He's done it.... again

[Chris Ostlind]

OK, this is more than a little interesting...

This dude just keeps coming up with some of the most innovative ways of looking at long distance sailing, all while he's poking his finger in the eye of the established boat design paradigms. What a character.

A very brief note came out in the West Coast boating magazine, Latitude 38, today, telling about Ken-Ichi Horie's new boat. Here's the copy from the blurb today, along with a link to the Lat38 site:

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/...10-10&dayid=15

Ken-Ichi Horie - The Wind-Up and the Pitch
October 10, 2007 – Japan

Japanese sailing icon Ken-Ichi Horie is back in the news — or will be soon — with yet another weird new boat he intends to sail across the Pacific. Longtime readers will recall Horie as the first Japanese sailor to sail solo from his homeland to San Francisco in 1962 aboard a 19-ft plywood sloop named Mermaid. He was 23 then. He is now 66 and still going strong. In the 45 years since that first voyage, Horie has recrossed the Pacific many times in many different types of craft ranging from a 9-foot sailboat to peddle and solar-powered boats to a 32-ft catamaran whose hulls were made of aluminum beer kegs welded together — the latter a nod both to his interest in recycling and his longtime sponsor Suntory breweries.

Like an old time magician, Horie tries to top himself with each new project. Improbably, he continues to succeed. Proof positive is his latest boat, Suntory Mermaid II, which he hopes to voyage from Hawaii to Japan starting next summer. This 31-ft aluminum catamaran is powered by wave action — the pitching movement of the boat causes hydrofoils beneath the bows to generate thrust “like the tails of dolphins and whales”. The boat will also be fitted with an engine, mast and sails, but those will not be used in the crossing.

We’ll have more on the boat, the technology and Horie-San himself in future editions of 'Lectronic Latitude and Latitude 38. In the meantime, check out this website for more on the boat and a layman’s summary of the technology:

www.tsuneishi.co.jp/english/horie/index.html.

[Guillermo]

Wave energy based propulsion systems have been discussed since a while ago, and even tested:
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?re...=1841&page=287

But no doubt this guy is outstanding. It seems he brought Y. Terao, one of the two authors of the above paper, into the project. I wish him the best of lucks.

For other approaches see:
http://pesn.com/2005/09/21/9600154_Kneider_Wave_Energy/
http://pesn.com/2005/09/21/9600170_Wave_Propulsion/

Thanks for posting this ,Guillermo and Chris! I love seeing new innovation and wish him the best...

[westlawn5554X]

Nice... now if u can find a good spot to park the boat

[Petros]

Interesting idea, I suppose it would work, takes wave energy to make it move forward. Looks like it might be kind of slow. I wonder what are the normal speeds it make headway in typical ocean rollers. What happens in calm water? Looks like a lot of underwater rigging to keep working properly.