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 sailing world is going foiling mad. Time alone will tell whether it's a good thing or not, but what we can say is that it's fun and fast, and very different in feeling. What is the same for the sailor is that we need to understand a far greater range of sail settings in order to optimise the performances of these boats.
Anyone who has sailed against top sailors will know that many times you can be approaching half way up the first beat, and either in front of or in touch with some of the regatta favourites - often alongside them. A minute later the top sailor will have climbed on you, hit a gust of wind that you can’t reach, and gone from high mode to extremely fast forward compared to yourself, and from feeling great, being in touch or ahead of the good guys, you’re suddenly a hundred metres and forty boats behind them within around 90 seconds. This blog is about beginning to understand how they do that, so you can start to do it too!
High Court Training for Silver A different way to train for Silver against all odds The Story of Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervagar and their battles through the High Court of Delhi to achieve sailing glory for India This is a true story. Whilst being longer than the usual blog we feel it... Continue Reading →
Why does the mast matter? In terms of sailing boat “hardware”, the mast must be considered one of the most dominant pieces of equipment when considering impact on performance. We have many types of mast, and along with the evolution of hull design and the progression to apparent wind sailing, the mast has probably changed... Continue Reading →
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