Two becalmed sailors started to doodle on the back of a napkin – and had a brainwave. Today, nearly 20 years later, those strokes of genius have been transformed into a technology that is virtually synonymous with floating wind turbines: Hywind.
We went sailing with the inventors behind Hywind to discover how they came up with the concept — a design that is at the heart of the recently opened wind farm, Hywind Tampen, the largest floating wind farm in the world.
“There’s always a calm in the middle of the night of the Færder race,” says Dag Christensen from the cockpit of his sailing boat. He has often participated in this famous Norwegian regatta, held in the Oslo fjord every year in June, and infamous for its light airs and challenging conditions.
And on this occasion, over two decades ago, he had brought friend, colleague and equally keen sailor Knut Solberg along on the voyage for company.
“Was it one of those occasions when the secret to winning was to drop anchor to avoid drifting backwards out of the fjord?” we teased him.
“Well, there’s no guarantee that you’ll win, but at least you don’t come last,” laughs Solberg.
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