| Boat will dolphin kick to Japan with wave power |
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This coming Sunday eco-sailor
Kenichi Horie will set off in the 31
foot catamaran Suntory Mermaid II on a 3700 mile voyage from
Hawaii to Japan. The boat does not rely on oil or coal or
wind for locomotive enetgy. It relies on waves.
In 3' seas the up and down motion of the boat is translated
into a mechanical dolphin kick that moves
it forward at roughly 2
knots. The Suntory Mermaid II will be helped on her voyage by
favorable currents and is expected to make the crossing in about 2 1/2
months. This is not Horie's first adventure of this
sort. In 1996,
he sailed nearly 10,000 miles from Ecuador to Tokyo aboard a
solar-powered boat made from recycled aluminum beer cans.The wave motor
is not useful in
and of itself, but some
variation of it could prove useful on all kinds of vessels,
from sailboats to supertankers. I've thought about a
device like this for years, ever since I saw the first winged keel.
If a mechanical dolphin kick could add even 1/4 knot of
speed it could make a huge difference in transport fuel costs... not to
mention sailboat races. Look for it on the next America's Cup boats. Here are some links to stories on the Suntory Mermaid II NY Times Honolulu Advertisor Here's a YouTube video of Olympic swimmer Misty Hyman doing a dolphin kick |