The fruit of a dismasting
After his dismasting in the 2000 Vendée Globe, skipper Yves Parlier imagines towing his yacht with a kite wing. With this idea in mind, he launched the Beyond The Sea project, supported by his company Océa, created in 1992 for its various nautical innovation projects. In parallel with Beyond The Sea applications on large ships, Libertykite is the version intended for pleasure boats. Supported by various schools and research laboratories, Océa is testing and developing several wing prototypes to define the two 10 m² and 20 m² Libertykite sails.
A kite wing adaptable to sailboats and motorboats
The Libertykite, designed by Yves Parlier, was developed by Christophe Roussel and Richard Leloup to meet 4 main constraints :
- To be sent, picked up and manoeuvred by a person alone on his boat
- Be self-stable, without operator action
- Easily adaptable to any type of boat
- Sailing from crosswind to downwind for all boats and upwind for those with daggerboards
Libertykite applications range from emergency rigging on a dismasted sailboat or a broken motorboat, to auxiliary propulsion to save fuel. It fits on the boat's mooring cleats.
Shy start
Once in commercial phase, Libertykite starts slowly. "Today we sold four Libertykites. People need to see and test," explains Richard Leloup, Océa engineer. "Eric Pelaprat, distributor for the south of France, adds that contacts are being made with the race around the world around the Golden Globe Race, as a rescue rig.
Asked about the price perception of the wings (1740 € for the Libertykite 10m² and 2340 € for the Libertykite 20m²), Richard Leloup concedes that he can scare some traditional boaters, but that he does not surprise people used to kitesurfing, whose prices are equivalent.
Enlarge the range
Stopping at 20 m² limits the clientele affected explains Mr. Leloup. "We have a lot of demand for bigger wings, either to go faster, or to install on bigger boats. A new 40 m² wing should see the light of day, but even if we want to develop in yachting, we have other projects on large ships. We have to manage priorities in our small team. We are also working to enable the kite to be used in performance mode, thanks to new implementation techniques and new equipment."
If the Libertykite exists, it still needs time and adaptations to flower on our pleasure boats.
