Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Archive through March 21, 2025	25		04/07 10:37am
	Archive through May 15, 2026	26		05/16 01:57pm
	Archive through May 18, 2026	25		05/19 02:15am
	Archive through June 27, 2026	25		06/29 02:25pm
	Archive through July 02, 2026	25		07/17 11:29am

Also, just because WebMom is not feeling well doesn't mean there are not others watching. Play nice.

-FEAR

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 04:43 pm: Edit

Thank you for the clarifications, Jswile; much appreciated.

The grid issue has been a growing thorn in the side of new energy projects of all stripes for the past couple of decades, and for any of a dozen different reasons - political, economic, NIMBYism, etc. - keeps getting kicked down the road rather than taken on by the horns.

The recent offshore and federal-land-based cancellations veer into politics, which we obviously cannot discuss, but certainly can note has been a major recent impediment.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 10:50 am: Edit

In an interesting development, shipping company DHL has formed a partnership with French shipbuilder VELA to begin operating trimaran sail-powered cargo ships, starting with trans-Atlantic runs (specifically, the Caen-New Haven run to start with). They figure a 15-day transit with considerable reduction in cost.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 11:04 am: Edit

Jessica

Will be interesting to see if it works commercially.

I wonder what the crew requirement will be and whether the rigging will be 'fully automatied' (or ones which roll into a tube)? (As Crew costs might otherwise offset any fuel savings)

Good luck to them - and may we also see a return of Clipper Ships

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 11:29 am: Edit

Wonder how many TEUs?

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 11:32 am: Edit

https://maritime-executive.com/article/dhl-partners-with-under-development-vela-wind-powered-cargo-ship

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 12:07 pm: Edit

Mike, based on 600 EU pallets(that each could carry) of which ther would be about 11 too a TEU the TEU that would be about 54 TEUs, that is based on numbers I found on the internet

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 02:38 pm: Edit

The article that Mike Grafton posted references an already in service transatlantic sail powered cargo ship, the Neoliner Origin, which has a wikipedia page that claims 16 knotts speed, 5,200 long tons capacity, and a crew of 20, which is probably not enough to operate those sails without a lot of automation.

Neoliner Origin does have a diesel-electric system to go with the sails.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 03:44 pm: Edit

What is the crew of a container ship? Is it more than 20?

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 04:50 pm: Edit

Which begs the question about fuel & engine maintenance costs.

I assume the way you compute cost is $/TEU.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, July 17, 2026 - 10:03 pm: Edit

What about bringing back Metal hulled Clipper and Wind Jammer vessels....
I believe some models were actually faster than today's commercial cargo vessels...

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, July 18, 2026 - 02:58 am: Edit

Google tells me: A modern container ship crew consists of 12 to 30 seafarers, divided into three primary departments: Deck, Engine, and Steward.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, July 18, 2026 - 10:57 am: Edit

The no frills sailing site posted a profile of the Cutty Sark, a tea clipper that held the speed record for the China Tea trade.

The Cutty Sark typically carried a crew of about 26 to 28 men.

all crew members—barring specialized officers like the captain, cook, carpenter, and sailmaker—were responsible for handling the ship's 32 sails.

Because of 4-hour watch systems, only about 13 or 14 men actually worked on deck at any given time to manage the vessel's 11 miles of rigging.

Not stated, but I have to assume there would be an officer and a helmsman for every watch the ship was actually under sail.

The Cutty Sarks best speed, under sail, was recorded at 17.5 knots

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Sunday, July 19, 2026 - 05:09 pm: Edit

I would guess Luxury goods wold be the ideal cargo - both due to it being high value (rather than bulk or weight, so like cars) AND transportation can be factored into the marketing of it.

$300 bottle of perfurm or champagne shipped by diesel ships or a $320 bottle of perfume or champagne shipped in a Green/Ecological way.

At that price level, a small increase in cost might not reduce what is sold - so everyone is happy.

If more Sailing ships follow (so dropping the build cost of the average sailing ship)- you might be able to get the cost closer to $300?

By Steve Stewart (Stevestewart) on Monday, July 20, 2026 - 07:24 am: Edit

Could we use a "clipper" to get small, high-value assets like the new 7000-series minis to the UK and Europe?

I'll get my coat...

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, July 20, 2026 - 09:28 pm: Edit

I realize that you are joking, but the question is a valid one.

According the the Royal Museum in Greenwich England, the particulars are:

The Cutty Sark's cargo specifications highlight a volume-focused design:

Registered Tonnage: 963 Gross Register Tons (GRT) and 921 Net Tons.

Deadweight Capacity: Approximately 1,135 tons at a 20-foot draft.Maximum

Tea Cargo: 615 tons' weight, which translated to about 10,000 to 11,000 chests of tea.

Other Cargos: When later redirected to Australian wool, she held up to 5,000 bales (equivalent to 900 tons).

Hold Dimensions: A total registered length of 212.5 feet, a beam (width) of 36 feet, and a depth of hold of 21 feet.

I imagine you could carry a lot of minis into a hold that big.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 - 05:04 pm: Edit

Information Warfare: Flock Camera Abuse
August 12, 2026: Flock Surveillance cameras were first used in 2019 by the Atlanta, Georgia Police Department. The cameras were used for collecting license plate information, especially the numbers of stolen cars or those used by criminals the police were searching for. Flock cameras also operate in areas with Shot Spotter systems to observe and identify shooters.
It is also common for police department employees to abuse the system by following friends, family, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, etc., as well as criminal suspects.
Flock has limited prospects with the military. Some American military bases are using Flock cameras in housing areas or base entrances. For combat operations, the Army, Navy, and Air Force already use lots of surveillance camera systems. Modern tanks contain many, difficult-to-spot, external cameras. These allow the tank crew to be constantly aware of who or what is near their tank. The Air Force, Marines and Navy have surveillance pods that allow pilots to see individuals on the ground 20 kilometers below.
The Army's heavy use of battlefield surveillance began two decades ago. During the Afghan War, the U.S. shipped dozens of aerostats (tethered blimps) to Afghanistan. In the last few years, the U.S. Army has combined communications and electronic eavesdropping gear and software with day/night camera towers and aerostats to produce BETSS-C (Base Expeditionary Targeting and Surveillance Sensors-Combined). These observation towers have been used since 2003 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Army buys Eagle Eye mobile surveillance tower systems for about $600,000 each. This is a security system consisting of day/night cameras, a laser rangefinder and designator, all mounted on a truck-mounted tower. Over the last five years, the original static towers have gotten more mobile and grown taller. The tallest Eagle Eye tower is 107 feet tall, allowing the cameras to spot vehicles up to 25 kilometers away. Great for keeping an eye on thinly populated areas in a desert, which western Iraq and many parts of Afghanistan have plenty of. The earlier 30-foot tower can see out to 11 kilometers, the 60-foot tower to 16 kilometers, and the 84-foot tower to 20 kilometers. The 30-foot tower was adequate for most situations, which usually involved guarding a base, but it also served as a communications relay for widely dispersed troops. The towers can be easily taken apart or erected by troops.
When temporary bases are set up, an Eagle Eye tower provides the equivalent of a permanent UAV presence, which, just by being there, tends to discourage attacks or any misbehavior in the vicinity of the base.
Then there is the RAID (Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment) system, which uses a blimp floating at about 1,000 feet, tethered by a cable that provides power and communications to the day-and-night cameras up there. The big problem is ground fire from rifles and machine guns. Iraqis, in particular, liked using the RAID blimps as targets. Rifle fire won't destroy the blimps, but did cause them to be brought down more frequently for repairs. Normally, the blimps can stay up for 30 days at a time, but the bullet-hole repairs brought some of them down every few days. The steel tower systems also suffered gunfire damage, but rarely any that damaged the equipment. It was soon found that tower-mounted cameras were just as good as aerostats in most situations and much cheaper.
BETSS-C turned the towers into more than just a surveillance system. BETSS-C operators had radio links to nearby bases and the towers in those bases. Thus, bases could call on each other for help in chasing down any spotted hostiles, as well as use video or electronic information each tower might pick up on the bad guys.
The towers were a big help in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where they were all over the place. This kind of surveillance makes it more difficult for the enemy to sneak around bases, either to collect information, plant a roadside bomb, or set up an ambush. BETSS-C software contains many intelligence tools and links to databases. Using BETSS-C, operators can reveal seemingly innocent behavior as part of something more sinister and preventable.
FYEO