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Points of sail and approximate apparent wind for a conventional sailboat on starboard tack. A point of sail is a sailing craft's 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.
Points of sail: the shaded area is the "no-sail" zone. Beating to windward on short (P1), medium (P2), and long (P3) tacks, each with a progressively wider corridor over the water. Sails are limited in how close to the direction of the wind they can power a sailing craft. The area towards the wind defining those limits is called the "no-sail zone".
Sailing into the wind is a sailing expression that refers to a sail boat's ability to move forward despite being headed into (or very nearly into) the wind. A sailboat cannot make headway by sailing directly into the wind (see "Discussion," below); the point of sail into the wind is called "close hauled". Sailing into the wind is possible when ...
All sailing craft reach a constant forward velocity (V B) for a given true wind velocity (V T) and point of sail. The craft's point of sail affects its velocity for a given true wind velocity. Conventional sailing craft cannot derive power from the wind in a "no-go" zone that is approximately 40° to 50° away from the true wind, depending on ...
Consequently, a sailboat experiences a wider range of apparent wind angles than does an ice boat, whose speed is typically great enough to have the apparent wind coming from a few degrees to one side of its course, necessitating sailing with the sail sheeted in for most points of sail.
As a point of reference, tack is the alignment of the wind with respect to a sailing craft under way. If the wind is from the starboard side of the sailing craft, it is on starboard tack, and if from port, on port tack. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea for vessels underway declare that when the courses of two ...
Windward and leeward directions (and the points of sail they create) are important factors to consider in such wind-powered or wind-impacted activities as sailing, wind-surfing, gliding, hang-gliding, and parachuting. Other terms with broadly the same meaning are widely used, particularly upwind and downwind. [3]
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. [1] [2] 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.