Autonomous Sailing with Sim-to-Real Reinforcement Learning

Facing the critical challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the maritime industry, this thesis explores the potential of smart control systems using Reinforcement Learning (RL) for autonomous sailing. Traditional controls for sailing fall short in navigating the complex, dynamic conditions of maritime environments. RL has shown...

Hydro generation potential on board sailing super yachts

In response to the leading narrative of increasing sustainability in the yachting sector, a research collaboration is started between the Delft University of Technology and Dykstra Naval Architects to examine the potential use of hydro generation on board sailing superyachts. By harvesting energy from the water flow when under sail, diesel...

Intact stability requirements for commercial sailing vessels

There is uncertainty as to whether the stability criteria in the Dutch regulatory framework for commercial cruising vessels are safe and obtainable for the current Dutch commercial sailing fleet. Therefore, this paper aims to determine a suitable set of intact stability requirements for monohull sailing vessels operating under the Dutch flag,...

Bourj Hammoud Watersports Centre

The Bourj Hammoud Watersports Centre is a leisure project on Beirut’s coast. The project has a critical view towards ongoing waterfront development, which translates into the comeback of a public coast, a place for interaction amongst all.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Optimization for Ship Propulsion: using a free wake vortex model

The global emission of harmful greenhouse gasses has to be reduced. Commercial shipping contributes to these emissions by using fossil fuel as the only energy source to provide propulsion and power auxiliary systems. In order to reduce fuel consumption, much research is focused on increasing the efficiency of the propulsion system and reducing...

Global structural design of large sailing catamaran

Physics-based sail reconstruction from 3D-markers

To design more efficient sailing boat sails and to analyze the efficiency of a sail trim on the water, it is very helpful to have the ability to obtain a digital copy of real-life sail configurations. As a step towards obtaining such digital copies, the Sailing Innovation Centre in collaboration with GeoDelta has created point cloud measurements...

Design of a recreational catamaran control area

Nacra is a catamaran builder focused on racing catamarans. Nacra wants to broader its target market. The design goal is to develop a solution that makes Nacra’s recreational catamarans accessible but look and feel high-performance. The project results in a more accessible catamaran for novice sailors and sailors without prior<br/>experience on a...

A visual analysis framework for dinghy sailing: Towards leveraging recorded training sessions

Nowadays video plays an important role in the coaching of athletes across many different sports. To make more use of the advantages videos can provide for coaching, the Dutch Sailing team is shifting from manually recording short videos towards continuously recording training sessions. This new recording approach provides opportunities and...

The Design of a Cooling Garment for Olympic Sailors

The 2020 Olympics will take place in Tokyo. The expected heat and humidity will cause severe heat stress for athletes. To improve safety and performance of Dutch athletes during the Olympics the project “Thermo Tokyo – Beat the Heat” was started. This is a multidisciplinary project in which multiple universities, companies, sports organizations...

Time Optimization for Laser Sailing Races

Sailing against the wind follows a zig-zag trajectory. To find the optimal time and path-trajectory to move from one target to another during a race, this study analyzes how the wind determines the optimal time-path of Lasers, one of the smallest sailboats that compete during the summer Olympic Games.<br/>To answer this question, this study uses...

Implementation of a Fluid-Structure Interaction Solver for a Spinnaker Sail

The design of sails has always been done experimentally, and only recently simulations are starting to be used in the design process. This thesis is a first attempt in creating a solver that couples CFD and FEM in order to compute the deformed sail shape (flying shape) and the thrust it can provide. Such solvers already exist but are not...

Essential design parameters for a Olympic trapeze harness: An exploration towards a new design

Within the Dutch Sailing Organisation research concerning the trapeze harness has been limited. Before starting the research no concrete information concerning the interaction between a trapeze harness and the human body or important design requirements regarding the influence of new boat designs were documented. The purpose of this research was...

Development of a system for the investigation of spinnakers using fluid structure interaction methods

While historically sailmaking and saildesign were considered as arts, in the 20th century, mainly from the 1980s onwards, engineering sciences have started to play an important role. Two fields are of particular interest: structural and fluid mechanics. Initially, the sails were tested in the wind tunnel, aggregate flow forces measured and the...

Expertise effects in cutaneous wind perception

We examined whether expertise effects are present in cutaneous wind perception. To this end, we presented wind stimuli consisting of different wind directions and speeds in a wind simulator. The wind simulator generated wind stimuli from 16 directions and with three speeds by means of eight automotive wind fans. Participants were asked to...

Spinnakersafe: Evoking trust in the spinnaker by preventing the spinnaker wrap

When sailing with a spinnaker over a long distance, the sailor has to manage other activities, making it impossible to keep an eye on the spinnaker at all time. A spinnaker can easily become unstable and then the risk arises of the spinnaker getting wrapped around the forestay. For the sailor, this creates a sense of distrust in the spinnaker....

The Ancient Interface XVII, Seventeenth AIAA Symposium on the Aero/Hydronautics on Sailing