Recently appointed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity as the flagship of a parliamentary mission on the “maritime sailing freight sector”, Franck Cammas reserved his first official outing for Solid Sail/ÆolDrive today.

The delegation led by the famous sailor was able to examine the Solid Sail demonstrator and the ÆolDrive rig developed by Chantiers de l’Atlantique and installed since September 2019 on the south breakwater of Pornichet Harbor.

During their exchanges with the members of the commission, the shipyard teams were able to present the very encouraging results of the tests carried out for more than 6 months now. Among these, the progress made in terms of folding kinematics compared to the previous generation of the sail, but also the results in line with the aerodynamic efficiency objectives of the whole.

This meeting was also an opportunity to discuss the next steps, which will include the development of a rigid jib and the simplification of the fittings. The demonstrator will remain in place in the port of Pornichet for another year to complete all the tests.

On the picture: the members of the parliamentary commission from left to right: Antoine Pichon – Franck Cammas – Denis Mehnert alongside Nicolas Abiven and Jean Le Cam.