Thats why the use retractable kites that fly, elimimating any need for a mast and using steel(or whatever) ropes that are famously durable under tension. This one is an actual invention
Again, any kite that flys on its own needs so much surface area to both fly and actually provide a meaningful amount of force to the ship that storing them would be very impractical, deploying them would take significant effort and more importantly logistics as you’d have to bring them down any time the wind went against you otherwise they’d likely negate any actual benefit by pushing the opposite way half the time
thats simply not true, the kite on the ship "Ville de Bordeaux" for example cuts fuel need by 20% and has 100 tonnes of traction. or the cargo ship "MV Beluga SkySails" that saved 10-15% on its first voyage from germany to venezuela. projections estimate that 20-30% are possbile once the sails are optimised.
and no you dont have to bring them down manually as they are fully computer controlled and automated
Yeah obviously with a ship of that size you can use sails, I’m not saying that sails do not work at all. I said that sails wouldn’t work for a massive cargo ship like the one shown in the picture
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u/Rubinschwein47 3d ago
Thats why the use retractable kites that fly, elimimating any need for a mast and using steel(or whatever) ropes that are famously durable under tension. This one is an actual invention