914Driver
914Driver SuperDork
2/5/12 4:25 p.m.

When I was actively racing sailboats I was intrigued by Jaques Costeau's ship Alcyone. A monohull front, catamaran rear and a different take on wind energy. These tubes act like sails, they funnel air through them from any direction with no linesmen to haul the sheets around. Very effecient.

Remember this is the man that invented SCUBA, so in my mind he's an Einstein - mechanic - GRMer - blue collar guy - curiosity of a 12 year old kind of guy.

Has this technology moved on?

Dan

Osterkraut
Osterkraut SuperDork
2/5/12 4:42 p.m.
SyntheticBlinkerFluid
SyntheticBlinkerFluid Dork
2/5/12 4:51 p.m.

I thought you talking about a Subaru for a second.

SVreX
SVreX SuperDork
2/5/12 5:49 p.m.

I most certainly thought the same!

Duke
Duke SuperDork
2/5/12 6:50 p.m.

I remember being all of 7 or so (and never missing the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau) crying tears of impotent rage because the jackass who bought the square-rigger Calypso almost immediately grounded her in the islands somewhere, where she broke up after years of faithful and beautiful service.

Osterkraut
Osterkraut SuperDork
2/5/12 7:28 p.m.
Duke wrote: I remember being all of 7 or so (and never missing the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau) crying tears of impotent rage because the jackass who bought the square-rigger *Calypso* almost immediately grounded her in the islands somewhere, where she broke up after years of faithful and beautiful service.

I hate you ruin your childhood, but Cousteau's Calypso was an old navy boat, and it got hit by a barge.

T.J.
T.J. SuperDork
2/5/12 7:50 p.m.

I don't get the Subaru reference.

EvanB
EvanB GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
2/5/12 7:52 p.m.
T.J. wrote: I don't get the Subaru reference.

The SVX was called Alcyone in Japan.

mad_machine
mad_machine GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
2/5/12 11:00 p.m.
Osterkraut wrote:
Duke wrote: I remember being all of 7 or so (and never missing the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau) crying tears of impotent rage because the jackass who bought the square-rigger *Calypso* almost immediately grounded her in the islands somewhere, where she broke up after years of faithful and beautiful service.
I hate you ruin your childhood, but Cousteau's Calypso was an old navy boat, and it got hit by a barge.

She was an ex-minesweeper to be exact. Now she is a reef

T.J.
T.J. SuperDork
2/6/12 5:05 a.m.

In reply to EvanB:

Does Alcycone translate to "oddball with cult-like following" in English?

Hocrest
Hocrest HalfDork
2/6/12 6:13 a.m.

In reply to T.J.: "Alcyone" is the brightest star in the Pleiades (seven sisters) cluster.

Duke
Duke SuperDork
2/6/12 9:29 a.m.
Osterkraut wrote:
Duke wrote: I remember being all of 7 or so (and never missing the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau) crying tears of impotent rage because the jackass who bought the square-rigger *Calypso* almost immediately grounded her in the islands somewhere, where she broke up after years of faithful and beautiful service.
I hate you ruin your childhood, but Cousteau's Calypso was an old navy boat, and it got hit by a barge.

Maybe I'm thinking of the Élie Monnier ? He had a good size sailing vessel for quite a while, then finally sold her, and the new owners promptly wrecked her. I remember seeing aerial shots of her grounded and dismasted on a reef somewhere.

This memory is 40 years old so I could easily have errors in it, but it was Cousteau's sailing vessel and she was wrecked shortly after he retired her.

914Driver
914Driver SuperDork
2/6/12 9:53 a.m.

Cousteau had a good idea with the wind tubes, he wanted to put them on freighters and oil container ships to make them more effecient.

When Israel bombs Iran this summer and oil goes out of sight, this will be an insignificant savings ....

Dan

ultraclyde
ultraclyde HalfDork
2/6/12 10:21 a.m.
914Driver wrote: Cousteau had a good idea with the wind tubes, he wanted to put them on freighters and oil container ships to make them more effecient. When Israel bombs Iran this summer and oil goes out of sight, this will be an insignificant savings .... Dan

Ah crap. damn 2012 and the Mayans anyway!

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