h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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Tetherboat
Boat + hot air balloon. A sport and a vehicle! | |
Winds aloft forecasts show that only 500 feet above the ground,
once you get outside of the surface friction zone, winds often pick
up to 25kts or higher. The idea is simple: take a sailboat and
remove the sails. Attach a winch to the deck and release a
massive
hot air balloon thousands of
feet into the air on a Dyneema
tether.
Adjust the altitude of the balloon to find the highest winds, profit.
I
picture teams racing against each other by inventing sail/balloon
combos and tethers that could reach the jetstream.
Yes, steering might be an issue.
a rather picturesque version
Spinnaker_27s_20Dream
[FlyingToaster, Aug 15 2012]
[link]
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Does the balloon lift its own fuel tanks, or
does the fuel line run up the tether? |
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//remove the sails// and everything else except the keelboard. Stick some sails onto the balloon, like petals on a daisy. |
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Yeah, there would be trouble going upwind if you use a hot air balloon, but why not use a kite. Of course then you're just doing kite surfing on a much larger scale. |
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In this context, kites are Baked. |
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