The year in figures, what stood out?
Windassist started last year in February. Since then, we published 247 posts, which together were viewed almost 12,000 times. Which articles attracted the most views, and what do we do with that knowledge?
The year got off to a flying start with the most viewed article of the year on 18 March, but the trigger was horrific. The accident of sailing freighter De Gallant, which sank on 20 May 2024 after being flattened twice in a supercell, resulting in the loss of two crew members, had been investigated and French research institute BEAmer produced a report. Windassist brought the results in detail, adding a thorough analysis by captain and former EZS director Bernt Folmer. Both pieces were widely read by our readers, and given the average length of stay on the site, also well studied. Logical, as Windassist’s target audience largely consists of seafarers to whom the same thing could happen. Nevertheless, the thoroughness with which the articles were apparently studied is of great satisfaction to the editors, who themselves have enough sea miles in their wake to consider safety of paramount importance.
Analysis
In that light, it comes as no surprise that the thorough analyses of some of the other shipping accidents we published about also attracted many readers, such as the Quauhtémoc’s de-icing in New York harbour that also took the lives of two crew members. We benefited greatly from the expert commentary of Sal Mercogliano, a seasoned sailor, who went through the most likely scenarios for the Quauhtémoc accident with all the necessary caveats with viewers on YouTube. And of course, comments and analyses of the Bayesian accident were also widely read. Our article on the Brown Fleet rigging regulations report was also among the most read articles. Interestingly, when we could come up with little more than a news item in the absence of information, as in the case of the unmooring of the Leeuwin II, visitation also dropped sharply. The editors conclude from this that Windassist readers are strongly interested in the analysis of accidents and near-misses, and we will continue to pay close attention to this.
Superyachts
That readers also appreciate modern ships is evidenced by the interest in some articles on superyachts. For instance, the renovation of the three-masted schooner Atlantic in Franeker attracted a lot of attention, as did the construction of a superyacht at Huisman in Vollenhove. And articles on newly built sailing cargo ships, such as the TOWT and Neoliner vessels, were also widely read. The technical aspects of building the latter have many similarities with superyachts: automation and computer-controlled functions take over the work of some deckhands on both types of ships. And fortunately, aesthetics also still play a role in readers’ interest, because a ship like the Atlantic is interesting not only because of the hidden technology in the replica, but also because it is a tremendously beautiful icon of sailing as it was practised at sea more than a century ago.
WASP
Partly thanks to our ‘faraway volunteer’ Pablo Albers, who follows developments from Finland and passes them on to us, we were able to bring a lot of news about ships with Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP). Developments in that field are rapid, partly due to the innovative products of Dutch VentoFoils, but a host of competitors are also developing new systems at breakneck speed. Rigid sails are the norm here, with Michelin’s inflatable Wingsail being the exception that proves the rule. We like to pass on the innovations and they are also eagerly read, statistics show. What we would like to bring you more news on, but lack the time to do research on, are the technical analyses of the systems: in which wind conditions do they yield the most, why is that so, and how do they compare with competing systems? It is fun when you can announce yet another new system, but equally interesting are the choices that led to precisely this rig. We hope to be able to offer our readers a lot of interesting information in this respect in the coming year as well.
Sail freight and sail training
Sail freight, originally the domain of pioneers such as the Albatros and the Tres Hombres, is increasingly dominated by new French initiatives, which are attracting a lot of attention from readers. TOWT, Grain de Sail, and Neoliner are examples that are widely discussed and widely read. The editors have noticed that the more it resembles real sailing, the greater the interest of our readers seems to be. For this reason, we are always looking for stories from the ocean, including those from sail training ships and educational youth projects. We think that crew members and participants have some great travel stories to tell, but we don’t see enough of them in our columns. Do you know anyone who has written them down, or do you write yourself? Send your stories—and photos, of course—to redactie@zeilpost.info, and we’ll be happy to turn them into an article.
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