It looks like the more things change the more they stay the same. A German company, SkySails, is going to start selling a new style of sail to help large freighters move through the ocean faster.
“SkySails’ system consists of an enormous towing kite and navigation software that can map the best route between two points for maximum wind efficiency. In development for more than four years, the system costs from roughly $380,000 to $3.2 million, depending on the size of the ship it’s pulling. SkySails claims it will save one third of fuel costs.”
More detail here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/costingtheearth_20051124.shtml – and a lot more in the Real Audio stream of the program (linked from the page above).
Why are people so set on reinventing the wheel? I mean sails already exist.