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I've said it before but I love how these futuristic sail-powered cargo ship designers completely ignore a millenia of sailboat design history. But OK, I'm sure

I've said it before but I love how these futuristic sail-powered cargo ship designers completely ignore a millenia of sailboat design history. But OK, I'm sure they know better - look at the pretty CG renders!

consumer451 6y ago
Giant steel cargo ships already break every sailboat design pattern, don't they? Airfoil sails "Wingsails" [0] have some proven history and these folks have the advantage of 60 years of CFD software dev! [1] (wow on that last part) Just curious, what makes this design in OP even worse from your point of view? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsail [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics
buildbot 6y ago
In all honesty wouldn’t we? We might have been refining sails and sailing for a millennium, but only recently did we get steeled hulled container ships with vastly different hull profiles and CFD modeling to tell us what’s actually effective. Biplanes worked great for most of the history of aviation, but we can do better now with math.
- jabl 6y ago
  > only recently did we get steeled hulled container ships with vastly different hull profiles The hull shape of a steel hulled windjammer is not vastly different from a modern container ship of similar size. Very similar length/beam/draft ratios, both have pretty "boxy" hull shape midships. The big difference is the bulbous bow, which doesn't make much of a difference at the lower speeds a sailing ship spends the vast majority of its time, and of course the stern with the propeller. > Biplanes worked great for most of the history of aviation To nitpick, if we consider the age of flight to start with the 1903 Wright flyer, biplanes were mostly obsolete by the mid-1930'ies. So about 30 years out of a so far total of 118 years.
renewiltord 6y ago
That's right. They do know better. While the luminaries of the past were great for their time, their techniques are those of laymen compared to us, as ours will be to our grand-children. We take from the past what designs were good then and we throw away what no longer suffices. This is the nature of progress, and why road transport vehicles today share very little in common with those of the preceding millennia. Remember, that it is not just those who say "this is new, therefore good" who are fools but also those who say "this is old, therefore good". Old sailboat designs are old, but no longer competitive. Old communication media (printed text, for instance) are old, but very competitive.

consumer451 6y ago

Giant steel cargo ships already break every sailboat design pattern, don't they? Airfoil sails "Wingsails" [0] have some proven history and these folks have the advantage of 60 years of CFD software dev! [1] (wow on that last part) Just curious, what makes this design in OP even worse from your point of view? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsail [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics

buildbot 6y ago

In all honesty wouldn’t we? We might have been refining sails and sailing for a millennium, but only recently did we get steeled hulled container ships with vastly different hull profiles and CFD modeling to tell us what’s actually effective. Biplanes worked great for most of the history of aviation, but we can do better now with math.

jabl 6y ago
> only recently did we get steeled hulled container ships with vastly different hull profiles The hull shape of a steel hulled windjammer is not vastly different from a modern container ship of similar size. Very similar length/beam/draft ratios, both have pretty "boxy" hull shape midships. The big difference is the bulbous bow, which doesn't make much of a difference at the lower speeds a sailing ship spends the vast majority of its time, and of course the stern with the propeller. > Biplanes worked great for most of the history of aviation To nitpick, if we consider the age of flight to start with the 1903 Wright flyer, biplanes were mostly obsolete by the mid-1930'ies. So about 30 years out of a so far total of 118 years.

renewiltord 6y ago

That's right. They do know better. While the luminaries of the past were great for their time, their techniques are those of laymen compared to us, as ours will be to our grand-children. We take from the past what designs were good then and we throw away what no longer suffices. This is the nature of progress, and why road transport vehicles today share very little in common with those of the preceding millennia. Remember, that it is not just those who say "this is new, therefore good" who are fools but also those who say "this is old, therefore good". Old sailboat designs are old, but no longer competitive. Old communication media (printed text, for instance) are old, but very competitive.