When we go sailing, the boat may just push water out of the way (usually called displacement mode), ride on top of its own bow wave (planing) or foil. This week we look at how water resistance effects boatspeed, and what we can do to minimise this resistance.
the technical abilities to be fast on a reach and control your angle of sailing are still worth mastering as every small gain to be made is worth a while. It is incredible how many boats you can take on a reach if you are both fast and smart.
The speed differences between sailors in displacement mode can make the difference between a champion and an average sailor, for many classes the big money is in the runs and the ability to be faster than others while still complying to rule 42 is a big issue.
The mysteries of sails are often best unravelled by thinking of them as simple and logical tools. We can go into details of flow, turbulence and aspect ratio, but it doesn’t really make the boat that we are trying to tune any faster. This blog is about understanding the goals of tuning masts and sails, and hopefully will give you some ideas on how to go faster.
We are featuring the legend that is Bruce Kendall here because, as with everything he’s involved with, Bruce takes it to another level, to the extreme. He is an amazing character. He didn’t just “do” an Olympic campaign, but had a career spanning over a couple of decades, won innumerable World, Continental and Olympic medals, was THE yardstick to measure success
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