I’m no expert, but it’s possible that advances in material science, our understanding of wind & ocean currents, GPS, etc. over the last, what, 150 years? all could massively improve efficiency.
As far as I know, humanity was still improving sailing tech till the steam engine dominated it. I guess my point is that it’s impossible to tell where we could’ve been now without actually having those years of iteration & innovation; the steam engine quickly and abruptly stymied all developments on that front.
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I’m no expert, but it’s possible that advances in material science, our understanding of wind & ocean currents, GPS, etc. over the last, what, 150 years? all could massively improve efficiency.
As far as I know, humanity was still improving sailing tech till the steam engine dominated it. I guess my point is that it’s impossible to tell where we could’ve been now without actually having those years of iteration & innovation; the steam engine quickly and abruptly stymied all developments on that front.