[TML] A Bit of Fluff

[Eris Reddoch]

Bruce Johnson wrote:
> On Apr 2, 2008, at 4:04 PM, shadow at shadowgard.com wrote:
> 
>> Keels on boats only work because they have "grip" on the
>> water. Sail powered wagons and ice-boats work by doing so
>> with the ground or the ice.
>> 
>> You *can't* steer a sail powered vehicle that has nothing
>> to interact with but the wind.
> 
> So the grav-sailors have a 'keel', essentially a large skid
> that can be lowered to drag along the ground. This adds
> some skill to the entire thing, the tradeoff of
> maneuverability versus the increase of speed from pulling
> it up, and a fine control over the grave floats to increase
> or decrease the apparent mass on the keel.
> 
> Makes it cool to watch as the yachts race downwind, then
> dig in to make the turns, throwing up huge clouds of dust,
> spray of gravel, etc. Makes being in front going into a
> curve or a tack very important, otherwise you can be
> blinded...

That's what I was going for, except the 'keel' is some sort of 
grav module based thing that puts drag on the surface as 
opposed to lifting up from it (tractor vs repulsor). I like 
the idea of the clouds of dust and throwing up sprays of 
gravel, though. :)

Eris