Is This A Sailing Ship?

Bajansailor

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She does actually sail quite well - we have been carrying out annual safety surveys on her for the flag state (Bahamas) for some years now, and I have heard some impressive stories from her Officers about her sailing ability - I think the maximum speed they have achieved under sail (with no help from the two electric propulsion motors) was 14 knots..... they would have had the CP propellers feathered to reduce drag as much as possible.

There are two smaller vessels in the fleet - Wind Star and Wind Spirit - and they are relatively much better sailing vessels. They have to be, as they only have a single electric propulsion motor, and if they have a passage with the wind on the nose their SOG decreases dramatically.

More info about the vessels at www.windstarcruises.com
 

Norman_E

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I saw two four masted ones in Rhodes in June.
Quite impressive as the second one arrived under sail, and furled its sails, getting the final one furled only a few hundred metres from the harbour. It appears that they do sail quite a lot and only motor when they have to to make their schedule. Certainly they look more attractive than some cruise ships which look more like floating blocks of council flats.
 

Bajansailor

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Don't worry about cynicism (a healthy dose is always useful!) - you are (almost) correct in thinking that they use the mouse to click on the 'tack' button!

The OOW can either have the sails set to fully automated, where the computer winds them in and out automatically to suit the wind strength and (more importantly) the heel angle (punters dont like it apparently when they heel more than about 2 degrees or so ), or they can control them manually - and as most of the officers are keen sailors, I think they prefer the latter option.

And they have been known to sail them into anchorages in the Windies, and drop anchor under sail...... the barque Sea Cloud is also well known for this - we (on the TSYT brig Prince William) sailed against Sea Cloud in Antigua Classics in 2004, and at the end of one race they came hammering in to the bay under almost full sail, rounded up, clewed up all the squares in quick order (no electric furling!) and dropped anchor, without engines engaged.

Some years ago one of the main engines (which power the generators for electricity for propulsion and domestic supply) on one of the Wind Star ships sustained (I think) a broken crankshaft and this called for delicate balancing by the Engineers of electrical supply at times of peak demand - like when they were motor sailing to windward (eg back to Barbados), and against the current, in the evening when everybody was having hot showers, and the galley ranges were being fired up......

The Wind Star ships are one of the (very few) cruise lines who allow passengers to visit the bridge without appointment - and this is usually 24/7, unless something important is going on, when they will temporarily close the bridge to guests.
As they (used to) say in their advertising, 'they are 180 degrees out of the ordinary', or words to that effect.
 

KenMcCulloch

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[ QUOTE ]
Oops - Sounds like I should keep my cynicism in check...

[/ QUOTE ]
Probably you should, I must admit my first reaction to the picture was a slight sneer but actually vessels something like this are probably the future of shipping, given 'peak oil' and what we are now learning about the level of CO2 production by maritime trade.
 

DeeGee

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High speed inter-continental trains, plus wind-driven ocean-goers something like this... no more jumbo jets.. whaow.. the future?? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

shmoo

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[ QUOTE ]

punters dont like it apparently when they heel more than about 2 degrees or so


[/ QUOTE ]

swmbo wants to know if we can get a heel sensor for the auto-pilot. Heeling is seen as a precursor to shipwreck (unless its achieved slowly over about an hour, when it is hardly noticed)
 

Lakesailor

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Is this a woman thing?
The worst of it is that it seems to rub off and you start thinking about angles of heel yourself.
It never really occurred to me until Lady Lakesailor began accompanying me.
 

shmoo

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After much research I think that swmbo is more sensitive than those of us with only one X chromosome to the first derivative of things such as velocity, heel, temperature: she drives really fast, but chides me for driving too fast if I accelerate hard at any speed; complains about heel that is not achieved slowly; and shivers at 30 C if the sun goes in.
 

mandlmaunder

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We see this abberation around the Virgin Islands often, it is a pretty sight but more often than not the sails are up and motoring straight into the wind as time tables n schedules must be kept
 
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