The Ultimate Hybrid

The unfashionable motorsailer may be about to make a comeback: Enter the sail-assisted superyacht.

- Justin Ratcliffe

In 1967, a German hydraulics engineer named Wilhelm Prölss proposed a square-rigged bulk carrier with six steel tripod masts. The innovative vessel was designed as a fuel-saving solution for commercial shipping in response to the looming OPEC oil crisis, but decades passed before the advent of lightweight composite materials, advanced hydraulics and optic sensors meant his theory could be put into practice. It took nearly 40 years before the venture capitalist Tom Perkins latched onto the DynaRig concept for his radical Perini Navi sailing yacht, the 289-foot (88-meter) Maltese Falcon.

Each successive rise in oil prices has led to renewed interest in sail-assist technologies. SkySails in Germany, for example, has tested high-altitude kites attached to the bows of cargo vessels with positive results. But only in recent years, as yacht owners come under increasing pressure to be seen as green, have designers started devising hybrid superyacht concepts that harness the wind to reduce fuel consumption.

Oliver Stacey is a British designer who honed his skills working alongside industry veteran Martin Francis. Together with naval architects from BMT Nigel Gee, Stacey has developed a 262-foot (80-meter) sail-assisted explorer concept called Norse, after the Viking longboats that inspired it.

“Despite appearances, Norse is a hybrid electric motoryacht that uses the wind as a secondary source of power,” Stacey says. “Sail-assist is a readily available technology that, in the right conditions, can save on fuel consumption at least 20 percent.”