Don Montague | |
|---|---|
 Don Montague in Alameda in 2013. | |
| Born | Donald Lewis Montague Alberta, Canada |
| Occupations | Watersport athlete, designer |
| Notable work | Kiteboat Project, Makani Power |
Donald Lewis Montague is a Canadian-American watersport athlete and designer. [1] He is President of Kai Concepts, co-founder of Makani Power, and the head of the Kiteboat Project in Alameda, California. [2]
In 1982, Montague moved from Canada to Santa Barbara, California, and then to Maui, HI to pursue a career in windsurfing. After touring professionally in the Windsurfing World Cup, Montague began designing sails and other windsurfing equipment as Head Sail Designer at Gaastra Sails. [3] Later, while working as the head of Research & Development at Naish, Montague became interested in the idea of using kites to harness wind power in watersports. While being involved in the development of the first kites for Naish in 1997, [4] and helping to create software that increased the speed of kite design modifications, [5] Montague became an avid kitesurfer. In 2006, his interest in wind-related technology led him to engineers and fellow kitesurfers Corwin Hardham and Saul Griffith, and together they created Makani Power, an Alameda, California-based company that develops airborne wind turbines for commercial use. Makani (the Hawaiian word for "gentle breeze") was acquired by Google X in May 2013 and is still considered a pioneer in wind powered energy systems. [2] [6]
Montague's interest in kite power led him to create the Kiteboat Project. [2] Currently the project is part of Kai Concepts, a Bay Area team known for testing the limits of kite propulsion and experimenting with technological advances in watersport technology.
More recently, Kai Concepts expanded their program to include electric motor research, most notably converting the kiteboat into an electric foiling system (efoil), representing the next logical step in hydrofoil technology by pairing a hydrofoil with an electric motor. Constructed from the same quality composites used in high-end race boats, the board and foil are light, strong, and low-drag, allowing the device to take full advantage of the provided power. [7]
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains speed, the hydrofoils lift the boat's hull out of the water, decreasing drag and allowing greater speeds.
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, snow, sand, or other surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding. Kiteboarding is among the less expensive and more convenient sailing sports.
Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gained a popular following across Europe and North America by the late 1970s and had achieved significant global popularity by the 1980s. Windsurfing became an Olympic sport in 1984.
A foilboard, also known as a hydrofoil board or foil surfboard, is a type of board used in water sports; it is distinct from surfboards in that it has a hydrofoil rather than fins mounted underneath. This hydrofoil design allows the surfboard and its rider to rise above the water’s surface, allowing for fast speeds and increased maneuverability in a wide range of surf conditions. Foilboards are becoming increasingly popular across many water sports, including surfing, kiteboarding, windsurfing, and wakeboarding. Foilboards have also been used in competitions, with riders reaching speeds of up to 30 km/h while performing acrobatic maneuvers such as flips and twists.
A windsport is any type of sport which involves wind-power, often involving a non-rigid airfoil such as a sail or a power kite. The activities can be land-based, on snow, on ice or on water. Windsport activity may be regulated in some countries by aviation/maritime authorities if they are likely to interfere with other activities. Local authorities may also regulate activity in certain areas, especially on crowded beaches and parks.
Speed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible over a predetermined route, and having its overall or peak speed recorded and accredited by a regulatory body. The term usually refers to sailing on water, even though sailing on land and ice is progressively faster because of the lower friction involved. The World Sailing Speed Record Council is the body authorized by the World Sailing to confirm speed records of sailing craft on water.
An airborne wind turbine is a design concept for a wind turbine with a rotor supported in the air without a tower, thus benefiting from the higher velocity and persistence of wind at high altitudes, while avoiding the expense of tower construction, or the need for slip rings or yaw mechanism. An electrical generator may be on the ground or airborne. Challenges include safely suspending and maintaining turbines hundreds of meters off the ground in high winds and storms, transferring the harvested and/or generated power back to earth, and interference with aviation.
Kiteboating or kite boating is the act of using a kite rig as a power source to propel a boat. Kiteboating is a type of surface water sport, but it also has transportation uses
Airborne wind energy (AWE) is the direct use or generation of wind energy by the use of aerodynamic or aerostatic lift devices. AWE technology is able to harvest high altitude winds, in contrast to wind turbines, which use a rotor mounted on a tower.
Robert Staunton Naish is an American athlete and entrepreneur who has won 24 World Championship Windsurfing titles. He is also considered a pioneer of kiteboarding and standup paddleboarding.
A sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils lift the hull up and out of the water, greatly reducing wetted area, resulting in decreased drag and increased speed. A sailing hydrofoil can achieve speeds exceeding double and in some cases triple the wind speed.
Unconventional wind turbines are those that differ significantly from the most common types in use.
SkySails Group GmbH is a Hamburg-based company that sells kite rigs to propel cargo ships, large yachts and fishing vessels by wind energy as well as airborne wind energy systems for electricity production from high-altitude winds.
Makani Technologies LLC was an Alameda, California-based company that developed airborne wind turbines. Founded in 2006, Makani was acquired by Google in May 2013. In February 2020, Makani was shut down by Alphabet, Google's parent company.
X Development LLC, doing business as X, is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010. X has its headquarters about a mile and a half from Alphabet's corporate headquarters, the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to wind energy:
Crosswind kite power is power derived from airborne wind-energy conversion systems or crosswind kite power systems (CWKPS). The kite system is characterized by energy-harvesting parts flying transversely to the direction of the ambient wind, i.e., to crosswind mode; sometimes the entire wing set and tether set are flown in crosswind mode. From toy to power-grid-feeding sizes, these systems may be used as high-altitude wind power (HAWP) devices or low-altitude wind power (LAWP) devices without having to use towers. Flexible wings or rigid wings may be used in the kite system. A tethered wing, flying in crosswind at many times wind speed, harvests wind power from an area that exceeds the wing's total area by many times.
Jesse Richman is a big-wave kitesurfer and a big-air kiteboarder. He is a two-time world champion and the first kitesurfer to get barreled at Jaws. He is also known for his world record 790-foot tow-up and 170-foot jump over land.
Wing foiling or wing surfing or winging is a wind propelled water sport that developed from kitesurfing, windsurfing and surfing. The sailor, standing on a board, holds directly onto a wing. It generates both upward force and sideways propulsion and thus moves the board across the water. The recent development of foilboards, which plane very early on a hydrofoil fin and thereby lift off the water producing low friction, represent the ideal complementary hydrodynamic platform for wings.
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