Paravane (water kite)

The paravane is a towed winged (hydrofoiled) underwater object—a water kite. Paravanes have been used in sport or commercial fishing, marine exploration and industry, sports and military. The wings of paravanes are sometimes in a fixed position, else positioned remotely or by actions of a human pilot. Pioneer parafoil developer Domina Jalbert considered water kites hardly different from air kites. However, paravanes generally orient themselves in respect to the water surface. They may have sensors that record or transmit data or be used entirely for generating a holding force like a Sea anchor does. While a sea-anchor allows a vessel to drift more slowly downwind, the paravane travels sideways at several times the downwind speed. Paravanes are, like air kites, often symmetrical in one axis and travel in two directions, the change being effected by gybing, shunting, or flipping over.

The paravane weapon was developed by the British inventor Sir Dennistoun Burney as a means to sweep enemy mines. Towed behind a ship, the paravane wire would either cut the mine's mooring cable or bring the mine and paravane together, detonating the mine. There are offensive and defensive paravanes. There are main paravanes and auxiliary protector paravanes. Some paravanes are equipped with cable cutters that cut the moored mines. Explosive paravanes are essentially a towable or controllable mine. The US Department of Defense continues to have interest in paravanes.

Abstract : A paravane includes an elongated fuselage; a wing section of spaced wing members attached to an intermediate portion of the fuselage; stabilizer fins for maintaining the paravane lined-up with the direction of tow; a depth control flap positioned adjacent the wing section and having a pivot axis extending closely adjacent to the towing point; and depth control means of controlling the position of the control flap. The wing members have a straight leading edge portion, a straight trailing edge portion and a curved intermediate portion wherein the wing members are arranged such that the chord lines extend at oblique angles with the longitudinal axis of the fuselage and such that the resultant hydrodynamic lift force vector acting on the wing section passes through the tow point. Department of Navy, Washington, D.C.;07 AUG 1984

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