The sails always seems to be somewhat parallel to the direction of the boat, but if the wind is blowing sideways, should that push the boat off course?
In: 9
so if I were explaining like you were 5…
yes. the wind pushes the boat sideways.
But.
The boat has a long thin hole right in the middle, you can see the water through the hole.
In that hole you put something called a “centerboard” which is kind of like an airplane wing. It sticks down deep in the water, so you have to take it out when you get in shallow water to dock and put it back in when you start sailing.
Some centerboards are mounted under the boat on a hinge and can fold up under the boat with a lever or a motor, but simple boats have an actual hole you can see on the deck and you have to put the board in and out by hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centreboard
It’s like when you stick your hand out a car window – if the board is turned to one side the moving water pushes it back so it always goes through the water skinny side first, just like your hand or like a weathervane in the wind.
So when the wind tries to push the boat sideways, the centerboard in the water keeps it from sliding that way and helps keep the boat straight.
The sails always seems to be somewhat parallel to the direction of the boat, but if the wind is blowing sideways, should that push the boat off course?
In: 9
so if I were explaining like you were 5…
yes. the wind pushes the boat sideways.
But.
The boat has a long thin hole right in the middle, you can see the water through the hole.
In that hole you put something called a “centerboard” which is kind of like an airplane wing. It sticks down deep in the water, so you have to take it out when you get in shallow water to dock and put it back in when you start sailing.
Some centerboards are mounted under the boat on a hinge and can fold up under the boat with a lever or a motor, but simple boats have an actual hole you can see on the deck and you have to put the board in and out by hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centreboard
It’s like when you stick your hand out a car window – if the board is turned to one side the moving water pushes it back so it always goes through the water skinny side first, just like your hand or like a weathervane in the wind.
So when the wind tries to push the boat sideways, the centerboard in the water keeps it from sliding that way and helps keep the boat straight.
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