|
Points Of Sail
A point of sail is a sailing craft's Course (navigation), direction of travel under sail in relation to the true wind direction over the surface. The principal points of sail roughly correspond to 45° segments of a circle, starting with 0° directly into the wind. For many sailing craft 45° on either side of the wind is a ''no-go'' zone, where a sail is unable to mobilize power from the wind. Sailing on a course as close to the wind as possible—approximately 45°—is termed ''beating'', a point of sail when the sails are ''close-hauled''. At 90° off the wind, a craft is on a ''beam reach''. The point of sail between beating and a beam reach is called a ''close reach''. At 135° off the wind, a craft is on a ''broad reach''. At 180° off the wind (sailing in the same direction as the wind), a craft is ''running downwind''. A given point of sail (beating, close reach, beam reach, broad reach, and running downwind) is defined in reference to the #True wind versus apparent win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sail
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may be made from a combination of woven materials—including canvas or polyester cloth, laminated membranes or bonded filaments, usually in a three- or four-sided shape. A sail provides propulsive force via a combination of lift and drag, depending on its angle of attack, its angle with respect to the apparent wind. Apparent wind is the air velocity experienced on the moving craft and is the combined effect of the true wind velocity with the velocity of the sailing craft. Angle of attack is often constrained by the sailing craft's orientation to the wind or point of sail. On points of sail where it is possible to align the leading edge of the sail with the apparent wind, the sail may act as an airfoil, generating propulsive force as air pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yardarm
A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber or steel or from more modern materials such as aluminium or carbon fibre. Although some types of fore and aft rigs have yards, the term is usually used to describe the horizontal spars used on square rigged sails. In addition, for some decades after square sails were generally dispensed with, some yards were retained for deploying wireless (radio) aerials and signal flags. Parts of the yard ; Bunt : The short section of the yard between the ''slings'' that attach it to the mast. ; Quarters : The port and starboard quarters form the bulk of the yard, extending from the slings to the fittings for the lifts and braces. ; Yardarms : The outermost tips of the yard: outboard from the attachments for the lifts. Note that these terms refer to stretches of the same spar, not to separate component parts. Controlling the yard The yard can rotate around the mast to allow the direction of the ves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Studding Sail
A studding sail, or stun'sl (pronounced stuns'l ) is an extra sail on a square rigged vessel for use in fair weather. It is set outside the square sails, using stun'sl booms which run out along the yards. They came into use some time in the middle of the 17th century and by the beginning of the 19th century were usual on all square rigged sailing vessels. They started to become less common in the last quarter of the 19th century, as the economies of smaller crews and avoidance of damage to the ship's gear became more important than a fast voyage. History The origins of studding sails are relatively uncertain. The earliest reference is in 1655, but precise information on how these early examples were rigged is unknown. It is not until 1790 that this is available. Some changes in the detail of design and usage occurred over succeeding years. All ordinary working square-rigged vessels were usually fitted out to set stun'sls by the start of the 19th century. This started to change ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinnaker
A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a Point of sail#Reaching, reach (wind at 90° to the course) to Point of sail#Running downwind, downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually nylon, and are often brightly colored. They may be designed to perform best as either a reaching or a running spinnaker, by the shaping of the panels and seams. They are attached at only three points and said to be ''flown''. Etymology Some dictionaries suggest that the origin of the word could be traced to the first boat to commonly fly a spinnaker, a yacht called ''Sphinx'', mispronounced as ''Spinx''. ''Spinnaker'' entry in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1996). Oxford University PressAccording to encyclopedia.com Both retrieved on 20 July 2008. ''Sphinx'' first set her spinnaker in the Solent in 1865, and the first recorded use of the word was in 1866 in the Augu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Velocity Made Good
Velocity made good, or VMG, is a term used in sailing, especially in yacht racing, indicating the speed of a sailboat towards (or from) the direction of the wind. The concept is useful because a sailboat cannot sail directly upwind, and thus often can not, or should not, sail directly to a mark to reach it as quickly as possible. It is also often less than optimal to sail directly downwind. Concept Instead of sailing directly toward a windward mark, the helmsman chooses a point of sail towards the direction of the wind that maximizes velocity made good (either towards the destination - or towards better winds). To actually reach a mark, the boat needs to alternate between courses (''tacks'') where the wind approaches from alternating sides. The helmsman uses VMG to find exactly what the optimum angle against the wind is. At the optimum boat speed and angle to the wind, VMG is maximized, steering closer to the direction of the wind will reduce boat speed, while steering further awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High-performance Sailing
High-performance sailing is achieved with low forward surface resistance—encountered by catamarans, sailing hydrofoils, iceboats or land sailing craft—as the sailing craft obtains motive power with its sails or aerofoils at speeds that are often faster than the wind on both upwind and downwind points of sail. Faster-than-the-wind sailing means that the apparent wind angle experienced on the moving craft is always ahead of the sail. This has generated a new concept of sailing, called "apparent wind sailing", which entails a new skill set for its practitioners, including tacking on downwind points of sail. History Frank Bethwaite offers the following chronology of key advances in sailing technology that provided the essential elements of high-performance sailing: * 1900s: Moveable ballast and planing hulls were emerging. * 1960s: Flexible masts, sail-shaping controls, and knowledge of exploiting wind shifts in racing were developed. * 1970s: Powerful rigs, including wingsail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tacking (sailing)
Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing craft ( sailing vessel, ice boat, or land yacht), whose next destination is into the wind, turns its bow toward and through the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side of the boat to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction. Sailing vessels are unable to sail higher than a certain angle towards the wind, so "beating to windward" in a zig-zag fashion with a series of tacking maneuvers, allows a vessel to sail towards a destination that is closer to the wind than the vessel can sail directly. A sailing craft whose course is downwind jibes (or "wears" if square-rigged) by having the apparent wind cross the stern from one tack to the other. High-performance sailing craft may tack, rather than jibe, downwind, when the apparent wind is well forward. Beating to windward Sails are limited in how close to the direction of the wind they can power a sailing craft. The ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Course Made Good By Tacking--square-rigged Ship Versus Schooner
Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding purple symbols on the map Education * Course (education), a unit of instruction in one subject, lasting one academic term * Course of study, or academic major, a programme of education leading to a degree or diploma Food * Course (food), a set of one or more food items served at once during a meal. The main ingredient is often meat or fish. It most often follows an appetizer, soup, or salad. * Main course, the primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. Sports * Courses and rules, in show jumping, an equitation or equestrian obstacle course * Coursing, the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs * Golf course, an area of land designated for the play of golf * La Course by Le Tour de France ("La Course"), a women's professio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
