News / Collapsible mast could herald fishing’s future
A SHETLAND inventor has revealed the world’s first sail assisted fishing boat developed with keen support from local and national government to help tackle the high cost of fuel plaguing the industry.
Stuart Balfour revealed his Balpha Mast for the first time on Tuesday afternoon at Brae Boating Club, close to his workshop in Sullom where he has been refining the concept since oil prices rocketed in 2008.
Mr Balfour believes his collapsible mast system could revolutionise the fishing and the shipping industry, cutting fuel costs by at least 20 per cent.
With a £22,500 grant from Scottish Enterprise’s innovation fund, he has started small and designed and built the first five meter high prototype mast and fitted it to his 21 foot Star (LK 850), a Shetland model built by the late Walter Duncan, of Burra.
He has also set up a company called Sail Line Fish to take the idea further, selling line caught fish as a high value product to restaurants like Jamie Oliver’s London outlet Fifteen, which has already expressed an interest in his environmentally friendly catch.
Next year he hopes to start a major research and development project to build a 15 metre fishing boat with a 70 square metre sail that can catch two tonnes of fish at a time, which he hopes to complete by 2013. The following year will be spent finding out how to make the boat work commercially, he hopes.
Mr Balfour has been developing his new mast in secret for the past three years after being shocked by the sudden rise in fuel prices and the impact this had on the world economy.
He revealed his new design on the day the finest of the world’s sailing vessels set offon their nine day voyage to Shetland in the Tall Ships Race.
Mr Balfour believes the power of sail has been neglected over the past century due to the ease of using diesel engines, but says those times are coming to an end.
“I realised we were coming to the point where the cost of fuel relative to the profit a business can make is discouraging people from doing things. We need to find a way to lower the cost that’s involved in the fishing industry,” he said.
“The Balpha Mast creates the means to use sail power on board a commercial vessel without using extra crew or restricting its ability to operate, thus lowering fuel consumption.”
Wendy Hanson, of Scottish Enterprise, came to Shetland for the public unveiling. She said the innovation fund smart:Scotland received around 100 applications a year and only about 10 per cent of those came from the highlands and islands.
She said they had been excited by Stuart’s concept and after trawling through the Patents Office had discovered there was nothing of its kind anywhere in the world.
“It’s very unusual to get an application from the fishing sector and you could see a real commercial attraction with this,” Dr Hanson said.
“Nobody else has come up with the idea of a mast system like this. The Scots are known as great inventors and if we can develop this mast system it will be a great accolade for Stuart and for Scotland.”
Explaining the design, Mr Balfour said: “I have both a hydraulic system and a winch driven system, using a hydraulic ram to lower and raise the mast. The mast is within a mast housing with a pivot point and then a trackway for the heel of the mast to run through.
“The system is designed so that the mast moves forward as its lowered as well so you don’t have any mast protruding out of the stern.”
Mr Balfour has set up a website for his new company at www.saillinefish.com designed by NB Communications and assisted by Shetland Islands Council’s economic development unit.
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