Fairings? Boats'n'bikes?

A few years ago John Nobile won the GDR using a mtbike with front and rear fairing.

I personally just LOVE messing with wind. On all my (few) tours and longer rides I fantasize about reducing headwinds and even about somehow USING the wind. The best solution or new device I've come up with so far is to think that fairings are a Good Idea.

In particular, as Nobile used, a front fairing that is mainly built around your aerobar just seems supersmart. Basically, you already have a blog of luggage up there so why not smooth it and go faster and/or pedal easier.

Or, skip the fabric luggage and use a front fairing pod that is attached to your aerobar and handlebar as a waterproof storage area. Fairing-as-luggage.

Then there's the rear area. Again, when touring it's already a blog of luggage and flattish surfaces that catch the sidewinds and wobble the bike. A smoothly rounded rear fairing set up as a cargo place seems smart.

Possibly, given that quite a few folks are learning how to home-build their own carbon bike frames, one could build-in a carbon front and rear fairing as part of the bike. Nothing to rattle loose. Optimal weight minimization, it seems.

I don't recall seeing anything that Nobile ever said for or against his fairing rig, so I wonder how well it worked for him. Anyone know?

Lastly, there's the Bold Frontier of Bike Sailing. In a strong tailwind or rear-quartering wind, I have a very hard time not acting on my bike-sail fantasy.

Long ago while touring in a big tailwind I tied the corners of a poncho to a stick that I held overhead. I tied the other corners to my brake levers. It worked great! -- I could see out of the poncho hood hole just fine. ...It worked dandy for some wide open, empty road bike-sailing. I even rode no-handed awhile with both arms held up, working my sail-boom. ...Perhaps there's a better, simpler rig idea out there, though.

Another probably crazy fantasy that arises for me on nearly every bike tour is boating-with-bike. Whenever I ride a long ways in hot weather along a beautiful curving shore in a nice breeze I dream about a bike and boat combo unit of some kind. This kind of fantasy might especially arise when one has to detour many miles around a river or body of water that is far shorter if crossed on the water... I also just plain like getting a bit wet when it's really hot. To me, bikes and boats go together. But while on the road they pretty much don't, at this time. ...I do dream of a fully-faired recumbent with a lower portion that is a hull that the wheels drop down thru. While on the water such a bike-boat would have the wheels removed and the wheel-holes sealed up. A drop-in thru-hull prop drive-unit would then propel the bike-boat thru the water. This could be another one-piece carbon rig. Dreaming...

A possibly more likely scenario would be to tow a small, light (carbon/kevlar) canoe behind your bike. A 12-foot boat is seaworthy and could be 15 lbs yet strong. Use the boat to store your luggage. Give it rounded sides to not catch sidewinds. Then when on the water you just stash your bike inside the boat. Light wheels could be strapped around the hull and a light yoke attached from bow to seatpost or chainstay -- fixtures could readily be made of carbon.