Game-changer in sail industry

Santa Marsupial, Spain (April 1, 2014) – Tecnología por Veleros announced that it has begun initial commercial production of a revolutionary sail material that combines nanotechnology with genetically-modified cotton to create what managing director Joaquim Miguel Ferreira calls a game-changing sailing technology – “bigger than the winged keel.”

According to Ferreira, nano-bot-infused strands of a genetically-modified, long-fiber Egyptian cotton will soon be the material of choice for “the only sails you will ever need for your boat.”

When TpV’s new sails are deployed, he said, the nano-bots in the cotton will automatically sense the wind strength and direction relative to the sail. They will then re-form the cotton fibers into the most efficient size and shape for the wind and sea conditions.

“The sail will automatically expand many times its base size to form a spinnaker for downwind sailing, shrink to genoa size for upwind sailing, and can even shape itself into storm sail size,” Ferreira said. “Instead of reefing a sail in strong wind conditions, the technology-permeated sails will loosen the weave of the cotton to allow excess wind to pass through the sail.”

“You will find yourself quickly becoming accustomed to a perfectly-trimmed, perfectly-sized sail no matter what conditions you are sailing in,” Ferreira said. “Even better is the nano-bots can self-patch any rips in the sails, and they absorb enough solar energy, even on a single cloudy day, to be powered for up to a week.”

The first production sets of TpV sails are scheduled for delivery to two owners in the Farr 40 class. TpV said that a set of Farr 40 sails will cost 175,000 euros for each of the two sails, with a 25-year useful life in grand prix racing conditions. They reminded the audience that boat owners only need to buy two sails, since each will replace every sail in the inventory.

Joaquim Miguel Ferreira is the great-grandson of Joaquim Antunes Ferreira, who once owned the clipper ship Cutty Sark. Tecnología por Veleros is a three-year-old startup that received seed money from business development grants related to Spain’s hosting of the America’s Cup.