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Enkhuizen Nautical College Sets Course for Wind-Assisted Ship Propulsion and Sustainable Shipping

The ‘Enkhuizen Nautical College’, founded in 1978, is the only nautical college in Europe where the focus lies on teaching students to navigate vessels under sail. Regular subjects like (astronomical) navigation, collision regulations and marine engineering are supplemented with specialized subjects such as square-rigged sailing, sailing vessel design and sailing vessel stability.

This year at ‘Enkhuizen Nautical College’, this knowledge base and experience with sailing ships is extended with a technical introduction to modern developments in Sailing ships: Wind-assisted ship propulsion. Wind-assisted ship propulsion (WASP) is the modern version of sailing commercial freight. This green technology segment may be central to the energy transition for the maritime sector.
Director Cosmo Wassenaar is excited about this new addition to the school’s program. ‘You should realize that there is hardly any experience in the practical use of these technologies, so there are no old ‘sea dogs’ which can share their experience with our students. For this course, we have managed to attract some highly motivated young teachers with a lot of knowledge on the theories and practice of wind-assisted shipping’.

MV Copenhagen Scandlines

One of these new teachers is Dr. Nico van der Kolk, co-founder of an engineering consultancy specialized in wind-assisted ship propulsion: ‘The course will begin with a survey of presently available wind-assist devices, including the physical mechanisms behind the new generation of high-lift sails. Practical considerations for wind-assist design and operation are treated foremost. Students will be introduced to significant interaction effects between WASP systems, the main propulsion engine, course keeping and routing, and finally commercial operation. I’m very excited to explore this new topic with the students at EZS.’

VDS Ankie vessel

Invited presentations and seminars will also be conducted by the International Windship Association and partners involved with the Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) project, part of the EU Interreg North Sea region program and which has brought together universities and wind-assist technology providers with ship owners to install, research, trial and validate the operational performance of a selection of wind propulsion solutions. The course is integrated into the regular ‘Grote Zeilvaart’ education program but is also accessible for those interested in learning about these new technologies. The course will be given on two Fridays and three Saturdays between February 19th and March 3rd, 2021.
Source: Enkhuizen Nautical College

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