I thought a lot about these things, and apparently, a less elegant way to tackle this problem is decoupling power harvesting and propulsion. Like, put your best suitable power plant on a boat, then conduct power to best propulsion (probably submerged turbine or something)
I can’t find the original video I wanted. It was by one of these guys (I think) for sure one of the bigger science creators, but then I DID actually find a more topical video, about this exactly!
I thought a lot about these things, and apparently, a less elegant way to tackle this problem is decoupling power harvesting and propulsion. Like, put your best suitable power plant on a boat, then conduct power to best propulsion (probably submerged turbine or something)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(wind-powered_vehicle)
Can go directly upwind (no tacking required). Can also be applied to boats.
I can’t find the original video I wanted. It was by one of these guys (I think) for sure one of the bigger science creators, but then I DID actually find a more topical video, about this exactly!
This is one by Steve mould:
https://youtu.be/u5InZ6iknUM
Which was inspired by the veritasium one:
https://youtu.be/jyQwgBAaBag