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.
There is a considered observation that we either have high mode or low mode sailors at the top of any fleet. Sailing high or low mode has individual advantages in different conditions, so we have to look carefully at what we mean by high or low mode. The purpose of this blog is to discuss sailing styles and blow some setup myths apart.
This blog is for the big people. The big people bring super athleticism to sailing - they bring strength, style, and often grace and athleticism. They bring a lot of charisma and friendship too. The dinghy sailing world will be poorer without them, and the Olympic circuit a lot less friendlier place without the big guys. Some of us may even need cranes to load the car on pack up day without the help of these athletes!
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