Monday, March 16, 2015

Must See: Physics of Sailing

This is one of my favorite vids that I have featured on this blog.  Check it out!



Had a great sail on my friends 41' yesterday.  The winds were 15 or so when we departed Tiburon and hit 20 when we rounded Angel.  John brought his girlfriend Tina and we had a blast as we sailed to the Bay Bridge and back.  The yacht is a 41' Islander Ketch from 1974.  Another awesome day on our lovely bay.  Kona had a good time too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am convinced this standard story is wrong for sails. I agree it is right for solid wings on airplanes at high speed, but I think sails work by redirecting the wind out the back of the boat, which then moves forward. Obviously you need a keel to stop it moving sideways instead.

Fungod said...

I think the folks at NASA will disagree with you statement.

Anonymous said...

How so? NASA only deals with solid wings. It is different with sails. Even with solid wings it only work at relatively high speed, at low speed you have to angle them, or lower the flaps to create an air flow that keeps or gets you airborne.