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Boat velocity (in black) generates an equal and opposite apparent wind component (not shown), which adds to the true wind to become apparent wind. Apparent wind and forces on a sailboat . As the boat sails further from the wind, the apparent wind becomes smaller and the lateral component becomes less; boat speed is highest on the beam reach.
Sailing into the wind is a sailing expression that refers to a sail boat's ability to move forward despite being headed into (or very nearly into) the wind. A sailboat cannot make headway by sailing directly into the wind ( see "Discussion," below); the point of sail into the wind is called " close hauled ".
Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing craft (sailing vessel, ice boat, or land yacht), whose next destination is into the wind, turns its bow toward and through the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side of the boat to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction. [1]
Apparent wind is the wind velocity (direction and speed), V A, measured aboard a moving sailing craft; it is the net effect of the boat wind, V B —the air flow over the craft induced by its speed over the earth (equal to in magnitude, but opposite in direction to the craft's speed)—and the true wind, V T.
This motion is generated directly either by the water and wind motion, particularly lateral wave motion, exerting forces against the hull or by the ship's own propulsion; or indirectly by the inertia of the ship while turning. This movement can be compared to the vessel's lateral drift from its course.
The physics of sailing arises from a balance of forces between the wind powering the sailing craft as it passes over its sails and the resistance by the sailing craft against being blown off course, which is provided in the water by the keel, rudder, underwater foils and other elements of the underbody of a sailboat, on ice by the runners of an ...
Square rigged sails also provide relatively symmetric drive off the wind. As weather helm requires pulling the rudder through the water at an angle to the intended course, it produces drag and impedes the boat's progress through the water. In the book "Sailing Illustrated", Patrick M. Royce defines weather helm as simply a "heeling sailboat ...
Because water is denser than air, the force generated by wind against the much larger surface area of the sails can be equalized by the force of a relatively small daggerboard pushing in the water below the hull. A daggerboard fits into a trunk that runs through the hull of the rig.