Whether you’re planning to set a new personal record around the Nürburgring or heading out for a nice meal, Michelin is your friend. However, the company that produces tires and reviews world-class restaurants decided to venture into another new and exciting market. This time Michelin took to the high seas.
The latest innovation is called Wisamo, a name that combines ‘Wing Sail’ and ‘Mobility’, which gives you some information about the objectives and ambitions of the project. Michelin’s gift to the maritime world is a fully inflatable, retractable and automated wingsail suitable for a wide range of vessels including tankers, bulk carriers, yachts – you name it. Wisamo is designed to be incredibly easy to use, adapting completely autonomously to current conditions while working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve fuel economy and increase profitability.
One of the main advantages of Wisamo is that it is fully retractable, so for low bridges or busy ports it can be fully lowered. It’s also easy to use, with built-in push-button solutions, minimal training required and no crew required for standard operation.
This is why Michelin’s Wisamo project matters
In a world where carmakers are developing electric cars for every segment ranging from superminis to supercars, it seems more than unusual that the same isn’t happening in the nautical world too. Michelin is here to fill the gap, not with electric motors, but with its wingsail. It is reported that Wisamo can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% for each ship it is used on, and the size of ships Wisamo is compatible with is impressive.
Michelin first tested the concept in 2021 on French sailor Michel Desjoyeaux’s sailboat on Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, with a 100 square meter wing sail prototype. The second phase of testing took place during the winter in the Bay of Biscay, where conditions were rough. From there, tests were carried out on commercial ships, with experts recording vital data to ensure the revolutionary wingsail delivered on its promises and worked properly. Wisamo has also collaborated with Novem Nautical Design and JFA Yachts to produce a super-slim 60-foot yacht with the wingsail as a key feature.
As is essential to the design of the Wisamo wingsail, it can be fully retracted and disappear below deck if necessary. Michelin not only wants to introduce a new era of eco-friendly travel to the nautical world, but it does so in a stylish and practical way, giving others every reason to believe that this will be as successful as most of Michelin’s other efforts.
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