Bring Back Sail for Non Time Critical Cargo

Technocrat

Bring Back Sail for Non Time Critical Cargo

zogger

Thu Aug 07 14:56:00 -0700 2008

Science

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Sail power has worked on the oceans ever sice the first guy stood up during a good breeze and realized the potential. With fast rising fuel prices and more environmental awareness of the cost of burning petroleum products, maybe now is the time to bring back the old clipper ships, perhaps with a bit of more modern tech in the design.

It travels at a top speed of eight knots, about half as fast as a modern cargo vessel. Its supporters say that it is pollution-free - unlike almost all the other 50,000 merchant ships in the world, which emit 800 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. ed.z.: really, why not? And if they ever get those printable thin film solar panels down better, think of sails that are also part time solar panels, quite a bit of potential there for hybrid motor sailers. That's still in the future maybe, but for now, I can't think of why this shouldn't be considered, some sort of new design and very large bulk cargo sailing vessels.

Bring Back Sail for Non Time Critical Cargo

Charles E Hill

Thu Aug 07 16:01:40 -0700 2008
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You have many things to learn, grasshopper.

Bring Back Sail for Non Time Critical Cargo

zogger

Fri Aug 08 09:46:46 -0700 2008
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It is still rather a slow uptake though. The skysails are just being tested, and that other ship article is from 1980, the "last" energy crisis (when we had a ton of good mileage cars available as well). Maybe it will stick this time. I remember the cousteau society has a "dynamic sailer" called the Alcyone, a somewhat modern variant on a motorsailer.

..anyway, Arrrr!! I want a real square rigger, a man 0 war, with cannon! (proly last a good 5 seconds against any modern navy vessel though...). You get to wear spiffy clothes and cool hats and have parrots and carry around a cutlass and dual flintlock pistols! What's not to like?? Cargo, schmargo, booty, loot! ;)

Bring Back Sail for Non Time Critical Cargo

squiggleslash

Fri Aug 08 06:06:12 -0700 2008
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There was a company in the UK who spent a considerable amount of the 1990s trying to put together a computer-controlled sail system. The sail was rigid, and the computer would calculate exactly what needed to be done with it in order to get the boat to go in the right direction.

Unfortunately, by all accounts the company was badly mismanaged. Private Eye, Britain's leading satiracal magazine spent enormous amounts of time warning potential investors. It was a shame because the principle seemed to be a good one. It strikes me that there's plenty of opportunity for computer controlled, unmanned, vehicles designed to go by air or sea to specific destinations using only wind power or other natural imbalances of the atmosphere. By air, I mean both blimps and gliders. You could use them to transfer cargo. It would make for an uncomfortable ride if you allowed them to transfer passengers but for non living things it should work quite well.

Bring Back Sail for Non Time Critical Cargo

Simon Arthur

Fri Aug 08 06:58:26 -0700 2008
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Old saying: the wind may be free, but sails sure aren't.