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A sailing craft is said to be sailing close-hauled when its sails are trimmed in tightly and are acting substantially like a wing, relying on lift to propel the craft forward on a course as close to the wind as the sail can provide lift. This point of sail lets the sailing craft travel upwind, diagonally to the wind direction. [4]
True wind (V T) is the same everywhere in the diagram, whereas boat velocity (V B) and apparent wind (V A) vary with point of sail. Forces on sails result from movement of air that interacts with sails and gives them motive power for sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and sail-powered land vehicles.
A polar diagram, or polar plot, is a graph that shows a sailboat's potential speed over a range of wind speeds and relative wind angles. [1] It normally consists of the right side of a line chart with the radius representing the yacht speed and the angle representing the wind direction blowing from top to bottom. Several lines are normally ...
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 the sail is angled in a slightly more forward direction than the sail force. In this aspect, the boat will move forward because the keel (centerline), of the ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Apparent wind is important to sailors in order to set sail angle with respect to the wind and to anticipate how much power the wind will generate on a point of sail. Apparent wind differs in speed and direction from the true wind that is experienced by a stationary observer and composed of the true wind speed (TWS) and true wind direction (TWD ...