Growing support for wind power at sea

Press, 10 July 1979, Page 20

Growing support for wind power at sea

By

RICHARD NORTH

in the “Observer.” London

With immaculate timing, the Ship and Marine Technology Requirements Board in Britain has been holding a Symposium on Commercial Sail.

Since this is the body within the Department of Industry with responsibility for improving the competitiveness of British shipping, and the allocation of Government marine research funds, the symposium was a mark of the importance now attached to finding alternatives to “gasguzzler” vessels. About 150 shipping people assembled at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects to hear six papers from experts on the theme of sailing ships as a commercial prospect. Several of these have already received Government research money for projects ranging from investigation of the design of large sailing barques, to work on vertical axis, wind-turbine ships. The Duke of Edinburgh

was there, lending his imprimatur as a sailor, and enthusiast for Britain’s commercial revival.

The aptness of the event was also emphasised by the chronic problems besetting conventional diesel ships this (northern) summer. While luxury charter motor-yachts lie gleaming but immobile in the harbours of Greek islands — unable through lack of fuel to cleave the sparkling Aegean — there are fishing boats on the East Anglian coast similarly unable to go out for their catches.

The price of fuel of all kinds lias risen at least 50 per cent since November. “And that’s when you can get it at all,” bemoaned one Lowestoft fuel supplier. Professor King, of the Cardiff University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, tried to establish whether there was a real advantage in wind, as against oil, as a power source. It was

a question, he said, of balancing a sailing ship’s relative slowness, an heavy requirement in manpower, against its fuel savings. It was a meeting about what is nowadays called “alternative technology,” a gathering of doughty naval personages. Their ranks ranged from lieutenant-com-mander to admiral. There were Greek ship-owners and sail-makers and a man from the P. and O.

Though Professor King might try to be analytic, most were sympathetic on intuitive grounds, backed up by hard reports that the ships of today — let alone 10 or 20 years from now — might be very glad of the ability to use nature’s free fuel. Mr Edwin Gifford, a naval architect who is working with Sir Christopher Cockrell on wave-power, said that he was also working with the Ministry of Overseas Develop-

ment to design sailing fishing boats for the Third World. Lieutenant - Commander Morin-Scott, an ex-sail-train-ing ship captain, proposes to equip a 1000-ton coastal steamer with $BO,OOO worth of sailing gear — 5000 square feet of sail — which will probably save 10 per cent of the ship’s fuel. "It’s a ter-rible-looking rig,” he said; “but that hardly matters when the savings might amount to $50,000 a year.” While the purists hope to see purpose-built sailing ships, the feeling is that owners will go for a technique of making vessels use fuel only in, really poor sail--ing conditions.

Air Commodore Charles Nance, whose'Medina Yacht Company is working on a wind turbine drive ship, suggested that perhaps the Miranda, now used as a British Government fisheries protection vessel, might qualify as a suitable floating test bed.

A modern sailing ship would owe a debt to her

precursors, but be very different: not least in her use of computers for weather tracking. Whatever the difficulties, there are many

owners of elegant yachts — and some owners of hardier fishing boats — who wish, this summer that they had sonle .sail to spread.