this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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[–] HeckGazer 49 points 1 year ago (4 children)

"giant kites" mfs really just forgot the word for sails

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Billionaires reinventing the train is out, billionaires reinventing the sailboat is in

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If billionaires reinvented sailboats it would be some shitty CGI pod powered by nfts.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

and driven by a logitech controller

[–] captainlezbian 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] Madison420 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] barrio_libre 9 points 1 year ago

Like how our 4 year old refers to the tv as the iPad on the wall.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It's actually proper kites, at least the pioneering tech is kites. They're computer-controlled, deploying and retracting on the push of a button and navigating themselves into and out of winds to complement the main drive and controls. It's been on the market since the early 2000s and has always made economical sense, but:

There's a structural problem slowing down the process: ship owners (who have to make the investment) often don't pay for the fuel – that's the charterer's duty. The charterer on the other side doesn't charter the ship for long enough a period to make low-carbon technologies pay back.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

read that as "giant kitties" at first

i need to photoshop this

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] ditherwither 9 points 1 year ago

Saving this for the future generations

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

giant kibby

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's kind of interesting that sail-powered cargo ships remained commercially viable up until the start of WWII (at least for non-time-sensitive cargoes like coal and grain etc.). Eric Newby wrote a book called The Last Grain Race about sailing from Britain to Australia and back on the Moshulu in 1938/1939. Moshulu ended up with an acting role in The Godfather Part II (as the ship that carried young Vito Corleone to the US) and is now of all things a floating restaurant in Philadelphia.

[–] Fireinthesky7 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably in the interest of wartime expediency and to the need to dodge U-Boats.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife 3 points 1 year ago

Well, it's true that most restaurants aren't subject to attack from U-boats.

[–] amcjv12 11 points 1 year ago

This is like a whole thing with people looking for more environmentally friendly ways to ship stuff - tho rn it looks more like a hobby for rich people hauling their bougie wine and chocolate or whatever. I for one think that having sailing ships come back with modern features would be cool!

https://designedconscious.com/plastics-in-the-ocean/sustainability-news-stories/sailing-ships-hauling-cargo-in-2021/amp/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

With some sticks and string giant sails could be flown for fun time....

[–] R0ME0 4 points 1 year ago

This is the time known as the Great Pirate Era.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm glad I didn't sell mine now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Kites... wow.

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