My first time out

[gegobyte]

Hello all

I first got interested in sailing when I was a small tyke. I used to study boat drawings in encyclopedias and other books. I drew hour upon hour of joy from tracing the drawings and dreaming about being on the water.
As I grew older I became caught up in the necessitys of life, work,bills,parenting and I drifted away from nautical things.
One day when visiting a flea market I found an old book entitled "How to sail".
I bought that book and took it home to read. Until that time I actually had no idea how 'sailing' was done! I was at a point in my life where the kids were gone from the nest and I had some extra 'disposable' income'.
I perused the local papers and the broker at the local lake untill I found a small boat I thought I could afford and handle!
I took it to the lake and carefully raised the mast and hanked on the sails and all the other things I had to do to ready my small boat. (A Luger 16').
I launched her and motored out into the lake all the while my hands were shaking! I cut the motor and raised the sails and sculled the stern of the boat around with the rudder and then something magical happened! The sails filled with a 'poof!' and the boat (her name was Lil' Bit) begain to move!
This was the first time I had ever been on a sailboat. Since that day I have been hooked and am now dreaming of retiring in the Carribean on a cruising sailboat.
Kevin

[USCGRET1990]

Knowledge Quiz: How is it some sailboats can actually go faster than the wind speed?

[Giulietta]

How is it that a glider flies????

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by USCGRET1990

Knowledge Quiz: How is it some sailboats can actually go faster than the wind speed?

As the boat's speed increases, the apparent wind increases, and the increase in apparent wind generates more lift in the sails, until the boat is effectively moving faster than the actual true windspeed.... generally only happens on multihulls and iceboats, not so much on monohulls. This is why the sails on many multihulls are often cut flatter than they would be for a similar sized monohull.

[USCGRET1990]

The airplane wing theory is correct! The back of the sail is a high presure area and the curved front of the sail a low presure area. Ice boats, because of such low resistance, can attain speeds of twice the wind speed. I used to have a pic of a small cat pulling a water skier, but can't seem to find it.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by USCGRET1990

The airplane wing theory is correct! The back of the sail is a high presure area and the curved front of the sail a low presure area. Ice boats, because of such low resistance, can attain speeds of twice the wind speed. I used to have a pic of a small cat pulling a water skier, but can't seem to find it.

Actually, ice boats can generally travel at more than twice wind speeds. The airplane wing theory is only part of the solution... it only generally works on multihulls and iceboats, as most monohulls have too much drag to allow them to take advantage of the additional lift generated by the increased apparent wind.