Sailing Drone Completes Pacific Crossing

[deckofficer]

FS, thanks for the link, very interesting. Could be beneficial for convincing the climate skeptics. The data from its current real time track is informative, just voltage alone tells me they are using LiFePO4 batteries.

[bradweston]

Here's an article about saildrone in Wired.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/02/saildrone/

[Dod42]

Originally Posted by NoTies

Surely a "Pacific Crossing" means going from one side to the other. Isn't Hawaii only about a third of the way across from the US?

Yes but if you ask most people in America there is nowhere else in the world

[ryon]

Don't haul on the ropes, Don't climb up the mast. If you see a sailing ship it might be your last. Get your Civvis ready for another run ashore. A sailor ain't a sailor ain't a sailor anymore!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

Better make them soft - cause i am sure fisherman and sailors wont see them at night until they hear them bumping along the hull...

In all seriousness, these things would be great candidates for broadcasting AIS. Pop a tricolor light on it and try to have radar bounce off it somehow and they could have these little guys screaming all over the place. Hell if there were 1000 of them in the Pacific you'd be lucky to see one in a year's time.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

In all seriousness, these things would be great candidates for broadcasting AIS. Pop a tricolor light on it and try to have radar bounce off it somehow and they could have these little guys screaming all over the place. Hell if there were 1000 of them in the Pacific you'd be lucky to see one in a year's time.

But can we get them to deliver pizza?

[S/V Alchemy]

Interesting. By the current rules, I could raft up to it (assuming I could catch it) and claim it for salvage as it is clearly abandoned.

Perhaps "pre-abandoned"?

I wonder if you are hove to and are rammed by this thing, who do you sue for absent seamanship?

Now, imagine the drone container freighter. OH, BOY!

[ReMetau]

Originally Posted by Dod42

Yes but if you ask most people in America there is nowhere else in the world

Not that there is nowhere else, but everywhere else is irrelevant.

[rockDAWG]

We can use this drone for creating Wifi hot spot. We need Sat Phone anyway. LOL

[tartansail]

Originally Posted by bradweston

Here's an article about saildrone in Wired.

The Drone That Will Sail Itself Around the World | Autopia | Wired.com

Thanks! Lots more intriguing details in this article. Using a tail to set the angle of attack for the wing is ingenious. It will be interesting to see how it scales up to larger sizes. It wouldn't break my heart to swap cranking in a 150 genoa for adjusting a trim tab on the tail.

[Dsanduril]

Now I guess we get to argue about watchkeeping on a zero-hander How long do you nap?

The test bed for these is a full size cruising trimaran in San Francisco Bay.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ight=saildrone

She's just down the dock from me in Richmond and looks to be a sister ship. Hope to run into the operators one day.

[Capt RonB]

al-Qiada has 'em on back-order ... after all a goat can sail one.