T&T: Look. It's a Freighter. It's a Sailboat. It's. Both

[Alec McLocklin (amclockl)]

 The Skysail site shows a couple other examples of ships using the sail.
"The 160m2 SkySails supported the main engine of the 132m long Multi
Purpose Heavy Lift Carrier MS "Beluga SkySails" of the Bremen-based
Beluga Shipping with approx. five tons tractive force at low wind."

I have a 4 foot by 2 1/2 foot parafoil kit with 150lb test line.  You
have to wear thick gloves when you fly and requires two people to
retrieve other wise your arms break. It has snapped the line twice.
Amazing amount of pull for their size.

I always thought about using it to pull my tender...got beat to the
punch this time.

Alec




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At 1800 sq ft of area I really don't understand how effective it can be
in providing assist to such a large ship.

I've had spinnakers a lot larger than this on boats under 25 tons and
tho the power was awesome in a breeze, 25 tones is a lot different than
the 10,000 tons that this one displaces.

If she averages 12 knots then the ~3000-3500 mile trip should take about
12 days. So we be looking at the AIS for her around the 5th aka Super
Tuesday
;-)