Wingsails are proven in yacht racing and commercial shipping, yet the pleasure-yachting industry has been slow to adopt them. The Royal Huisman yacht concept Aera could change that with the help of a pioneering owner. The ready-for-contract design reveals that there’s a better way to reduce carbon emissions dramatically while also making operations simpler.
According to Royal Huisman, the design has been in development for several years. It’s thanks to a partnership with its sister company Rondal, the studio Cor D. Rover Design, and Artemis Technologies. The latter is a maritime-technology company focused on decarbonizing commercial vessels and sprang out of the America’s Cup team Artemis Racing, which employed wingsails.
Briefly, similar to airplane wings, wingsails are rigid and aerodynamically efficient. They also can rotate fully, requiring no winches or deck hardware, and are fully automated. The yacht concept Aera features a 115-foot-tall (35-meter-tall) wingsail encompassing 2,640 square feet (245 square meters). Adjustable trailing-edge flaps optimize her cruising and reduce speed all the way to stationary by feathering into the breeze. A computer control system adjusts the wing to conditions and, if desired, the speed a captain enters. The captain also enters a direction or destination, which further allows the computerized system to handle operations. Rondal particularly sees all of this appealing to owners with little sailing knowledge and crews not thoroughly experienced in traditional superyacht sailing.
What’s more, Royal Huisman says the wingsail permits going from zero to sailing in about one minute. The yacht concept Aera should be able to cruise at 12 knots, plus receive assistance from retractable electric sail drives when maneuvering via her engines. Notably, Royal Huisman says it performed extensive wingsail prototype testing in extreme weather conditions as well. Overall, it determined that the wngsail outperforms traditional soft sails. In fact, a traditional sailing rig would require 40 to 60 percent more sail area to compete.
Adding to the project’s efficiency, a battery bank and hydrogen fuel cell come into play. Firstly, a 580-kWh battery bank can handle all hotel loads for 11 hours. Charging comes via Rondal’s hydro-generators, though a hydrogen fuel cell can do it while at anchor away from a marina. The electricity from the fuel cell can produce a further 72 hours of emission-free comforts. Secondly, HVO instead of diesel fuel for the gensets when underway should cut carbon emissions nearly 90 percent. The HVO can keep the DC electrical grid and azimuthing electric drive units operating.
As noteworthy as the technology supporting her is, the yacht concept Aera breaks with tradition in design, too. Cor D. Rover created an asymmetrical profile on a catamaran hull configuration. The 10 passengers have 7,470 square feet (694 square meters) of alfresco space across three decks, unusual for a sailing yacht. From the extra-beamy main-deck master suite to strikingly architectural areas, a comfortably casual indoor-outdoor ambience flows. “Royal Huisman pushed me to go outside my comfort zone, to do something really unusual,” says Rover, who previously collaborated on the head-turning motoryacht Phi.
“Aera represents more than technological advancement,” says Jan Timmerman, Royal Huisman’s CEO. “It’s a complete redesign of sustainable luxury yachting that makes clean cruising irresistibly attractive to owners seeking both environmental responsibility and comfort.”
Artemis Technologies artemistechnologies.co.uk
Cor D. Rover Design cor-d-rover.com
Rondal rondal.com
Royal Huisman royalhuisman.com
More About the Yacht Concept Aera
LOA: 164’0” (50 meters)
Beam: 47’6” (14.5 meters)
Draft: 9’8” to 22’10” (3 to 7 meters) with lifting keel
Guests: 10 in 5 staterooms
Rig: wingsail
Range: 2,750 nautical miles at 8 knots while motoring
Builder: Royal Huisman
Stylist: Cor D. Rover Design
Naval Architect: Artemis Technologies
Interior Designer: Cor D. Rover Design