Return of the windjammer

There is a great maritime school in Enkhuizen, (The Netherlands), specialized for education of sailing ships officers. A significant number of people already choose a full time career in that field. (Passengers, not cargo).

http://www.ezs.nl/

http://sailtransport.com/

Milan

 

Max,

As Guillermo noted, this topic has been discussed thoroughly before in threads under sail and propulsion, but you've restated reasons why it merits further discussion.

Some random thoughts, strictly my own:

1. Ultimately, the return of wind power for commercial ships will be driven (pardon the pun ), as is all else in commercial shipping, by cost. Government regulation will play a significant role, but shippers will adopt the most cost-effective means of compliance with future regulations.

2. Wind power will play a future role in commercial shipping, if for no other reason than that the acquisition cost of the "fuel" is zero. Wind as fuel cannot be used in all circumstances, and the wind "engines" (sails/kites and associated rigging) will be very costly at first, but the "free fuel" aspect will weigh more and more heavily in wind's favor as fossil fuel costs rise inevitably in response to market and regulatory forces.

3. Wind power re-introduction will come about in much the same way as engine power came about in the 19th century. Initially with a few experiments of varying practicality (the phase we are in now), then a few commercial ventures as strictly auxiliary power, finally the development of a few designs with wind power as the primary open sea propulsion and a smaller combustion engine for maneuvering in restricted waters and periods of no favorable winds.

4. The same cost reduction forces that produce "mega" container ships and ULCCs will drive wind powered ship designs. Technology already demonstrated on Maltese Falcon, sailing cruise ships, and other vessels will allow wind powered cargo vessels to be operated with much smaller crews. There is no reason why 300m + wind powered cargo vessels cannot be built. The challenge, as always, will be to devise the most cost-effective combination of wind and combustion power. Control of heeling under wind power will become more of an issue with such large vessels, but it will be solved.

5. IMHO, hydrogen will become a practical fuel source for both fuel cell and combustion engines within the next 10-20 years. New catalytic extraction methods enable onboard hydrogen extraction, eliminating the problems posed by transport and storage under high pressure from centralized fuel production plants. A vessel powered with a combination of wind and hydrogen fuel would address all of the current environmental issues Max raised.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070515WoodallHydrogen.html

6. Maritime education will have to evolve as rapidly as the technology does. Traditional sail education will give training in valuable fundamentals, but the practical aspects will be changing rather rapidly.

OK, my brain is overheating. Time to let it cool down.

 

Further the 'Atlantis' concept above - feasable once we get away from the 'do gooder' stuff of looking after 'bad boys'! To much trouble, if your going to run small cargoes between islands it's a great idea! A lot of small islands can neither afford or need the big vessels about today! this fills a niche in the market admirably. Leave looking after the 'bad boys' to specialists who don't stray to far from large towns with lots of police (Ok not needed often but occasionally they are -being a thousand miles from help does not do the crew a lot of good). Probably best run by a medium sized family (father, mother and a couple of offspring)

But the sailing supertankers that charlie predicts are way in the future - guess it depends how quick we run out of oil!