this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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From what I’ve seen it’s kites acting as sails so you aren’t bound to using a mast which takes a lot of space and limits your sail area
Some sails are basically kites, symmetrical spinnakers specifically are basically just big kites.
Ed: to be clear they're using these for lift more like a wing than a sail.
I don’t think it’s about limiting the sail area, we got really really good at filling a mast with a shitload of sails. I’d say it’s more likely they’d get in the way of cargo un/loading. Or heaven forbid, take up space for containers.
I think they are actually proper kites flying rather high (at least compared to regular sails) in approximate 300 m AGL.
The big difference is that at this hight there is significantly stronger wind.
Wanted to see what that would look like and found more info here: https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/12/20/this-huge-kite-is-dragging-cargo-ships-across-the-atlantic-ocean