Steaming into the Future

摘要

The options and types of marine propulsion avail-able to the designers and potential owners of water borne vessels has never been more com-plex or comprehensive in any time since prehis-toric man's first dugout canoe entered the water. Human derived power, bare hands and rudimentary paddles soon gave way to wind and sails, so that man could engage in other activities onboard whilst the vessel was moving through the water. However the wind was not always there when it was wanted, it was inconsistent in strength and often not going in the same direction as the one you wanted to go. This led to increasingly sophisticated sail controlling systems (rig-ging) to exploit the variable wind strengths and directions.