A Boat With Wings? | SailGP Explained

Great Britain SailGP Team's CEO & wing trimmer Chris Draper explains the inner workings of the impressive 24 meter (79 foot) rigid wingsail that powers an F50 catamaran.

SailGP is sailing redefined. Established in 2018 and headquartered in London and San Francisco, SailGP is an annual, global sports championship featuring bold, cutting-edge technology and awe-inspiring athleticism. The fan-centric, inshore racing takes place in some of the most iconic harbors around the globe and culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race. Rival national teams from Australia, China, France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States battle it out in identical supercharged F50 catamarans, engineered for intense racing at electrifying speeds exceeding 50 knots (nearly 60 mph).

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[davesmith]

Happy to see some explanation about the wing! Seems to fit with the airplane wing functioning, that at lower speeds you want to extend the flaps to get more lift, while at higher speeds you pull them in. Thw proper angle to the leading edge of the wing caught my attention. Some how, I hadn't thought of that much! All of this is new technology, revolutionizing thousands of year of sailing. I wish these guys would dedicate more than 1:41 (one minute and forty-one seconds) to explaining. And I wish the announcers / video effects people would give more updates on the direction of the wind on the course, so we could see how the boats are steered, relative to the wind.

[WhatAboutTheBee]

Good start but needs more. There are 8 buttons on the control panel and this video explained 3 functions (Front angle, chamber, twist). Perhaps at some point @sailgp can expand on the explanation!