Feirdro comments on "Giant kites"

[–] Feirdro@lemmy.world 38 points 2 years ago (4 children)

They are literally kites—not sails. I’ve never seen a sail flying 100 ft above a ship before.

[–] Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com 19 points 2 years ago (1 child)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinnaker

When a vessel is running (meaning moving in the same direction as the wind) it can fly a spinnaker, which is just a kite on short lines.

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[–] Bloodyhog@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

And the load on its sheets is enormous. Oh boy can it cause a problem if anyone makes a mistake handling it! Now imagine the load from the kites proposed. I wonder if that is even feasible with today's materials.

Edit: did some reading around. So it seems at current level the system can be used as a supplementary propulsion saving some fuel. Ahoy, mates, we are back and our sails are higher than ever!

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[–] Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

When it comes to material stresses the sails can always be scaled down, but off the top of my head kevlar and zylon would be good candidates for getting the biggest, toughest sail in an economic fashion.

If you want to go down a related rabbit hole take a look at the sails used in regattas. The technology and money that goes into them is ridiculous.

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[–] Bloodyhog@lemmy.world 1 point 2 years ago

Oh I know something about regattas, did some myself, and the base of one of America 's cup boats is nearby. Truly impressive.

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