Watt & Sea Race Wind

This 450W wind generator was developed for the latest generation of flying offshore racing yachts. While Watt & Sea’s efficient hydrogenerators have been successfully used by IMOCA 60s, Class 40s and a growing number of cruising yachts, they aren’t suitable for multihulls such as the 100ft+ Ultimes where the hulls are often far above the water. A number of race teams therefore approached Watt & Sea founder Matthieu Michou, asking for a wind generator optimised to their needs.

“We took what worked well with the hydrogenerator, and applied that to a wind generator,” says Michou. The result is fundamentally different to what we’ve come to expect a wind generator to look like, with the turbine behind the support post.

“Existing wind generators have a stability problem,” he explains.

The issue is the turbine being in front of the pivot. The tail fin commonly used to point the unit into the wind isn’t totally effective, so the fan oscillates, reducing output and increasing noise.

Michou’s solution was to place the rotor behind the pivot, hence the streamlined and compact appearance. That means the rotor operates in turbulent flow behind the mounting, but Watt & Sea already had an optimised carbon foil for the hydrogenerator that could be repurposed for this use. The result is a neat unit only half the weight of a conventional wind generator of similar power. Prototypes have been extensively tested, including a record-breaking round the world dash on Françios Gabart’s Ultime Macif.

Price: from €8,400. www.wattandsea.com