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For local company, cutting-edge sailboat could be wave of the future Date published: 8/27/2005
By RUSTY DENNEN In a metal shed at Fairview Beach Marina, Payne Kilbourn and Lee Hasell work on a sail for a boat they are building. But this is no ordinary sail, and in the annals of sailing, no ordinary boat. The sail more resembles a vertical airplane wing, fitted with solar panels. And the boat--with the help of computers and satellite navigation--will steer itself, with no humans aboard. Welcome to a technology-enabled brave new world in which unmanned ships will do oceanographic research, monitor oil platforms and undersea cables, patrol harbors and conduct military missions. The sleepy King George community on the Potomac River isn't exactly a research and development hub, though boats of all types abound. What the location provides is a wide expanse of river for testing--one element that attracted the Dahlgren Navy lab a few miles downriver. Their company, Unmanned Ocean Vehicles, recently received a $70,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research to produce a small-scale prototype. UOV is a division of Solar Sailor Holdings Ltd., in Sidney, Australia. Kilbourn is president; Hasell, chief engineer and boatwright; and Gary W. Van Tassel, chief designer. All are experienced sailors. "You could use this for anything you'd use a manned ship for, only it would be much, much cheaper," says Kilbourn, 51, a Naval Academy graduate who retired as a Navy captain in 2003. He envisions sending UOVs to remote ocean reaches for climate and fisheries research, tsunami monitoring, gathering oceanographic data and the like. Military and Coast Guard applications might include reconnaissance, mine detection and port security. UOVs could be launched from land, or transported and released at sea. The obvious advantage: No crew to feed or put in harm's way, smaller, cheaper vessels and vast amounts of fuel saved. The company is converting a 20-foot Fiberglas boat with 71/2-foot beam that will be fitted with computers and navigation software. Those will enable the craft to steer itself by satellite coordinates, right itself in storms, "see" by video link, sense and avoid obstacles, and even shed ocean debris.
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