Kites

The MS Beluga SkySails, the world's first cargo vessel with the SkySails towing kite system, is being used for commercial transport for the first time. It will carry cargo from Bremen to Venezuela on behalf of DHL Global Forwarding, the ocean and air freight carrier of the Deutsche Post World Net Group. The vessel features a new wind propulsion system with a towing kite measuring up to 320 metres, that provides additional thrust for the ship at sea, a sustainable solution for reducing fuel consumption, costs and emissions. Depending on wind conditions, fuel costs can be lowered between ten and 35 percent. A small, 87-metre-long freighter would thus save an average of 280,000 Euros in fuel costs per year.

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• Sky sails

<youtube v="nhfFnEQM1aU" /> Automated kite piloting and handling.

With a Paravane (water kite) acting as a keel and an air kite controllable so it can move from side to side it would be possible to tack back and forth and go up-wind or any direction.