Tall Ships are getting taller - thanks to kite-flying

Freighters of the future will be powered by giant kites saving on fuel costs, and spawning a new breed of deep sea sailormen.

Forget VLCC (Very Large Crude Carriers) the buzz acronym around shipping circles today are VLFFS (Very large free-flying sails). KiteShip Corporation, based in Martinez, California has spent 27 years developing the project which will bring multi-thousand horsepower installations to the world’s largest ships.

It is an unusual but not new idea: kite sailing has been practiced for a
millennium or more in the South Pacific and for nearly 200 years in western sailing.