@kdund @daycoder @stavvers @Jennifer_Pinkley

Spinnakers have been in use for centuries.

@kdund @BillySmith @daycoder @stavvers @Jennifer_Pinkley One of the exciting aspects of this, which makes them more promising in a modern context, is that sails can only reach winds at the top of a mast. The mast of the HMS Victory reached just 63m (205ft) in altitude above the water, and that was considered enormous in the Age of Sail. However, winds at higher altitudes both faster and more consistent than winds at sea level. So if you can release a kite on a wire to pull you along, it can spool out to potentially hundreds of meters and access faster, more reliable winds.

This is not a new idea, companies have been trying to perfect this technology for decades. I really hope they can finally get there! If they can make it cost effective, it could be a big part of the solution in reducing the otherwise quite hard to abate shipping emissions. https://inhabitat.com/transportation-tuesday-wind-powered-cargo-ship-takes-sail/

@k9 @kdund @daycoder @stavvers @Jennifer_Pinkley

This type of sail has been in use for centuries in fast yachts.

There's one form-factor of racing yacht that has a system for storing and launching the flying sails that's standard across most yacht designs.

@BillySmith One big difference between this and a spinnaker is that this is a lifting system, whereas a spinnaker is wholly drag-based. Wingsails on their own are sorta old, but the problem with a fixed wingsail is that performance becomes very dependent on what direction you're sailing relative to the wind. Having a free-flying lifting sail structure allows you to get all of the efficiency of a wing with (better) flexibility vs. a straight sail.

It's just insanely hard to control.