Aerodynamic forces acting on a curved blade are computed theoretically taking into account the variation of wind speed over the blade to investigate the performance of a vertical axis wind rotor. It is shown that the rotor does not self start at the rated wind speed without a supplementary starting device and that most of the power output is contributed by the central portion of the rotor, and the use of spoilers for limiting the maximum rotational speed is needed for safety. It is also shown that provision of skew angle to the blade does not improve the starting characterstics and only reduces the maximum power output. The effects of geometric variables such as skew angle, blade solidity and ratio of the rotor height to diameter are also discussed.