Wave-powered boat finishes crossing (from Hawaii to Japan)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gh__u8TRDagqCjQyHrDdhhoaQICw

Wave-powered boat finishes crossing

A Japanese adventurer has completed a three-month journey from Hawaii to Japan in a boat powered by the energy of ocean waves.

The 4,800-mile voyage, which began in Honolulu in March, ended when Kenichi Horie's three-ton yacht docked in Wakayama in western Japan last night.

"The sea was so calm, and the weather was so great throughout my journey. That's why it took me so long," he said.

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His boat, which relies on wave energy to move two fins at its bow and propel it forward, sailed at an average speed of 1.5 knots - slower than humans walk.

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http://www.popsci.com/gear-gadgets/article/2008-02/wave-runner

Wave Runner

A new propulsion system for boats ditches the diesel

By John Geoghegan Posted 02.22.2008 at 1:18 pm

Going the Distance: Captain Ken-ichi Horie, aboard the Suntory Mermaid II, prepares to travel solo 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan on wave power alone. Photo by S. Yamada

This month, 69-year-old Japanese sailor Ken-ichi Horie will attempt to captain the world’s most advanced wave-powered boat 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan. If all goes as planned, he’ll set the first Guinness world record for the longest distance traveled by a wave-powered boat and, along the way, show off the greenest nautical propulsion system since the sail.

At the heart of the record-setting bid is the Suntory Mermaid II, a three-ton catamaran made of recycled aluminum alloy that turns wave energy into thrust. Two fins mounted side by side beneath the bow move up and down with the incoming waves and generate dolphin-like kicks that propel the boat forward. “Waves are a negative factor for a ship—they slow it down,” says Yutaka Terao, an engineering professor at Tokai University in Japan who designed the boat’s propulsion system. “But the Suntory can transform wave energy into propulsive power regardless of where the wave comes from.”

Fin-Tastic: A simple spring system enables twin fins beneath the bow of the Suntory to move up and down with the incoming waves and pull the boat forward. Photo by K. Dota

Horie’s latest adventure builds on a storied career of eco-sailing. In 1993 he pedaled a boat 4,660 miles, from Hawaii to Okinawa, setting a world record for the longest distance traveled by a pedal-powered boat.

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With a maximum speed of five knots, the Suntory will take two to three months to complete a voyage that diesel-powered craft accomplish in just one. But speed is not the point. The voyage aims to prove that wave propulsion can work under real-world conditions, opening up the technology for commercial applications such as cargo shipping. “Oil is a limited power source,” Horie says, “but there is no limit to waves.”

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[Gman]

1. They can call it "wave powered" but

he essentially guided his drifting.

[damntexdem]

2. Slower than humans walk -- but faster than humans walk on water.

Now we need a salt-powered boat.

[Zachstar]

3. It is an ok idea and I welcome the abilty to go without tons of fuel.

However, This was little more than a stunt in my view. It will take decades to build a really good design for a vessel powered by natural energy at sea.

I am in favor of a dual system of sailing and solar energy which is possible if there is an effective way one can tow a LARGE and I mean LARGE thin film solar away that floats and wont fold over in a big wave.

Its slower than diesel or oil burning but cargo ought to be able to be transported faster than the sailing vessels of the past.

[Ready4Change]

5. I'm curious how it compares to sailing

The later Clipper ships were quite fast, and I'd assume we'd re-start non-petroleum sea cargo transport from at least that level of ability. I think the latest ones could cruise at 20kts?

So I'm wondering what the potential advantage of wave power would be?

[Zachstar]

6. If you can extract energy while moving at high speed then maybe a small advantage

[pscot]

4. He's lucky he had calm weather

That thing looks about as seaworthy as a shoebox.

[NNadir]

7. Wow! You mean we can have renewably powered boats?

Who knew?

I expect with that maximum speed of 4 knots, this is going to change the "ship plastic goods from Amory Lovins approved sweat shops in Asia" industry.

I can see it now. A brazillion rubber cup warmers coming in from Malayasia on wave powered freighters, being carried from the Port of Los Angeles to the Walmart in Columbus, Ohio on cool wind and solar powered eighteen wheelers.

It's a great vision.

But, mind if I tap you on the shoulder and ask you a question.

This toy differs from an outrigger canoe how, exactly?