Paddle

Things can get ugly and inefficient when a ground effect vehicle accidentally skims the water, adding significant drag that can drastically slow it down, wrench it sideways or just cost energy. One inventor is solving this problem with paddle wheels.Ground effect vehicles are an exotic form of extremely low-flying aircraft, staying within their wingspan of the surface below to ride on a cushion of high-pressure air that gives them extra lift. The closer, the better; if you stay within 5% of the wingspan, the resulting…

If you're going on a self-propelled river journey, is it really self-propelled if someone drives you back to the start when you're done? Perhaps not – and that's part of the reason British entrepreneur Ben Kilner created a convertible paddle-board/bike-and-trailer combo known as the Duckleberry Finn.We last heard from Ben just this June, when he was in the process of pedal-paddling from the navigable source of the River Thames to its outlet into the North Sea. He was doing so in a homebuilt canoe-like watercraft called…

Last Updated: August 25, 2022, 18:39 ISTSub-continent's oldest paddle steamer set to sail in Hooghly (Photo: IANS)PS Bhopal was built by the Dumbarton Shipyard in the UK in 1944 and sent to Kolkata (then Calcutta) as a ferry boat. It is now a prized possession of SMPA 78-year-old paddle steamer — the only one in the Indian subcontinent — will soon start plying the Hooghly as a recreational vessel. PS (paddle steamer) Bhopal has been fitted with modern marine engines now and trials have been conducted to certify its…