OutLeader (TM) kite pulls catamaran in Narragansett Bay. Photo:George Reekie

Windsports
Whoever heard of pulling boats with kites?

by Rick Kinnaird

Although it's cold and quiet this time of year on Hatteras, it doesn't mean people aren't thinking and doing. While many of the kite shops and surf schools are closed the world of wind-powered innovation is still going full tilt.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dean Jordan (that's Dean holding Shelby's bouquet on the View from the Deck page, by the way). Dean is one of the true innovators in the world of kites. His two-line stunt kite has been copied by more kite companies than any other. Although imitation is indeed flattery, it doesn't help pay the bills. Dean Jordan has been on the leading edge of many of today's modern kite innovations and he has the distinction of being the only person I know to ever recover a hang glider from a stall in mid-air. His knowledge of aerodynamics saved his life. I must tell Francis Rogallo about this. (Francis invented the hang glider for those who don't know. He lives in Kitty Hawk.)

Dean is also a famed kite buggier. Having just watched the snowboarding competition in the Olympics, I'd have to say that he is "sick" when it comes to kite buggying, which is the art of being pulled by a kite while sitting in a high tech aluminum Big Wheel.

This conversation with Dean was about his latest venture, KiteShip. (Don't say it too quickly or you may be misunderstood.)

RICK: So what is KiteShip all about?

DEAN: KiteShip is a company that is innovating tethered flight like no other. We are interested in harvesting the wind in order to move large ships across vast distances using a tethered aerodyne, or kite. We are also involved in government applications which could change the way people think about kites and sea transportation.

RICK: Hmmm, so you are using kites to tow boats, even ships you say. What's the biggest boat you've pulled so far?

DEAN: Well sir, we have a Guinness World Record for pulling a 25 tonne (55,115 lbs) Americas Cup Class yacht at a speed of around 7 knots for 45 minutes in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand, on 17 December 2002. We also have the record for the largest kite to pull a vehicle of any kind that was a 420 sq m (4520 sq ft) monster we flew to propel an 8.5 tonne (18,740 lb) yacht near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia last year.

RICK: I assume the idea is to save money on fuel. What would you anticipate the savings to be?

DEAN: In the KiteShip transport sailcraft papers, we estimate around 30%.

RICK: Are there other reasons for doing this and, if so, what are they?

DEAN: First, companies are increasingly looking for "green" solutions, this is one. Second, we anticipate the ability to put tethered flying wings on big ships without retro-fitting the vessel. A huge reason to use our methods is that there is no change in underlying infrastructure to the shipping business.

RICK: You mentioned you've used this in racing, can you tell us a bit more about that?

DEAN: The kite we developed for Oracle/BMW for the 2003 America’s Cup challenge was to solve a specific problem.
They wanted to see if a kite could be developed that could classify as a rules legal spinnaker replacement sail. Our kite did that, however it was not used as time in the program ran out. Meanwhile, we've sold dozens of these all over the world to innovative sailors looking to increase their range and speed.

RICK: Why would a kite be better than a spinnaker?

DEAN: Spinnakers are very dangerous. They can break a mast and leave a sailboat stranded. They can also cause a boat to "broach," that means they can hold it over on its side which can allow the boat to fill with water and possibly sink. Racers are usually the only ones who come close to broaching; others just don’t put their spinnakers out when there is any real “weight” to the wind. Anyone who flies a spinnaker usually carries a big knife just in case they have to cut the sail away to save the boat. With our kite, there is not this danger.

RICK: Yeah, I remember Dom Jalbert, the inventor of the parafoil kite, made a parafoil-type spinnaker for Dennis Conner for one of his defenses of the America’s Cup and he never used it.

DEAN: Racing sailors are a skitterish lot. They say they’ll pay a lot of money for a device that will let them go a quarter of a knot faster but, when we showed them our kite would let them go one and a half knots faster, they decided not to use it in the race. They deny reality.

RICK: Is KiteShip looking for a racer with the cajones to use it in a big time race?

DEAN: Absolutely, it would be like landing a quadruple in Olympic competition. It would stand the racing community on its ear and everyone would have to have one.

RICK: Sounds like what happened in the windsurfing community when kitesurfing came in.

DEAN: Oh yeah, exactly. After the kite surfers came in and were going faster than the windsurfers, the windsurfers changed their rules to eliminate them from their competitions and a new sport was created. The same thing will happen in the sailing community. It won’t even be close in a race.

RICK: How fast do you estimate you can go?

DEAN: With our current kite you can certainly increase your speed, due to the fact that you can fly a much bigger kite than a spinnaker. So far, we've been able to exceed hull speed on every type of boat we've been on, and the variety is astounding.

RICK: What happens if the wind dies and the kite falls in the water?

DEAN: If the wind dies, we pull the kite in and turn the motor on – just like any other sailor would. If we accidentally dunk the kite, we bring it in with the rescue line. Our kite is rigged so that it does not "shrimp" like a spinnaker, that means it doesn't sail underwater. We can easily release all the control lines and bring the kite in with a rescue line. We like to say our sail "squids" in the water.

RICK: Have you pulled other things besides boats? Maybe you can tell us your wackiest experience?

DEAN: Well, currently we've pulled all kinds of sailboats and, as I said, we've exceeded every boat's hull speed. The most interesting part of this has been that people will deny the reality of what they are seeing. We're featured in a documentary that hasn’t aired yet for The Discovery Channel where we showed our kite could pull a stone block the size of one of the blocks used to build the pyramids.

RICK: Would you see powerboats carrying one of your kites for safety reasons, like if they ran out of fuel? Could it also be used as a distress signal?

DEAN: Certainly, we have proven the efficacy of the kite as a
towing device. You won't be able to go the 30 mph you could go
in a powerboat but you could go at some speed to get your boat somewhere that the wind is blowing. Launching from any boat is made much simpler with the addition of a short mast or flagpole that extends above the deck. We are adding stub masts to powerboats and also to larger vessels. The launch and recovery is then quite simple, whether sail or power. There is a powerboat manufacturer who is considering building a small mast in their boats to be able to ship them by sea at low cost. I'd also like to
mention that this is not a "set and forget" type of system, neither is a spinnaker. People would have to be trained how to use it. A sailboater can learn in an afternoon; a powerboat person with no sailing experience might take several afternoons.

RICK: If someone wants to purchase one of your kites what should they do? Where can they get more information?

DEAN: They can go to our website: www.kiteship.com. Right now our kites are individually tailored to each application and as such are custom made. Installed costs are comparable to similar quality custom made spinnakers. We want to keep developing the concepts and we are looking for other people to develop the production and the markets for these ideas. If you've got marketing or manufacturing experience or are interested in investing, this is the time to get in on the first floor. We're already off the ground.