The Physics of Sailing - KQED QUEST

It's not a damn airplane wing. The pressure of the wind from the side pushes the sail both forward and to the side. (If the wind is behind it pushes the board forward. The keel and rudder combination limits the sideways movement and transfers most of the forces forward. It is unstable which is why there needs to be constant rudder adjustment. In this manner the wind causes the sail to push the boat forward like a wedge with it constantly being wedged by the wind.

a sail is not an airplane wing !! A wing pushes a plane up; not forward. A sail pushes a boat forward.

this was produced in high definition you guys

I don't think they've heard of a schooner.

me to dude cool. see you on the sea

Gonna go and practice this activity... looks fun . Thank you.

360p = high definition

Do you have an explanation as to why the air wants to rush round the outside of the sail? I guess it is something like - as the air reaches an oblique sail and passes the leading edge, low pressure is created as this air has to turn a corner. ie the very act of putting an obstacle against the wind will tend to cause a vacuum in the lee.

Its a Stitchup

The big Clipper ships held oceanic route records from the mid 1800's until the 1990's. Much of the speed was born of the hull designs, very much ballast balanced by as much sail as they could put up. They also plied the trade winds and ocean streams as much as possible. The ships often paid for their construction after a one way trip, like to S.F., Cal.
Sometimes they were even broken up for their valuable lumber. This preferable to losing the ships to Teredo worms. This was inevitable as copper plating wasn't mounted on the bottom of the hulls to save money, speed construction, keep the cargo weight high and keep the the hull speed high. If someone reads a script that is pertaining to a subject that they don't know well, is it fair to ridicule the orator? It depends on how well they were paid!

Man, I thought this was dumbed down for the girls, until I read some of the comments here. LOL

lol i been sailing a lean all this years a go but i forgot lol so all these ships in old films in the real world only dose forward how do they go back

"produced in high definition" = 360p

LOL

fucken white people

fuck off

great video... join our Sailing Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/886157941490965/

4:15 is an incorrect demonstration of Bernoulli's Law. Try hanging the paper vertically and blowing on it...it will not move in the direction of the blown air.

Correctly analyzed, lift is caused by streamline curvature, which is not taken into account for by Bernoulli's equation, which only analyzes velocity and pressure gradients ALONG the streamline (from mouth to far end of paper), not PERPENDICULAR to it (from paper surface outward).

when you absolutely HAVE to spam the word modern trying to catch the attention of audience (-_-) how irritating

Story: You were fishing peacefully, but suduntly, a shark sunk your boat! All you have on you boat is doughnuts with deadly sprinkles to kill the deadly lopsters! If you train a shark, you can ride him or her and kill the lopsters easy! Good luck, Sailer! :)

I have 3 years of studies left then I'm buying a used sailboat and taken sometime off. For me it's the best thing in the world.