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Sail on ice, snow and land. And water?
Breaking News Video: Ice Wing wins One of a Kind race
For sale: Building and sailing instructions. A Wing Sailing article.
The tiny Ice Wing Skate Sail beat big US ice boats.
New! Gallery with photos
Second hand ice sailing gear for sale: The first successful wing sail, wing sails, skates, traction kites, hand sail.
Here I sail one of my wings on ice. It hangs on the shoulders and I wear ice skates.
Wind is very light, you can hardly feel it in your face, still speed is some 40 km/h, 25 mph, or some 6 times faster than the wind. In strong wind, at top speed, it sails 4 times faster than the wind.
Frontal view. An Ice Wing cockpit is cramped. Generally a thinner wing is faster.
A wing sailor sailing at top speed in a strong wind. He leans to windward to balance the force of the wind. Speed is some 120 km/h, 75 mph.
Ice-Wing Cabriolet, has good performance for its size because the sailor makes no air resistance.
Rolls into a tubular pack for storage, or transport on the ice when there is no wind.
Four Speed Records to possibly break/establish with an Ice Wing
My fastest Skate Sail Concept
The sailor supports himself on one leg in the lower wing. His body is horizontal in the streamlining. The other leg is horizontally backwards in the streamlining. This way the sailor's body resistance is minimized.
This is the fastest skate sailing concept I can come up with. Fastest because its sail area can be made very small.
Sailing video. Very light wind 4 knots, 2 m/s, note flag movements.
Still speed is 25 mph, 12m/s, 40 km/h - 6 times faster than the wind! Filmed by skating, panting, person. Note plenty of text with the video. (Video is short: having breakfast, driving to the lake, rigging, waiting for wind, etc. has been cut out. :) )
My Evolution of the Ice Wing Skate Sail that beat the then current skate sails with a wide margin. Click for full story!
The sail I had to beat! The then current ice skate sail in Sweden.
A 1904 design. I don't know country/person of origin.
This is the Sail-in-Wing Skate Sail that beat the then current skate sail, picture above.
Ice Wing beats large ice boats in the US. Wins One-of-a-Kind Race. Click for more
This is an incredible performance for its size and simplicity. With no restrictions to the design, it is probably the most challenging ice sailing class to design, build and sail. It has not yet really been tried on land, with roller skates, on skate board or on a bicycle. Will you be first to beat the land yachts? Using it on water is also a possibility.
The Stand Inside Wing Skate Sail was the first or second major Swedish skate sail speed development during the last century, 1900 to 2000
The possibly first Swedish development was the "drakseglet", above, around 1905, I first see it on photo dated 1905. I don't know if it was developed in Sweden or e.g. in the US.
It had the sailor standing on its leeward side and it superseded the "Parallel trapeze sail", below.
Parallel trapeze sail
Ice Wing Sail-In-Wing Skate Sail
My Ice Wing Sail, the first or second Swedish development during the last century, above is some 25% faster than the "drakseglet", far left. The great performance is mainly due to the sailor creating no air resistance as he is inside the wing.
Second hand ice sailing gear for sale: The first successful wing sail, wing sails, skates, traction kites, hand sail.
This is wing sailing in its most refined form!
It consists only of the bare minimum for sailing - a sail/wing. No: hull, mast, steering or sheeting arrangements....
It is as fast as an ice boat. One can suggest that the ice boats are heavily over-engineered for achieving the same speed performance.
“Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it.
And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.” ― Edsger W. Dijkstra
Ice Wing's speed performance, even in strong winds, is the same as for big ice boats, like e.g. the E-Skeeter, it sails 4 times faster than the wind.
One can say the ice boats are "a bit over-engineered" to achieve the same performance as they apart from the sail has a plank, to give them width and stability, a hull to give them length plus more extras as cockpit, steering and sheeting arrangements.
They have a much higher driving force but it is eaten away by the aerodynamic drag mainly of hull, plank and sailor, less if he is under a canopy. Also reducing speed is the larger friction of the runners due to the much larger weight of the craft.
Contrary to the land sail speed record holder Greenbird (2009) and, other ice/land/snow sailing concepts, America's Cup 2013 boats etc, this design:
Has no aerodynamic drag from hulls/planks/stays/sailor/cockpit/wheels/runners etc. The only aerodynamic drag is from the wing which is unavoidable.
The Greenbird wing alone has the ability to sail some 60 times faster than the wind. That means it has e.g. 10 pounds of drag when creating 600 pounds of force. But when all the other drags are added it can sail only some four times faster than the wind. That is the same figure as for the Stand-Inside wing sail at high speeds. In light wind the Sail-in-Wing sails six times faster than the speed of the wind. For Greenbird the other drags amount to some 140 pounds! With a [stand inside] wing only you get rid of most of these - except skate, wheel, runner, ski or surfboard drag.
Also when it comes to the drag of the sailing surface it is minimum when sailed on ice. Wheels, hydrofoils, boards, hulls etc. create much larger drag.
A wing skate sailor normally supports his weight on one skate only. To sail a desired course and steer the sailor trims the wing backwards/forward until in equilibrium. This eliminates the drag of an unbalanced craft. The Greenbird yacht e.g. most probably creates drag because the sail force tries to make the yacht 'bear away' or 'head up wind' which has to be resisted with steering which causes drag.
"You sail leaning 30 degrees into the wind balancing between flying and falling. Sailing on one skate and every little wind change is transmitted directly to your body. The only sound is the faint whistle of the wind outside your wing." That is skate sailing in a wing according to one of the addicts.
More about Wing skate sailing
I beat the large American ice boats. Wins One-of-a-Kind race.
Testing wing for speed sailing, 160 km/h, 100 mph? Old wing modified to be reefed from the back, with four different areas from 4 to 8,5 sq. m.
In Stockholm we have wing sails which you can borrow for a test sail.
Extremely tall sailing skates, 1 feet, 30 cm.
The height can be changed by replacing the red tubes with others of different length. Light wind and good ice: With high skates you can carry a tall sail with large area = a fast sail. Strong wind: Low skates and a lower small sail.
It is by far not the tallest skates. A friend of mine made skates 3 ft, 1 m, tall. He sat on the ice strapping them on. A couple of friends then raised him to the upright position. He skated a bit then asked to be lowered down on the ice again....
I wasn't present so I have no photo.
After the wing skate sail? Twice as fast?
This section is in Swedish - English version: NEWS -year 2001: Speed sailing wing, 160 km/h, 100 mph? Old wing modified to be reefed from the back.
Vingskridskosegel för hastighetssegling klart: 160 km/t? (Mars 2001)
Vingskridskosegel för hastighetssegling klart: 160 km/t? (Mars 2001)
Speedseglets bakgrund. (Feb -99)
Vinge modifieras med rev i akterkant. Skall få fyra olika segelytor från 4 till 8,5 kvadratmeter. (Mars 2001)
Sökes: Medhjälpare för rekordslagning med skridskosegel. (Feb. -99)
Låna ett vingskridskosegel!
Sail- In-Wings on water
Stand inside wing sails can most probably also sail fast on water, e.g. on a foil board, - but there are some safety issues for the sailor to solve. If he crashes, and especially if he gets unconscious, there is a drowning risk.Some creative thinking needed here! A breathing apparatus securely fastened to the sailors mouth and nose? Plus a rescue crew. Sail areas of record wind surfers are around 55 sq ft, 5 sq m, same as a standard wing skate sail.
A large Only-Wing sailing craft
One can envision a large wing, say 30 ft, 10 m, tall. Base 10 ft, 3 m. Ballasted at some half height. Wheels or runners, at front and back. Some wheeled side supports for parking and take off. Can take some time to learn to control. Compared to something like the record land yacht Greenbird you will save maybe 50 % on hull, plank, cockpit, wheel fairings, very strong stiff construction in hull and lower wing to support wing's side force.
At-A-Glance Tactical Wind Shift Compass. Superior to Electronic Compasses in 12 respects
At last an At-A-Glance Compass for all, dinghies, like Lasers ....
At last an At-A-Glance Compass for all, dinghies, like Lasers ....
E-book Pack lighter. Beat the heat with science.
Sailing in a wing is a minimalist approach to high performance sailing. I have some information on minimalist travel packing, e.g. toilet and medicine case 1 oz, 30 g, and how to handle hot weather.
"Man shrinks luggage to shirt pocket size, 1 oz, 30 g. "The almost complete work of Packing Light/Ultra Compact, Beat the Heat". Also Safety Tips, and more. Presentation: Short version Long version
Second hand ice sailing gear for sale: The first successful wing sail, wing sails, skates, traction kites, hand sail.
I am hereby launching a movement for the billions of hotel guests:
"As a courtesy to the next guest please ask to get any problems fixed. Or fix it yourself"
What is this? Detail photos of something bigger
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Modified Dec 18 2022.
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