Sailboat whaleboat who cares, the idea behind this is a good one as an emergency form of propulsion. What if your beloved trawler out of sight of land throws a rod or just quits the bed. Such a sail could change the dynamics of getting to shore safely. All folded up in a neat little pack wont take up much more room tan an extra life jacket.
How come you can see prop wash every time the boat is filmed from the stern? Doesnt look like a very effective sail to me but I guess if you broke down far from shore and couldnt get help... better than nothing.
For those who decided that filling the fuel tank every time you want to get out of the marina is no longer fun and you really envy the sailing community who only has to gas up once a season.
I personally wouldn't have a boat like that. But there are a lot of interesting boats that are high efficiency, and solar powered even, where using the wind in some cases makes sense. I almost managed to close a deal on a 37 foot trimaran that ran off two high efficiency 9.9 hp Yammies. Not worth having a spar on, but the ability to sail, or combine sail and power was pretty interesting.
It would be good with a following wind. How far can you get from straight downwind? It seems like a good way to put on more sails with little extra structure. But I wouldn't like this in bad weather.
With a keel or centerboard a kiteboat can hold a windward course that is comparable to a normal sailing keelboat, sailing at 30° either side of true wind. But with this boat? Probably no more than 90. And there be a lot of sideslip.
There are some awesome power boats that have 5000 mile range on a tank full of fuel. That's an elite group that can afford sea going power boats but for those that do, a system similar to this is a great back up in case of catastrophic engine failure. Using it to enter the bar and docking isnt happening but if your engine fails half way across the pacific, a kite could get you close enough to get a tow in. There is a way better kite system than this strange kite. They have them on smaller cargo ships. You could usd a better version on a trawler, probably a bad idea for a light wieght motor boat that doesn't go far off shore. Its easy to get help close to shore.
Theoretically you can get much more efficient tacking with kites. Practically this is very complicated and unreliable. It is fun without a boat though.
Looks for general movement but seems to lack accurate travel direction. So you're basically wherever the wind takes you. Which is fine if the wind happens to be going your way.
