A New Sail Ship Era?

[J. Wilhelm]

Being increasingly pressured to reduce their carbon footprint, global shipping companies are now reviving old methods of propulsion, namely sails.  While not intended to be the sole method of propulsion, most modern sail ship concepts involve a wind power as a partial component of propulsion for intercontinental transport.

Here's one method proposed by Michelin: inflatable sails!

https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/a-new-sail-design-is-pushing-the-maritime-industry-to-sustainability

You'll notice that the inflatable sails resemble the rigid airfoil sails of the "Stars and Stripes" catamaran used in the controversial 1988 Americas Cup competition:

[Felscor]

It looks very intriguing, and promising, but we'll wait to see if it actuates or disappear with other ingenuitive ideas.

It certainly has a nice aesthetic to it, and a new angle on nautical themed 🤔

[J. Wilhelm]

It looks very intriguing, and promising, but we'll wait to see if it actuates or disappear with other ingenuitive ideas.

It certainly has a nice aesthetic to it, and a new angle on nautical themed 🤔

Well, sails are nothing new.  For large ships transporting goods it would make sense, barring entry to ports where you have to go under bridges and you DON'T have inflatable sails (and let's face it, inflatable sails are infinitely more practical than large Flettner rotors, if you've ever seen them).  Ironically, in certain seas, now ship crews have to worry about pirate attacks.  Which goes to show you that if you wait long enough, history repeats itself. A 21st century merchant sail ship attacked by pirates? No longer do we have to call that fiction.