Sailing

While luxury travel firm Orient Express is best known for its train excursions, it's now branching out into cruises … in a big way. The company has just unveiled what will reportedly be the world's largest sailing ship, the Orient Express Silenseas.

Danish yacht builder X-Yachts recently launched its first-ever electric-propelled yacht. Called the X4.9E, the hybrid vessel's propulsion comes from battery, sail or diesel power, and the latter two sources can recharge the batteries.

Drift Energy puts a different spin on wind power. Instead of creating windmill-derived electricity, its plan sees AI-routed hydrofoil sailing yachts generating electricity for electrolysis. Those yachts would then deliver green hydrogen ashore.

Italian senior yacht designer Luca Bassani is the force behind the world’s first full-wide-body superyacht. Dubbed wallywhy200, it's a modern vessel that boasts innovation, space, speed and performance.

Mindful of the significant carbon emissions generated by the marine industry in general, America's Cup reigning champion Emirates Team New Zealand has been developing a hydrogen-powered chase boat, and has now taken it out for its first spin.

In a typical sailboat race, the course is marked with a series of buoys that have to be anchored to the seabed, and which may get pushed around by winds or currents. MarkSetBot addresses those problems, with internet-connected robotic buoys.

After sending a fleet of self-sailing drones into the path of Hurricane Sam to help improve forecast models, Saildrone has now launched three uncrewed surface vehicles into the Gulf Stream winter to gather data on carbon uptake in the ocean.

Earlier this year, Saildrone joined forces with NOAA to launch sensor-packed unmanned surface vehicles into paths of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean to gather data. Now one of those drones has captured footage from inside a Category 4 hurricane.

Two teams, Switzerland's SP80 and France's Syroco, are taking aim at the world speed sailing record in 2022, with a pair of thoroughly remarkable kiteboats that both teams believe can smash previous records, targeting top speeds up to 80 knots.

Though some folks chase storms for thrills or curiosity, there are also those who do so for scientific purposes. And it's the lattermost pursuit that will see a small fleet of unmanned surface vehicles deliberately head into hurricane territory.

San Francisco-based aquatic drone-maker Saildrone has returned with a bigger and better version of its unmanned vehicle designed to explore the seas, the newly introduced 72-ft (22-m) Saildrone Surveyor.

What connects the America's Cup, a dinner in Egypt and a house with no knocker? The answer is a man called Robert, born 216 years ago today, and his ill-fated sail boat: a schooner by the name of Titania.