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May 03, 2007

Comments

Susmith Gopalan

How do they plan to steer? do they have anything to control this 'kite'? Wouldn't the kite go along with the wind? great idea though.

Susmith

Benjamin Bakhshi

20% reduction in fuel costs? That's not funny, that is serious business. Cutting fuel costs $1000/day makes these sails worth their weight in gold.
How do you price something like that? I imagine the sail can't cost more than $20,000 to manufacture.

Rolf

Cool. I guess somebody saw all the kit surfers on the beach and figured this could be used in other directions.

Susmith, here you go: '..depending on conditions and the kite sail design, the direction of the kite’s motion can be as much as 130° off in either direction from the desired direction of travel. In other words, unless the wind is blowing almost exactly the wrong direction, you’ll get some benefit from it.'

And its an opportunity to put (another) PC on every ship:

'Some kite sail installations use a computerized system to plot the best route for your ship based on the direction of the winds in the area, which might take you on a somewhat roundabout course but at least saves fuel.'

http://itotd.com/articles/603/kite-sails/

Jeff Word

You should really check out http://www.dsehybrid.com/ the first hybrid diesel/electric 40ft yacht. extremely cool concept. Diesel generators and solar panels charge a big set of batteries that drive electric motors. 7 knots on full electric from solar panels only, up to double that on batteries for 2 hrs. Generators kick in after that. Pretty luxurious and quite a bargain at $500k.

See if you can get Hasso to pick up a couple for us to test out on the Bay.

JW

Amir Idan

Amazing. Here's another great car/bike that is expected to hit the market by 2008 as either hybrid or full EV: http://www.flytheroad.com/vid_frame.html

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Oldrich Nos

Any gadget saving fuel and time is welcome. Anyone serious about this may inquire about my technology which is about a decade ahead - in ruggedness, simplicity. low cost, seawothiness, manoeuverabilty with virtually no supervision. Cutting off all nonsense and increasing speed.Suitable for handicapped.

Jordan R Nos

Hello, Oldrich.... get back to me

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