so my question to you is a let's say the
wind is coming from over there I want
you to position the boat in whatever
direction you think will make go the
fastest and how would you set it up
and then you can you can set the sail
how you want something like that take
this load which you want to point the
boat this way what would you want to do
so how do most people think a sailboat
works where would you say most people
think a sailboat get some wind and
manages to move they don't really know
or maybe that like gets pushed from
behind yeah they're pushing by behind is
is somewhat easy to visualize your
fastest direction would be straight
forward will be going with the wind yeah
with wind I want you to talk to me about
what the wind is doing to the boat here
to make it go forwards well with the
wind behind push into the sail push
against sue
and it pushes the self important so the
slowest way to position your boat is
well the slowest is straight into the
winds because you're not generating any
lift and the second slowest like the
slowest actually sailing that would
probably be close to dead away because
you're very limited to so the wind's
coming from the back and you just got
your sails full yeah because when you're
going directly away from the wind your
boat wind cancels out the actual wind so
yours you can actually never exceed it
you would only be able to match and you
would have nothing no force in your
sails without any wind but that would be
frictionless too which couldn't happen
could you say up up up wind probably
with difficulty very slowly that's doing
this in little six egg how does it go
forwards if the wind is coming from here
how do you get agile you'd have to bring
it right round like that to bring it to
the side and then flick it right back
round to bring it in
against the wind as you go but that's
how I've seen the boats go so I'm trying
to figure out what could make the boat
go forwards if the wind's coming from
that side generally mean
engine Shh yes where is the force on
these sails what do you think I think it
tends to be a little Little Italy little
bit aside words so nurses back inside
words yeah how does the boat go forwards
yes okay but that dude Oh again well I
know I know it does but again I don't
have all the answers so how does the
sailboat move the sails actually act
like wings generating high and low
pressure on each side you generate high
pressure on the inside of your sail and
low pressure on the outside so you're
going faster around it right it has a
longer way to travel in a sense right
okay and then you generate a bit of lift
so the lift will actually end up being
in kind of this direction towards me
which is mostly sideways and will be
mostly sideways in a little bit forwards
but and that's why we need to have the
center board and rudder and they do they
kind of counteract that force because
they generate high and low pressure as
well as the boats trying to be pushed
sideways and kind of balances it out so
the boat goes forwards give it it seems
like I mean if the there's a force
pushing that way on the sail and the
opposite way on the center board it
seems like the whole thing would tend to
it would absolutely try and turn over
which is why the body weight in the
leverage of the people is so important
how can a sail boat go faster than the
wind
because it can generate it can generate
more pressure by its motion okay right
like it's there's only it can actually
happen quite easily in light wind
because let's say you only have three
knots going this way and then you
generate an odd of motion all of a
sudden you're sailing with more than
three knots of breeze over your sails
and then I can build and compound on
itself the limiting factor is the drag
on the hull okay yeah yeah so and the
drag on the sails actually that's
actually very large as well so in fact
the fastest way to sail a boat is not
downwind it's actually kind of like 90
degrees or 45 degrees something like
that that makes about go faster okay
thank you very much you're very welcome
I hope you enjoyed this video on the
physics of sailing if you want to see
more with Hunter click the first link if
you want to see more about how a wing
generates lift click the second link and
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yet then click the third link and i'll
see you next time
Oh