Kite Sail Propulsion

deckofficer said:

...propulsion kites, deployed from the bow?...

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At first I didn't realize what I was looking at as we were leaving St. Maartin. By the time I got the camera out, she had out distanced her self from us. The kite was on a power cat of about 40'.

The kite sail captures 25 times more energy than conventional sails of the same area. I've never been on a ship that uses one (I wanted to) but from industry reports they save $250,000 in fuel per year on container and tanker ships. Most pleasure cruisers that would want to circumnavigate are going to be following the Trades, so why not harvest that wind energy? The great thing about the steerable kites is how far off from down wind you can deploy and sail them.

9 kt of boat speed in 12 kt true wind speed. Not bad.

Larry M said:

At first I didn't realize what I was looking at as we were leaving St. Maartin. By the time I got the camera out, she had out distanced her self from us. The kite was on a power cat of about 40'.

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Here's a link to the company that makes the kite in Larry's photo's;

OMEGASAILS: Kites for Stand Up Paddling, canoeing and boating

We used a parafoil kite while sea kayaking. A fun & games giggle-fest up to 25 knots...a white knuckle scramble to get the damn thing down at 30 knots!

MurrayM said:

Here's a link to the company that makes the kite in Larry's photo's;

OMEGASAILS: Kites for Stand Up Paddling, canoeing and boating

We used a parafoil kite while sea kayaking. A fun & games giggle-fest up to 25 knots...a white knuckle scramble to get the damn thing down at 30 knots!

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Murray: Good find. That's the boat in our picture, a 43' Beneteau-Lagoon!

MurrayM said:

Here's a link to the company that makes the kite in Larry's photo's;

OMEGASAILS: Kites for Stand Up Paddling, canoeing and boating

We used a parafoil kite while sea kayaking. A fun & games giggle-fest up to 25 knots...a white knuckle scramble to get the damn thing down at 30 knots!

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Thanks for the link Murray, this one slipped by me. Please tell more on your kayaking with the kite.

Looks like for all the trawler owners that have dreamed of crossing an ocean, its in the bag, pun intended.

These kites should be a new thread. Very cool! I tried using a parafoil kite back in, oh , 1991 to pull my kayak in Puget Sound. It was really more like flying a kite from a kayak, not a lot of propulsion.

Holy Cow. That new thread thing happened scary fast.

deckofficer said:

Please tell more on your kayaking with the kite.

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I was paddling a double with my large format camera gear and our "campfire tent" in the front cockpit, and my wife was paddling a single.

Our parafoil kite was about 4' wide, 2' tall, with internal baffles about 6" thick. It was hard to get into the air below 15 knots wind, and had a habit of doing wild dives, shakes, shimmies, and sideways figure eights while in the air.

It was a real pain in the arse, but the sense of elation at getting a free ride after weeks of paddling more than made up for it! That was back in the early 90's, so things have probably improved.

I've had the link to the Omega Sails in my dream file for a while now. Where I live there are many long, narrow channels confined by steep mountains...a great environment for using this kind of kite system.

Anybody know of any other manufacturers?

Northern Spy said:

Holy Cow. That new thread thing happened scary fast.

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Had to be fast otherwise it woulda been more work!

I hope Reuben can find this thread, I think he is a fellow environmentalist and might want that link.

I left a redirect on the LI thread for folks that followed it there to find this new thread Bob. Hopefully he will follow it.

They certainly are cool. The kite surfers are really pushing the boundaries on this technology. I often watch the kite surfers on the Adelaide coastline. On a breezy day with a bit of surf, it seems they almost spend as much time in the air as on the water. Very entertaining, but not for the feint-hearted.

In regards to use on boats, there is a Kiwi named Peter Lynn who is a guru on kite propulsion. Interesting fellow. He has a bit more technical data on use for boats here: Peter Lynn Himself - Kites_For_Yachts   

Kit boarding is very popular at Jetty Island off Everett. My two oldest boys kite board aand I have played with the kits. The kites they use you can control the lift and the dive. The kites come in different sizes and can lift you off the water. There have been several past discussion.

I understand rigging a kite (slang here, probably everywhere for a spinnaker) flown at a distance on a powerboat , also on a small watercraft, but with full rigging why would a sailing cat (post 3) fly one,when they can just as or more easily use the existing rigging for a spinnaker, or even an MPS they might fly without a spinnaker pole?
Those who sail/ed, especially racing, will know if you get into trouble it is often with the spinnaker, especially at the extremes of shy or square, to the breeze. How, if at all, that translates to power boats flying kites I don`t know, but I certainly see the attraction of a kite on a powerboat with following breeze.

Several companies are producing and researching kites for commercial marine useage. Have not seen one for Trawlers ...yet

SkySails GmbH - Home

SkySails GmbH - Home

For us younger guys, we see the future in getting double for the Dolla (burning Diesel is fine) Long term not sustainable...

It does look like a good way to turn a short range powerboat into a longer range powerboat, or to just save money on a longer range powerboat.

Group9 said:

It does look like a good way to turn a short range powerboat into a longer range powerboat, or to just save money on a longer range powerboat.

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Or to reduce emissions.

The original company who made those kites are no longer making them. We'd looked at getting one but didn't in time. It had its limitations, but decent for both slowish, longer range downwind or get-home.
I liked the relatively handoff version, as against the other manufacturers who are more active-kite flying, usually using the figure of 8 flight to gain power.