very cool looking!

Man I wouldn't want to have to waterstart THAT luff sleeve

Um, why is there no window? What's he gonna do, close his eyes and use the Force?

gregc said...

I read a while ago that the top racing yachts will be using an inflatable mast in the next few years, that would be a cool innovation in sailboarding if it transferred across, an inflatable luff that became the mast imagine the space that would save.

It's not crazy...there's an inflatable SUP board, made from the stuff they make Zodiac dinghies from, apparently it's rigid enough...be interesting to see this applied to masts.

gregc said...

I read a while ago that the top racing yachts will be using an inflatable mast in the next few years, that would be a cool innovation in sailboarding if it transferred across, an inflatable luff that became the mast imagine the space that would save.

I'm assuming only as an additional wing or foil section to the mast for more efficiency, not as the actual mast? There is no way in the world you could use anything inflatable for the mast on a racing yacht, the vertical loads at the mast base are off the richter; read 10's of tonnes. Convert that to pressure work out what sort of pressures you'd require to keep the thing from collapsing on itself, let alone stay stiff sideways....yeah not going to happen.

nah apparently the blokes in white coats have run the slide rule over it and they are saying that is the next big thing, I would assume that it will also require a redesign of the actual sail. Like I said it was something that I read a while ago in one of those flash yachting magazines. The cost of a mast for one of those things must be ridiculous so I would assume that they would be keen to find a cheaper alternative.

Thank you Dr J still most would have thought that the winged keel wouldn't work, the canting keel Oh and the kite spinnaker that is used on most offshore racing yachts now.

But still if it aint on google it must not be true. We will still be chatting about this in 10 years whilst on the deck of my inflatable yacht with canting keel, ion drive and invisible sail with holes in it.

I guess if we keep sail design exactly the same then it would be a no go (maybe) but still thinking with those INNOVATIONS in MANUFACTURING and MATERIALS (he he) that something may be possible. There are a number of Masts that are already inflatable used for telecommunications that have to withstand fairly high wind shear with some valuable equipment on them, also an inflatable wind turbine design (the bloke that designed the segway). Apparently inflatable battens are used on yachts (at the high end).

Barn maybe not replacing the carbon mast but maybe reducing the amount of mast you need after all some smart bugger may come up with a design that still uses some form of carbon rod but maybe its four little bits of carbon rather than one big round tube of it.

gregc said...

I read a while ago that the top racing yachts will be using an inflatable mast in the next few years, that would be a cool innovation in sailboarding if it transferred across, an inflatable luff that became the mast imagine the space that would save.

Yep. Saw it too. The April 2011 edition of Sailing.

Time to think outside the box. Never mind designing an inflatable SDM mast to fit in your old sails; what would be needed is an entirely new "mastless" sail which incorporates a wide, rigid inflatable luff sleeve, (which someone hinted at earlier)...perhaps it would look a bit like the one in the photo at the top of this page, a super-wide luff sleeve. And it would be a honey to waterstart; totally unsinkable!

Rob11 said...

A shame that this thread got hijacked by d.......hs....

Hijacked from what exactly? all I saw was a picture of 7m2 luff sleeve.. The luff sleeve was pointed out, acknowledged by all.. Then we started inflating everything...

What particular direction would you have wished this thread take??

d.......hs....

What?

choco said...

If they could design a bladder to fit behind the mast and inflate the actual luff sleeve to form a ridged leading edge it would eliminate the need for cams hold the power locked in and best thing is that it would float.
You would rig the sail normally then pump tight the luff pocket....

Gaastra did this in 1984.

AUS4 said...

choco said...

If they could design a bladder to fit behind the mast and inflate the actual luff sleeve to form a ridged leading edge it would eliminate the need for cams hold the power locked in and best thing is that it would float.
You would rig the sail normally then pump tight the luff pocket....

Gaastra did this in 1984.

You could fill it with helium!

If you could have an inflatable mast, surely everything could be inflatable..... Boom, fins , board?

You could get it all in one bag..... Sweeeeeeet

evlPanda said...
Yep. Saw it too. The April 2011 edition of Sailing.

Anyone got a copy they could scan and post up because I'm interested in just what they are talking about? I don't see how it's possible in any way shape or form; I'm talking about a rig fully supported by an inflatable mast.

Creating a small inflatable wind turbine (it's a one of those turbines that rotates about a vertical axis), or an antenna mast that has to support ~50kg is one thing but consider this:

Alfa Romeo, the Maxi that has won the Sydney - Hobart numerous times can carry ~1300m^2 of sail down wind. In 20kts that is an absolute ****load of force, there is no way in the world anything inflatable is going to go close to supporting that. Alfa weighs ~25 tonnes, a very large percentage of that is keel to support that amount of sail, consider the vertical loads at the mast base (anyone remember OneAustralia lolz).

I'm open to entirely eating my words if someone can provide more info in this article but sounds fanciful to me