Kez wrote:Boats have no problem because they use water (which is 874 times as dense as air) and a rudder to control and harness the immense power of the wind, that is pushing the boat in a direction the boat does not want to go.
To go upwind a boat must zig zag several times. A boat in the water is vastly different than a slew of many kites hooked to the same device. It is easy to get one kite moving around, I have done it myself and it makes sense. What doesn't make sense is having several kites do this at the same time hooked to the same device which is somehow capturing the power, because to me it is clear that they are fighting against each other. There will be not one but several dead zones that will cause the machine to stall.
Just my 2 cents. I'm no expert, just taking from what I have observed and learned. When it is built and working somewhere, and isn't just some theory, then I will embrace it fully because I would love to see wind and solar power conquer. My brain just doesn't see how it will work, sorry.
My brain sees it works in theory, i think the biggest stumbling block will be designing and engineering a control system that constantly controls the foil edges of these kites 24 hours a day 365 days a year as they whip violently around tacking and gybing in high velocity high altitude wind.
Theres nothing special about water that makes this process work for boats. It definitely works on land too.
There is only one area that a sail can not pull in and it is marked in red on this diagram, there are not "several dead zones". The orange area is just an area that is not recomended without constant helm vigilance as the rate of accidental gybes is very high, these can be dangerous as they can break the rigging and can cause violent boat movements, ive been thrown off my beach cat a number of times even on a planned gybe when a gust came by.
Boats only have to zigzag if theyre destination is within this red dead zone, they are quite capable of travelling any of the other 270 degrees of the circle.