one of the questions the sail rocket, and other experiments in high speed sail, brings to mind is, might this advance our understanding of wind power and possibly lead to the development of technology like a fuel-free higher speed ferry that can race people and cars across some channel that exists under the right conditions? What can we do with this technology? Where can we take it from here so we all benefit? Maybe it won't adapt well to cruising but maybe pieces of it will.
This isn't just about being the guy that breaks a record or makes others jealous with the way he chooses to spend his resources.
We are almost all sailing fore-and-aft rigs and fin keeled boats made of fiberglass because someone did this kind of experiment when everyone else looked on and said, "what's wrong with a good old squaresail or lateen rig. Those skinny deep keels may be fast but they aren't as sea worthy as a good full keeled boat with nice round bilges. Wood is the best material for boats, those plastic boats are just plain ugly. "
We are almost exactly the same today as we have always been when looking at new technology. Some get very excited, some just want to make it go away and some ignore it until it can't be ignored. Many will find reasons why it is not good and deride it.
So, which one of these groups are we?
- Will (Dragonfly)
