Is anybody able to identify this boat ?

Started by Timm R Oday25, Jun 20, 2024, 09:22 PM

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Timm R Oday25

We are Mackinaw city for a few days and saw this unusual sailboat . Does the mast rotate ?

Timm R Oday25

I believe the hill is aluminum as well

Sailor Sue

If it's aluminum wouldn't it be "Alcoa"? 

rfrance0718

Seems like maybe the boom swings. Kind of like a big Lateen rig. So mast is unstayed and the sails, acting like one big sail, could be presented at any angle to the wind?  Very strange. Alcona is the name of a county in Michigan and also the name of a sailboat manufacturer in Sweden. None of their boats look anything like this.

Dave Scobie

Rig is called a 'AeroRig' or 'balestron rig'.

Fully rotating.

Last year I saw two-masted version cruising around the Washington State San Juan Islands.

Norm L.

A version of that has been used on ships as part of the wind assist R&D. It plus is that there is no rigging and that it can be easily controlled by computers.