Will Sailboats Still Be Made in 30 Years?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

I never had to wait for rigging part. Sometimes the wind is blowing the wrong way.

I haven't either but I know people who have blown out a sail and were waiting for repairs or replacement. Almost everyone waits on the wind at some point...or they crank up the motor.

A typical cat uses very inefficient drive systems. If you use much larger propellers turning 200-300 rpm, you can achieve the same speed from this area of solar panels. Not to mention you don't need it when the kite is up, or you aren't going.

The prop you are talking about won't fit on a standard cruising boat (mono or cat) plus it will cost a few thousand dollars negating the benefits. If it were such a great idea they would be using them already. It's easy to put in a reduction gear on a diesel and turn a bigger prop without messing about with a hybrid system.

If you are sailing, you aren't using the hybrid system anyway, so it's not relevant.

You are completely wrong.

They have built boats that go both directly upwind using windmills, and also dead down wind faster than the wind.

Lots of experiments get built but don't go into production because they are impractical. They have built solar powered boats that have crossed the ocean:
- Multimillion dollar price tags.
- Extreme hulls with no load carrying capacity.
- Negligible creature comforts.
- Average speeds a 40yr old 30' mono could beat under sail.
- Fun as an experiment but of no relevance to your average cruiser.

[John_Trusty]

Originally Posted by dcstrng

Hard to tell whether sailing will have the same level of activity, but there will always be those who want to get back to whatever their version of the “basics” is… The invention of the locomotive/car/plane doesn’t seem to have wiped out hiking although it probably has eroded the possible number of participants…

I agree with dcstrng's analogy with other technological improvements. If we were talking about practical (work) transportation, then technological improvements would be adopted. Other than some experimental designs, I have not heard of anyone using sails for practical transportation in over a hundred years.

We are recreational sailors, and get enjoyment from moving only using the wind. For example, I'm a coastal cruiser that spends weekends going out and back forty miles, or so. If I wanted to go to a town forty miles away, I'd jump in my car and get there in well under an hour and much cheaper. Sailing, hiking, bicycling, woodworking, playing musical instruments, and all the other superseded technologies will continue to be practiced because the activity itself is challenging and consequently enjoyable. Perhaps the real question for sailboat sales is one of income inequality - will the great majority of us only work to live while a very few have resources and leisure time to enjoy sailing. If I were in the business of making $300K yachts, I would be more concerned with this than sailing lessons.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by comesatime

...
While I love sailing, learning how to sail is a big barrier to entry and powerboats are really expensive to run.

What do you think?

I hope, it stays this way. Otherwise it would get way to crowdy on the nicest places...

[David M]

Sailing is too simple and beautiful of a thing to throw by the wayside for a bunch of technology.

Many peoples idea of Heaven is to get away from the technology that they were forced to live with while on land.

If you need to get there quickly then purchase an airline ticket. That is certainly cheaper and faster than owning a sailboat. It's not about the destination. It's all about the experience of getting there and being there, not in a hotel, but in your own little self-contained slice of paradise.

As long as the winds continue to blow, sailing is not going to away.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by comesatime

While I love sailing, learning how to sail is a big barrier to entry and powerboats are really expensive to run.

Run the numbers some time for typical coastal weekend cruisers. You will find that powerboats are about the same cost to run using reasonable assumptions once you factor in the cost to replace worn out sails and rigging.

Even long distance an efficient single engine powerboat can run with sailboats in terms of cost. In fact the vast a majority of sailboats running the ICW do the vast majority of their miles in powerboat mode (ie: they motor).

[rickdamico]

Sailing is more than just a means of transportation.

[Pizzazz]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Run the numbers some time for typical coastal weekend cruisers. You will find that powerboats are about the same cost to run using reasonable assumptions once you factor in the cost to replace worn out sails and rigging.

Even long distance an efficient single engine powerboat can run with sailboats in terms of cost. In fact the vast a majority of sailboats running the ICW do the vast majority of their miles in powerboat mode (ie: they motor).

I totally agree that motoring is cheaper than sailing for most uses even if it looks illogical at first. The typical SoCal sailor makes 7-8 trips to Catalina per year. At 60 nm per trip, 10 nm per gallon that is about 50 gallons per season or less than $300 at the marina prices. You can also get to choose your start times instead of waiting for the wind.

Any single piece of rigging than needs to be replaced costs a major fraction of that amount (at West Marine prices).

For the last 150 years people have been sailing for fun not because sail is the most efficient propulsive technology.

[Seighlor]

In thirty years there will still be wind and still people who find pleasure in sailing. If you find sailing to be too much of a challenge... then definitely, you should choose another type of boat.

[LoudMusic]

Assuming that all the technologies align and it is possible to build boats that store power produced by sun and wind and use it later in electric motors to move the boat at acceptable speeds for acceptable periods of time, and I hope we get there in my lifetime, I'm pretty sure there are a lot more industries and markets that will claim all the production capacity of those technologies for years before it trickles down to pleasure boats.

[bjymd]

30 years from now, we may all be liveaboards, considering the potential rise in sea level.
" Thimk ahead "

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Learning to sail is a barrier?

If someone wants to sail....they'll learn. It's only a barrier if it is treated as one.

^
|
|
This!

[foojin]

You can learn to sail in an afternoon.

Becoming a good sailor takes a little longer, but that's the fun of it. It's the journey, not the destination.

[newhaul]

Ponder this for a bit.
A power boater is going somewhere special.
A sailor is already there.

[Thuid]

I know I am being a tad cynical but....

If it follows the trends of anything else in the last 20 years, sailing will still be around. I will just become more expensive to do it. Increased permits & fees required, additional security requirements before entering/leaving areas, bigger insurance required, fuel/material costs increased, more expensive marinas, less available free anchoring spots, etc. What used to just cost equipment, some paperwork, and time will be $$$ to death.

If it is too good to enjoy, others always find a way to ruin it by making it expensive.

I hope it doesn't go that way. But here's crossing our fingers it doesn't.

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Ponder this for a bit.
A power boater is going somewhere special.
A sailor is already there.

+1 Nailed it!