Français2025
January :
Vendée Globe : Our technology on IMOCA?
It’s sailing time! Always a match after so many days at sea! How are the sailors, how are our boats and let’s continue our comparison between the soft sails and the wingsails that could exist in the next Vendée Globe.
From the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn, characterised by downwind sail changes
- A thick profile improves the sail plan as a whole and allows for better VMG and more downwind trajectories, resulting in better performance.
- The wing can be released without flapping, making it easier to reef or get it down. .
From Cape Horn to the equator: upwind sailing with variations in strength and direction
- On this long tack, our thick profile remains stable and smoothes out the boat’s behaviour; the engine’s torque makes trimming easier.
- After so many days at sea, the list of damage to the soft sails is getting longer: hooks out of order, torn or delaminated sails, broken battens. Profiles and membranes are overstressed and their limited lifetime is detrimental to performance.
Fair winds,
2024
December :
Vendée Globe : Our technology on IMOCA?
They’re on their way! Considering the fleet, here are the potential gains our innovation could bring: week 2 and week 3
Passage through the Doldrums, characterized by strong squalls between periods of calm:
- Soft-sails flapping in the swell put a lot of pressure on the equipment and seamen: it’s a nerve-wracking experience! A thick, semi-rigid profile obtained by inflation remains stable without making a sound.
- In strong wind, the wing is leeward to cancel its lift and without flapping reefing is easier.
From the equator to the Cape of Good Hope: a long port tack
- Whether it’s a soft-sail or a semi-rigid wing 80% of a profile’s efficiency is due to extrados: the camber of the extrados and a rounded intrados could be better used.
- On this long port tack, the wing remains stable in strong winds, smoothing out the boat’s behavior and reducing the instability of other sails to keep them efficient longer.
A thick profile channels airflow over the ship, making downwind sails safer to use. The development of the wing design could be optimized.
Fair winds,
November :
Vendée Globe : Hypothesis: Our technology on IMOCA?
Week 1 article:
they’re off !
Considering the fleet, here are the potential gains our innovation could bring:
Descent of the Bay of Biscay and along the coast of Portugal, characterized by unstable winds in terms of strength and direction:
- Our wing-sail allows the mainsail horn to be reversed on reaching, giving the boat more righting torque: the sail is carried longer, the number of maneuvers is reduced and the skipper is spared.
- Our wing does not flap, which softens the boat’s behavior and reduces instability on the other sails.
From Madeira to the Cape Verde Islands:
- A thick, semi-rigid profile remains stable because it’s a volume that moves.
- A wing-sail channels the air and allows greater VMG descent angles than a flat soft-sail (validated in training on Mini-Transat in Lorient).
Practice is de-risked, wings don’t flap, and skippers and vessels gain in comfort.
See you soon
September :
France 2030 Steering Committee: Awards ceremony with Bruno Bonnell Secretary General for Investment and Pascal Bolot Prefect of Morbihan
May :
ADD Technologies is a CORIMER 2023 prizewinner, after having won in 2020
2023
September :
19/10/2023 18:10 ADD Technologies plans to install its inflatable wind propulsion system on a cargo ship – API Agency
https://agence-api.ouest-france.fr/article/add-technologies-projette-linstallation-de-son-aile-de-propulsion-gonflable-sur-un-cargo 1/3
ADD Technologies is one of the winners of the last edition of the i-Nov innovation competition for its ADDWINGSAIL project. A pioneer in this sector that is now of interest to many players, Antoine Debled has been thinking about a semi-rigid and inflatable sail, called AWP System, since 2009. “we apply panels on each side of the soft sail and obtain a semi-rigid sail . Then by inflating bladders we get an airfoil shape. We rely on known technologies as bladders from kite sails, foam panels… It is an innovation without mechanical constraints, a system in one piece, which folds down automatically from the mast” sums up Antoine Debled, also a navigator.
Since 2021, ADD Technologies has worked with a French shipowner and suppliers to validate the system. “Its performance has been confirmed on the famous mini-transat(2021), as has the durability of sailing, which has been tested for nearly four years on a fishing boat. We are now ready to market the system.”
ADDWINGSAIL
With a view to decarbonisation, ADD Technologies is primarily targeting the existing merchant fleet and fisheries. Next? to achieve the ADDWINGSAIL project, selected by ADEME and Bpifrance as part of i-Nov: «We will be able to install a full-scale prototype of AWP System on a cargo and reduce its CO2 emissions, lower its fuel consumption», confirms Antoine Debled. ADD Technologies employs 3 people and relies on the expertise of its partners. The company is expected to complete a first fundraising by the end of 2024.
July :
We are proud to be the winner of the i-Nov Bpifrance competition, in the mobility category: A great reward for our daily commitment to the decarbonization process of maritime industry!
On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, the award ceremony for the winners of the 2022-2023 Innovation Competition was held in the presence of Ministers, and with Bruno Bonnell, Secretary General for Investment in charge of France 2030. Under the sign of acceleration to establish the sovereignty of France, the Government congratulated and highlighted the 237 winners of the 2023 edition of the Innovation Competition, all aspects combined.
The i-Nov component supports innovation projects with high potential for the French economy led by start-ups and SMEs, in order to promote the emergence of leading companies that can claim a global scale.
Juin : Nor-Shipping in Oslo
June : Wind for Goods in St Nazaire
March 2023 : We attended the Bilbao fair with the Consortex members
2022
July : ADD Technologies Festival Océans Lorient
With Hervé Derville Secretary for the Sea of the French Government and Fabrice Loher Mayor of Lorient
June : ADD Technologies will exhibit at EUROMARITIME in Marseille
June : ADD Technologies will debate in Navexpo in Lorient during the round table “Wind Assist Propulsion System”
February – March : Numerous trials with our Class 40 front wingsail
Press and fairs
November 2021: Hugo Lauras arrives on the 2021 Mini-Transat: By equipping the Hugo Mini Transat, the objective was to prove the reliability of our rustic system by making it pass solo the Atlantic on the demanding and recognized test bench of the Mini Transat: Goal achieved with the arrival of Hugo!
16/11/2021 8h51mn38s Arrival in Guadeloupe
Start 2nd leg La Palma 2021/10/29
October 2021: Itechmer Fishing Industry Lorient : The CEO of Naval Group and GICAN ‘s President visits our stand
September 2021 : WIND FOR GOODS ST Nazaire
July 2021 : Fishing industry : Sails are coming back
The sailing propulsion in fishing greets the 300 days in operation for the wing ADD-Modules on Oceania (AY).
April 2021 : “A wingsail on a Mini Transat 650” – Bateaux
A publication in Bateaux.com to inform about the participation of Hugo Lauras on the Mini 512 during the 2021 Mini Transat in September and the 1st race of the season Pornichet Select 650 on May 1st.
October 2020:
The wingsail of the future to the test bench of the fishing – Quiberon – Le Télégramme
ADD Technologies has designed a semi-rigid mizzen wingsail that can adapt to all boats, even to the Oceania, the Romain Auffret’s fishing boat,in Quiberon.
A mizzen wingsail ensures more stability and longer lifetime. One step closer to maritime transport.
August 2020: A wingsail inflated!
A race boosted thanks to the ADD Modules system on the mini 6.50 of Hugo Lauras. A sail that can self-regulate with constant sheet, a major breakthrough for future offshore racing and sailing propulsion in general.
December 2019: A round table on sustainable nautic industry
ADD Technologies participated in an exchange around innovations in the nautical sector during the Nautic show in Paris. Between intelligent routing and eco-design, the willingness to change maritime transport was highlighted during this debate.
April 2019: An inflated wingsail tested on a Mini Transat 650
An enriching partnership between our ADD Modules system and All Purpose sailmaker which allowed Destination Morbihan to sail an inflatable wingsail. Interview Rémi Aubrun.
September 2018: The sails of the future
November 2016 : Wingsail system video