I have heard that sailboats can travel faster than the windspeed but nobody has ever been able to tell me how this is possible. Due to the drag of the boat in the water I would think that the boat would always travel slower than the windspeed.
2006-11-14 08:18:06 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
If you're sailing and the wind stops, you coast. Then you're moving faster than the wind.
If there's no wind and you're using the boat as a surfboard.
If you're reaching with a light planing hull, your hull speed can exceed the wind speed. The wind speed relative to the boat is a combination of the wind speed and the boat speed. Conditions would need to be nearly perfect.
2006-11-14 10:22:52 · answer #1 · answered by Frank N 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sailboats use three points of sail to generate power from the sails:
Beating: Windward, so called because the boat beats the wind. The boat may not travel directly into the wind, but is able to attack roughly edges 30 to 45 degrees from the eye of the wind. This is based on lift from the sails in the horizontal plane, and counteracting lift from the keel or center board.
Reaching: This is the fastest point of sail if the boat hull is designed to plane on the surface of the water. The power from the sails are again lift, and the power is so great that a properly designed boat planes above maximum hull speed for displacement.
Running: Directly downwind. The boat will travel with the wind pushing the sails. Some experienced sailors get large displacement vessels to plane by surfing the faces of the waves coming from astern.
In my experience, the boats don't exceed the velocity of the wind per se. The beating point of sail is in the net opposite direction when considerd as a vector quantity.
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2006-11-14 16:25:28 · answer #2 · answered by odu83 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only two possible ways I can think of are : 1) if the current in the water propels the boat faster than the wind, or 2.) if the motor of the sailboat propels the boat faster than the wind.
2006-11-14 16:26:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Mainly because of water speed, not resistance.
Sailboats can even sail into the direction of the wind using a method called tacking.
2006-11-14 16:25:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ah, but did you consider that there may be a current in the WATER helping to push you along? That should easily make it possible. My two cents.
2006-11-14 16:26:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋