with this color scheme. Lovely boat. Apart from competition sailing I used it also for vacation cruising,
My water colored drawing, River Nile Felucca.
My water colored drawing, Bamboo tourist accomodation hut.
My water colored drawing, Young coconut tree.
Maybe drawn in Indonesia.
Illustrating an article, in the Swedish boating magazine Båtnytt (for which I wrote many articles illustrated with my photos), together with the Star Class sail boat about my sail on the River Nile, Egypt. Both are light wind boats with plenty of sail area.
Viewed from my hut, on Lamai Beach, island Koh Samui, Thailand, which I have visited many times. Cirka 1990. Later huts were changed for more solid ones.
I sent copies of the drawing to several friends - with the warning: Don't make the same mistake as some of Gauguin's friends - throw it away - or your decendants may miss a fortune. :)
(My note: Latest version of this table is here on IW page, 29 June 2018)
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© Copyright Anders Ansar 2008-2021. You can non commercially use pictures and text from pages as long as an adjacent link is provided to that page/s. All rights reserved.
Modified Apr. 2021.