Abstract
Wave Catchers Barges© use high vertical drag coefficient large flat bottom barge hulls to ride the water's surface. The pressure on these very large flat surface areas lifts the barges almost the height of the swell waves, which typically pass every 5 to 10 seconds. The barge's mooring lines power generators located inside water tight barge enclosures. The top sections of the mooring lines are likely to be of a material that can resist the numerous cycles of varying wave loading and corrosion of mooring lines that must pass through the splash zone. A likely material and configuration for the top of the mooring lines will be steel wire reinforced rubber belts. When the generators are a rotating type, the steel wire reinforced rubber belts first go over large diameter articulated pulleys, then go over large diameter uni-directional pulleys, then turn a large diameter flywheel that finally turns the rotating generators. The forces in the mooring belts are large enough to eventually turn large wind turbine generators. All equipment is likely to be enclosed inside water tight enclosures on top of the barge proving a safe dry area for equipment preservation and personnel access for equipment maintenance. The use of large diameter low friction pulleys in these systems provides minimum mechanical losses on the way to the generators and maximum belt life. Mooring lines can be locked off for belt replacement.