Sailing only works when you have two different moving fluids. A kite seems like a good way to have a second fluid to pull against without requiring you sit at exactly the correct height to sit half way into each.(something that may require a very large ship or a highly stable transition) It basically means your second set of sails is physically detached and is in use as a kite.
Having that second fluid available means things like Tacking become possible instead of just blowing with the wind like a hot-air balloon. On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 2:22 PM, Onno Meyer <[email protected]> wrote: > Zan replied to me: > > I think that you could get lateral propulsion and maybe even sail into > > the wind if you used kite sails that were long enough to get into > > different bands of wind and the winds were moving in different > > directions. > > Hello Zan, > > in that case, couldn't the grav vehicle simply rise to the > required altitude and catch the wind directly? This sounds > like a variant of "catch the right breeze" ... > > Say you have a funnel to catch the wind, with a nozzle to > the side (in line with the center of gravity, so it won't > turn the ship). This would still move the ship leeward, > mostly, but with some lateral force. > > Or am I missing some force from turning the air stream? > > If this works in theory, we can reconsider the exact shape > of the funnel -- perhaps a handful of twisted sails will > do. > > > I don't believe that there's any reasonable explanation for contragrav > > technology without corresponding propulsion technology. > > Two thoughts on that: > > * GURPS contragrav uses only very little power, compared to some > other rules, just 2 kW per ton of lift. If power supplies are > an issue, it might be possible to power contragrav, but not > thruster tech. > > In Vehicles, you'd probably have to go for solar power to make > that happen. > > * Or I could accept that the vehicle makes no economic sense. It > could be a sporting or pleasure craft, like sailboats today. > > Regards, > Onno > _______________________________________________ > GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> > http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l > -- All persons possessing any portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust and that they are to account for their conduct in that trust to the one great Master, Author, and Founder of society. -Edmund Burke _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
