HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA thats fu**en funny as hell!!!

I'm not a sailboat guy, though I do realize that some sort of countering force needs to happen on the keel. Still, it seems kind of silly to build a lightweight hull only to throw a nearly 5-ton lead weight onto the bottom of it. Isn't there another way to do that?

I have a 25' Cal "hybrid" that was built back in 1969. Technically, it's a "tri-brid" because I have a paddle on it too ;)

I think some of the new racing boats have a turning keel with a motor on it to replace the huge weight. Problem is it sometimes leaks. But I'm not a sailing person either. I just read about it.

As something of a sailboat guy, this is definitely not anything new. They put sails and a keel on a small fishing vessel - so what? Every regular recreational sailboat works exactly the same way.

To comment on Eric's post - just about every sailboat has a keel, which is used to counter the force on the sails. If the keel wasn't there, the boat would be blown over.

Why not attach flexible solar pannels to the sails and locate the batteries in the keel and then use the diesel engine (runing bio-d of course) only to top off the batteries when need be?

http://www.transatlantic21.ch/index.php?id=106&L=1
follow this link to a real green boat

I remember seeing a much more interesting sailboat at the Annapolis sailboat show about 7 or 8 years ago. I can't remember the name of it but it was a large catamaran in which they had replaced the two diesel motors with electric motors (that also doubled as generators) and a hydrogen fuel cell, solar panels, batteries and wind generators. When under sail power the two propellors spun as they went through the water and generated electric power through the electric motors. This electricity along with the solar and wind power recharged the batteries and was also used to produce hydrogen for the fuel cell from sea water. With this system you could basically travel the world without ever having to stop for gas. When I think of the Prius of the ocean...the one with the fuel cell is what I think of. I just wish I could (a) remember the name of their project and (b) win the Powerball so I could buy one.

LOL
Awesome post.
Good to see at least a few on the editorial staff can stand back and scratch their heads and say "What utter Crap."

Now if it had bamboo instead of Balsa wood....

I suppose the original article was designed just to point out to the unfamiliar that sailboats are green vehicles. Those who've ever thought for more than five seconds about it would already know that, but that rules out a good fraction of the world.

Actually, the comparison to a Prius is kind of insulting since while it may have two modes of differing efficiency, *both* Prius energy sources are still provided by petroleum. When sailing, a boat burns zero petrol, produces zero greenhouse gasses, and so on.

With regard to the keel battery suggestion: I don't know if adding volume to the keel would be smart or not. But one thing is for sure, a boat is not really a battery's happiest place to be and takes a lot of work to protect. Since the motor is only used for a small percentage of travel compared to the *totally* green wind propulsion, it's probably not worth the added hassle, cost, volume, etc anyway.

As for solar cell coovered sails ... um... I can't even count the difficulties that would introduce... The metaphor of a solar plated gymnastic trampoline is what comes to mind. Sails are there to take a beating.

That all-solar motorboat is cool, but not as green as a plain sailboat that doesn't need all those industrial processes to run.

As for the Annapolis Powerball, that generates its own energy even for fuel power so it's far better than a Prius which consumes *only* petroleum as its source of energy.

The catamaran described by whalerider sounds pretty good to me. I would add a couple of features. Add hydrofoils to the bottom. A large wind-sail (like KiteSail) for open sea voyage. A mini-Pelamis tied to the back of the boat and dragged to generate extra energy even when not in movement. And the development and building of a small remote controlled micro-sub that worked on the principles of lighter than water-heavier than water that would pull the boat - unmanned versions of which already exist for underwater science work. As for the solar panels, I would cover the entire upper surface of the boat with them - maybe even have some that fold out and float in the water when the boat is stopped. Having said all this, even a plain old sailboat without any new technologies and without a diesel engine is a green machine.

The catamaran you mention is the Lagoon 410. You can forget the hydrofoil idea though. These things are heavy cruisers that empty weigh over 12 tons.