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Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

marineinsight.com

81–90 of 281 posts

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#81

“The Neoliner Origin is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 90 per cent compared to conventional diesel-powered cargo ships.” Is it cheaper?

Are you pricing in the externalities of GHGs?

What about the positive externalities of sulfur dioxide emissions reducing temperatures?

We need more container ships polluting or the post 2020 global warming rate could double!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01442-3

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admitted or strongly implied everything you used as rebuttal with the exception of your final point, I don't believe using more energy improves ones life. Also, this is not a retirement dream, this is going to happen in the next year and I will be pulling over to work for ~6 months every couple years.

>I don't believe using more energy improves ones life That's a very interesting perspective and I would love to hear some arguments or examples supporting it.

Why do my beliefs require anything to prove them? My beliefs are not fact and I never represented them as such, I said plainly that I have mixed feeling and that society should not bow to me. The exchange in response to my post are a good example of why my goal in life is to retreat from society, everyone ignored what I said to be "right." Admittedly I did not actually say that society should not bow to me, I said probably not, but that is simply because I don't actually know and I don't believe I ever implied that I did, putting on a sweater seems a small sacrifice to me.

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admitted or strongly implied everything you used as rebuttal with the exception of your final point, I don't believe using more energy improves ones life. Also, this is not a retirement dream, this is going to happen in the next year and I will be pulling over to work for ~6 months every couple years.

>I don't believe using more energy improves ones life That's a very interesting perspective and I would love to hear some arguments or examples supporting it.

Not OP, but in general, while some things do improve my life (climate control, hot water, cooking), I'd say there are also plenty of things that don't.

I don't think my device usage habits or media consumption actually improve my life. I'm not sure the energy that's been dumped into producing the many gadgets I've bought over the years really improved me life.

I'd say that a lot of energy goes into distracting me in a way that I can't genuinely say is an improvement.

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#84

They have a passenger service too! €3200 for France Baltimore, 13 day trip. But with that you get three meals a day, a decent looking cabin, private bathroom, private balcony, and internet service (though how solid the connection is / what surcharges there may be is a question). ~€250/d doesn't sound too bad, and you could get work done along the way. Kind of sounds nice... https://www.voilasailcoop.fr/transatlantic/…

The first thing I thought when I saw the article was, I wonder if they have passenger service.

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#85
post #5

I love that they're trying this. It appears the more practical goal might be retrofitting existing vessels with large sails to augment the motors, but making a point with a fully wind-powered vessel is a good show. Well, it would have been fully wind powered if not for the damaged sail. Good on them for sticking with the journey, though. I hope they keep running the vessel and get a few more fully wind powered journe…

Rotor[0] retrofits already have been done on full size tankers[1].

This is probably a more reliable and practical solution than traditional sails.

0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotor_ship

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maersk_Pelican

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#86
post #63

As someone whose goal in life is to be blown about the oceans by the wind, I have mixed feelings about this. With the "traditional" freighter I would have the right of way, my being a sailboat under the wisdom of the wind, they have to make allowances for me and change course, but things are different when that freighter is also under the wisdom of the wind. The same goes for things like offshore wind power, my life…

I find it somewhat inconsistent that you feel people's choice of indoor temperature is an imposition on you, but also that your choice of sailboat should entitle you to having something that is literally hundreds of times larger and less nimble than you have to make the effort to go around you.

> that your choice of sailboat should entitle you to having something that is literally hundreds of times larger and less nimble than you have to make the effort to go around you.

That's how the rules of the road work. See: COLREGs.

We also travel by a small sailboat, and it is always reassuring to see huge tankers make small course changes tens of nautical miles away. That way everybody stays safe and nobody is majorly inconvenienced.

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#87

As someone whose goal in life is to be blown about the oceans by the wind, I have mixed feelings about this. With the "traditional" freighter I would have the right of way, my being a sailboat under the wisdom of the wind, they have to make allowances for me and change course, but things are different when that freighter is also under the wisdom of the wind. The same goes for things like offshore wind power, my life…

A freighter is always the stand on vessel when you’re sailing. They don’t have the turning radius to even try!

That's true only in constrained waters. But obviously they need to see you from afar to be able to make that course change. That's where AIS transponders help a lot.

We've crossed some of the busier shipping lanes of the world, and have had to call the bridge of a freighter on radio just a couple of times. And usually the watchstander immediately confirmed seeing us and clarified their intentions.

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be right, and dead; your posthumous estate would get a new boat.

A large ship is very unlikely to just instantly destroy and sink a small sailboat, bow wave pushes it aside and destroys the rigging leaving the boat adrift, crew either abandons it or scuttles it when rescued unless they are near land and can be towed.

Having witnessed a large commercial ship going 15 kts run over a smaller 30 foot sailboat I can assure you it was not “pushed aside” unless by aside you mean pushed under.

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#89

They have a passenger service too! €3200 for France Baltimore, 13 day trip. But with that you get three meals a day, a decent looking cabin, private bathroom, private balcony, and internet service (though how solid the connection is / what surcharges there may be is a question). ~€250/d doesn't sound too bad, and you could get work done along the way. Kind of sounds nice... https://www.voilasailcoop.fr/transatlantic/…

I crossed the atlantic twice, each time for 650 euros the 13 days… add 250/300 euros for internet

Re: Largest cargo sailboat completes first Atlantic crossing

#90
post #4

> The 136-metre-long vessel had to rely partly on its auxiliary motor and its remaining sail after the aft sail was damaged in a storm shortly after departure. Well, that's a bummer. That said, this does seem the way of the future. We just need to either figure out maintenance robots and/or find a way to keep human crew happy on long, slow voyages across the Pacific.

Apparently late 19th to 20th century wind cargo ships had their crew essentially subsidized by the fact that some countries (IIRC in Scandinavia?) required commercial sailing experience to get a pilot's license. For bulk cargo (e.g. grain or guano) the economies worked out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron-hulled_sailing_ship

These trips happened all the way to late 1940s. Here's a good book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grain_Race

If you get the chance, the Pommern is a beautifully preserved ship from that era in Mariehamn's excellent maritime museum.

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