Embodiments of the present apparatus and method feature a permanently fixed canted keel. The apparatus and method feature tacking maneuvers which shift the sail element and reverse the direction of the hull form.

Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide proactive directional control for a mobile structure. A proactive directional control system may include a logic device, a memory, one or more sensors, one or more actuators/controllers, and modules to interface with users, sensors, actuators, and/or other modules of a mobile structure. The logic device is adapted to determine a steering angle disturbance estimate based on environmental conditions associated with the mobile structure, and the steering angle disturbance estimate is used adjust a directional control signal provided to an actuator of the mobile structure. The logic device may also be adapted to receive directional data about a mobile structure and determine nominal vehicle feedback from the directional data, which may be used to adjust and/or stabilize the directional control signal provided to the actuator.

The patent discloses a multihull watercraft with a unique hull configuration providing numerous benefits. Passenger cabins are enclosed within a separate upper hull, which allows the accommodation space and the float hulls to be independently optimized. The new configuration also provides reduced windage, and creates additional deck space for easier boarding, recreational use, and safer access to shore craft.

The object of the invention is a method and an apparatus in an electric propulsion arrangement of a sailing vessel, wherein the sailing vessel has a traction device provided with an electric motor and with a propeller mechanism, the electric motor of traction device is arranged to be used, if necessary, in forward drive and reverse drive as well as during sailing as a generator for charging the accumulators of the sailing vessel. The propeller mechanism comprises a propeller hub with blades, a hollow propeller shaft fixed at its first end to the propeller hub, a shaft controlling the pitch angles of the propeller blades, said control shaft rotating inside the propeller shaft, and a servomotor rotating the control shaft. The servomotor is fixed to the second end of the propeller shaft to be rotatable along with the propeller shaft.

A stress detection system includes a flexible two-dimensional structure, at least one electrically conductive textile filament, and an apparatus for generating and detecting an electric signal. The filament extends over a predetermined length in a portion of the flexible structure and has at least two points rigidly constrained to the structure. The apparatus is connected to the ends of the filament. The deformability of the filament is substantially equal to or greater than the deformability of the portion of the structure to which the filament is constrained.

The present disclosure relates to a wing. More specifically, aspects of the invention relate to a variable shaped wing movable incrementally between a neutral configuration and a deformed configuration, wherein the wing takes a reflexed camber aerofoil section shape in the deformed configuration. The wing includes a first aerofoil segment and a second aerofoil segment having ends connected or fixed to one another at opposing neutral leading and trailing edges and spaced apart from one another along their lengths across a neutral mean camber line extending between the neutral leading and trailing edges to form a neutral aerofoil section of the wing. One or more actuators deform the wing between the neutral aerofoil section and a reflexed camber aerofoil section, with the first and second aerofoil segments being resilient to bias the wing towards an initial at rest aerofoil section.

Autopilot systems and related techniques are provided to improve the ability of mobile structures to maintain a desired reference path (e.g., to keep a desired track and/or to follow a desired contour). In various embodiments, a high quality turn rate signal and GPS based signals are used to generate high bandwidth cross track/contour errors and other associated signals. An adaptive controller uses the generated cross track/contour signals to provide robust track keeping and/or contour following in the directional control of a mobile structure. Techniques are also provided for systems and methods to provide directional control for mobile structures.

A mast system for use with a sailing vessel including a flexible mast connected to a first point of the sailing vessel; a tether connected to a second point of the sailing vessel, the tether being further connected to the flexible mast, wherein the lengths of the tether and the flexible mast are sized to pull the flexible mast into an arch.

A substantially hollow wingsail is configured to enable electrical components to be situated within the wingsail. In particular, the wingsail may be configured to contain the solar panels used to power the other electrical components of the vessel, as well as other items that are conventionally situated on the exterior of the vessel, such as antennas, navigation lights, and so on. The surface of the wingsail may include transparent or translucent areas to provide light to the solar panels, as well as optical and electromagnetic reflective areas within the wingsail to enhance the performance of the solar panels and antennas. The wingsail may also include an internal light that illuminates the translucent areas of the wingsail for enhanced visibility to other vessels.

A foam product includes a foam core, a soft skin covering the foam core, and a base structure on which the foam core is disposed. The foam core of expanded beads has an outer surface on which some outermost beads of the expanded beads are exposed and bulging outward with different heights to form a bubbly texture. The foam skin has an inner surface attached to the outer surface of the foam core, and has at its inner surface a plurality of concave cavities each matedly surrounding a respective one of the bulging, outermost beads on the outer surface of the foam core.