This week's guest is Yves Parlier, a legendary sailor and an individual with a passion for innovation.
During the Vendee Globe 2000-2001, Parlier, after a devastating dismasting, completed an ingenious repair to his ship’s wing mast and still managed to finish the race. This achievement, among others, has placed him in the public eye as an extraordinary sailor. He has since then switched careers and is now the CEO of Beyond the Sea.
Beyond the Sea develops kite sails used to tow boats. In 2017, they launched the first towing sail for pleasure boats: the LibertyKite. Soon after, the LibertyKite Second Generation was launched: a kite sail steered by an automatic pilot that will also send and recover the sail. This is an exciting technology and for this episode, Yves joins us with Marine Rialan, project manager at Beyond the Sea, to discuss the potential of kite power.
But what makes the LibertyKite so innovative? For starters, using kite sails is one of the easiest ways to retrofit cargo ships to utilize wind power. Kites are adaptable to all ships and can be attached with ease while retrofitting cargo ships to use sails is more complex and costly. In addition, when kites are not in use there is no drag from the wind or adverse affect to ship performance which cannot be said about sails.
Beyond the Sea is also working on a new project called “SeaLab, '' where they will rebuild a catamaran to be self-sufficient in energy with zero emissions. Parlier hopes to transform the ship into a “laboratory of the sea,” where it will be used to develop new maritime technologies. Beyond the Sea was also selected to receive 1 million Euros in funding from Time for the Planet, biggest citizen community dedicated to global action against greenhouse gases emissions.
Wind has been used for ship propulsion for thousands of years and despite our transition to bunker fuel in the 19th century, Parlier believes the future of maritime shipping lies with wind. Join us in this episode to get a glimpse into Beyond the Seas’s role in innovating the green maritime shipping industry.