Windship ship concept uses its hull as a sail

Vindskip ship concept, or Windship, by Norwegian designers at Lade AS, has an extended hull using it as a sail, to harness the power of the wind.

According to Lade AS its apparently patented design stands for a partly wind-powered “hybrid” merchant ship, achieving fuel savings of 60 percent and emissions reduction by 80 percent.

“A ship’s hull is provided where a substantial portion of the ship’s hull, above its waterline, is designed essentially as a section of an aerofoil of the NACA foil type which is symmetrical to the center line of the ship’s hull and where the leading edge of the aerofoil section is facing in the direction of the front of the ship, in order, with relative wind, to generate an aerodynamic lift that produces propulsion for the ship within an angular sector of the ship’s course or direction of propulsion, the aerodynamic lift being balanced out by a hydrodynamic lift generated below the waterline. Also provided is a ship (1) including the aforementioned ship’s hull.”