Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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]
A tack is the windward side of a sailing craft (side from which the wind is coming while under way)—the starboard or port tack. Generally, a craft is on a starboard tack if the wind is coming over the starboard (right) side with sails on port (left) side. Similarly, a craft is on a port tack if the wind is coming over the port (left).
However, under sail on a given tack, the corner to which the spinnaker sheet is attached is called the clew, and the corner attached to the spinnaker pole is referred to as the tack. [20] Tack – The tack is the corner on a fore-and-aft sail where the luff and foot connect [8] and, on a mainsail, is located where the boom and mast connect.
Velocity made good, or VMG, is a term used in sailing, especially in yacht racing, indicating the speed of a sailboat towards (or from) the direction of the wind. [1] [2] The concept is useful because a sailboat cannot sail directly upwind, and thus often can not, or should not, sail directly to a mark to reach it as quickly as possible.
True wind (V T) is the same everywhere in the diagram, whereas boat velocity (V B) and apparent wind (V A) vary with point of sail. Forces on sails result from movement of air that interacts with sails and gives them motive power for sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and sail-powered land vehicles.
If the destination is upwind but the sailboat goes fastest heading away from this direction, this poses a significant problem: how to choose tack headings with the best tradeoff between maximimizing speed and minimizing distance. The ability to define an efficient tacking route is an important issue in sailboat racing, and for recreational sailing.
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may be made from a combination of woven materials—including canvas or polyester cloth, laminated membranes or ...
The ship is close-hauled and the sail is now controlled by the tack rather than the sheet. The tack of a square-rigged sail is a line attached to its lower corner. [1] This is in contrast to the more common fore-and-aft sail, whose tack is a part of the sail itself, the corner which is (possibly semi-permanently) secured to the vessel.