When will leisure craft adopt the new sailing systems?

Did you know that over 90 percent of what you consume has been transported by ship? Worldwide there is a search for alternative means of reducing the carbon footprint of vessels which contribute a large percentage of carbon globally. This search is a result of rules to be brought into force by the United Nations IMO. Windpower is one option for reducing fuel consumption. So what to you may be just a game is of vital importance to the world. One new system which will be implemented is headwind power. This is where a ship can get thrust from the headwind directly against it. This is a subject I know you have a particular interest.

 

Which means we’re discussing motorsailers, er, motorboats, with various modes of propulsion, like solar, Flettner rotors, wind generators of some sort etc etc, so it seems to me we’re musing about converting people who motor all the time, or some of the time, and it’s this sweet spot I’d argue where some progress might be made. But as long as we call sailboats Sailboats, I think there will be sails involved.

However!

Would motorboats really catch on if they were quiet? Would motorsailers move to quiet alternative power craft with no sails? At any rate, it seems to me heavy Archimedean motorboats that can carry enough batteries and/or super capacitors and some means of recharging while running, as well as running without batteries, along with multihulls & solar panels might be an easier sell. Squaresails make a comeback? (Self furling of course…) Viking boats were pretty effective motorsailers… use a Torqeedo outdrive with the generator prop charging batteries downwind, add solar panels and a couple of wind generators that won’t kill birds with an efficient displacement hull that can hold a bunch of batteries, put up a stubby unstayed mast, and an assymetrical on a furler? Or something like a kite-ish thing, kind of along the lines of what kayakers are doing? Or a self furling square sail? Would it sell? (I really like the steampunk idea of concentrated focused solar steam turbine engines with energy storage, but on a rolling ship?)

Making your own hydrogen is probably the ultimate solution, but that’s a ways out there methinks, me hearties….

 

LoL...You have no understanding of SoR and how it applies to vessel design and development. I'll give you a hint...the only reason they are doing it is BECAUSE IT IS THE RULE!

Please attempt due diligence.

 

SoR is the Society of Radiographers.

 

Don't be dragging radiographers into this, their job is miserable enough....

Looking at the 3 cargo boats setup for wings... I'd guess that the companies are less than 3 cycles away from a subsidy. Companies put a crazy amount of work trying to get in front of absurd amount of .gov green money. Maybe it works maybe it doesn't but it certainly generates money for someone.

I'll reiterate what I said earlier. The developed world has an inordinate amount of semi free sailboats. I'm sure there are abandoned ones in England the same as the US and Canada, grab one for a test bed and see what you can do. Proof is in the pudding.

 

The don't have to be better. They only need to fit the rule to be heavily subsidized.

 

There is rather a big difference between a ship operating non-stop and a weekend sailor.One is much less likely to have to keep a timetable and the other is likely to struggle with the top-hamper and permanent windage.Witness the America's cup events that used big cats that had to drop the wing mast when not racing.I fully realise that these were extreme boats,but they illustrate the principle that a rig that generates forces can't just be turned off as a source of energy.I also have a vague memory of one or two boats using a windmill type rig to drive a propellor in order to get upwind.The lack of general adoption of such systems provides a hint as to the advantage they conferred.

I'm afraid I see lot of romantic notions about re-establishing commercial sail and while I wish them no extra commercial headwinds it seems unrealistic to usurp the most efficient means of moving goods that the world has ever seen.I saw a new report a while back about a small boat (sub 35 foot) that took three days to move half a ton of goods less than a hundred miles.With a crew of two at even a poverty wage it made no sense.Particularly when a large van could have move five times as much over the same route in an eight hour day.The driver would have been in a warm,dry environment and the goods would have been fresher too.

 

Don't quite understand that - what "usurping" is going on? Please explain more fully.

 

The subsidisers must think they are better

 

[QUOTE="I also have a vague memory of one or two boats using a windmill type rig to drive a propellor in order to get upwind.The lack of general adoption of such systems provides a hint as to the advantage they conferred.[/QUOTE]

 

Yes, the windmill boats could sail directly into the wind. Would that be a good or bad thing?

 

Put simply,the internal combustion engine is more likely to provide the motive power to reach the destination on time and the less dependable wind won't change this reality.Which is why it is likely to continue to power the majority of working vessels.The theoretical advantages of wind power are best left for those who enjoy spending some of their leisure wafting around the waterways.Unfortunately,the cost of "new sailing systems" is harder for the weekend sailor to digest and he or she is likely to stick with what they have unless a significantly better system comes along when the rig is past it's best.

I have a feeling that the future of wind power may be to generate electricity to charge the batteries of electric cars and boats.Which might be a useful notion to dangle in front of the tree huggers who oppose new roads.They might quite like the idea that a stream of traffic is effectively sailing down the highway.

 

No one said anything against internal combustion engines. But when wind power is available its a good idea to use it to save fuel is it not? Effectively that is what happens already, with nearly all sailing vessels having engine backup. It's a sort of hybrid system - use what's available, but if you can save fuel - why not?

 

Please list your assumed annual costings.

 

The one objection I see to a wing-sail is that it must always point into the wind when not in use. This can be a real problem at a marina slip, if the slip happens to have a cross wind. It is also more difficult to set up a wing-sail when trailering or day-sailing, because it is generally heavier than a mast with standing rigging.