Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away...

[Johnny Pneumatic]

I saw this on Discoveries This Week on the Science Channel. It seems sails are going to make a bit of a come-back. http://skysails.info/index.php?id=13

 

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Bumped because I'm an attention whore.

 

[RandFan]

Isn't it, "...come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me..."

Or "Sailing
Takes me away
To where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free..."

Oh, wait, Orinoco Flow... that's it,

"let me sail, let me sail, let the orinoco flow,
let me reach, let me beach on the shores of Tripoli.
let me sail, let me sail, let me crash upon your shore,
let me reach, let me beach far beyond the Yellow Sea.

sail away, sail away, sail away
sail away, sail away, sail away
sail away, sail away, sail away
sail away, sail away, sail away..."

 

[RandFan]

Is the subject of the OP serious? I couldn't quite tell from the article.

 

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Is the subject of the OP serious? I couldn't quite tell from the article.

Yes, very serious. Do you see a problem with the idea? They have it working on a scale smaller than what a cargo ship would use as of yet, so this means it works in principle.

 

[casebro]

I'd guess it would be advantageous over the Marconi rig due to:

a) No fixed rigging on the ship, saving money. Also, no limit to the size of sails.

b) The winds aloft are faster then winds near the surface, generally due to air friction with the water.

BUT, wouldn't you have the disadvantage of the old square rigger, in that you would not be able to sail into the wind? Probably have a hard time sailing across the wind? It would probably depend on how far into the wind you can 'fly' the kite? I've never flown a controllabler kite, though I have sailed out of sight of land.

I wonder if a LTA balloon would get the 'sail' up into the jet streams? 40 miles of tether, and the wind at 200 miles and hour?...hmm?

 

[RandFan]

Yes, very serious. Do you see a problem with the idea?

No, it struck me as a joke. I'm sorry I certainly am not qualified to make any judgements.

 

[Johnny Pneumatic]

I wonder if a LTA balloon would get the 'sail' up into the jet streams? 40 miles of tether, and the wind at 200 miles and hour?...hmm?

Now that's an idea! It will probably need to wait for carbon nanotube fabric for the sail and ropes though. That's quite a length of rope and the strain that would be on the sail and rope would be huge.

 

[varwoche]

BUT, wouldn't you have the disadvantage of the old square rigger, in that you would not be able to sail into the wind?

Yes but this is being used to augment the motors in downwind conditions.

 

[kmortis]

If we could get the Navy interested in JLENS, then attach that sail to it......

 

[Skeptical Greg]

I wonder if a LTA balloon would get the 'sail' up into the jet streams? 40 miles of tether, and the wind at 200 miles and hour?...hmm?

Isn't there a point of diminishing returns, where the sail can't overcome the weight of the tether?