'Sailing'?? Directly to Windward

I couldn't put this subject thread under 'sailing' as its not really sailing in the true sense of the word. But it is powering directly to windward under the sole power of the wind

...from another forum on multihull craft

www.windvinder.com

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean an unmanned “windship” makes its way through the waves - almost transparent, people say, wings everywhere… and it is headed, without a doubt, INTO THE WIND ! With three prows pointing straight into the wind it is underway across the world’s vastest ocean, following every windshift. No one knows how long it’s been travelling. People laugh at fishermen who talk about having seen it.

But there it appears again; all but silently it moves through the swell, as if drawn by an invisible string: on an impossible course

Much More on this Subject

...a couple of interesting subject threads referenced by a gentleman Rick Willoughby

Here is more on upwind sailing with turbine:
Windmill or Wind Turbine- powered boats: how many are out there, and are they viable?

And this one is even more interesting on directly downwind faster than the wind:
DDWFTTW - Directly Downwind Faster Than The Wind

RickW

Herreshoff's model

There's a model like this (air turbine blade directly connected to water propeller) in the model room of the Herreshoff museum. When I was doing research there a decade or so ago, the then-curator (the late and much missed Carleton Pinhero) told me that at one time Ted Turner bet Halsey Herreshoff a dime the thing wouldn't work. They took it out to the water and it did. FWIW.

Cheers,

Earl

I do not know myself. That was a contribution by a fellow Earl on another forum. I thought it was an interesting contribution that should be shared.

That fellow Herreshoff was certainly a forward thinker....
" I can with a good whole-sail breeze, boat to windward faster, by a mile an hour at least, than any other sailing vessel afloat." -Nathanael Herreshoff , the infamous yacht designer speaking of his revolutionary 25' catamaran design, Amaryllis

.....the year, 1876 !!