I understand the basic concept for sailboats as the sail acts as an airfoil much like an airplane wing generating lift when air flows over it. But with square sails I can’t grasp how ships that had them ever got from point A to point B without always relying on downwind to move forward.
In: Physics
As others have pointed out, the square rigged sails can be rotated to catch the wind, but a square rigged ship would also be able to put up sails that run along the centerline of the ship as well. They would typically have a large boom on the mizzen mast for a sail called a “driver” (also called a spanker). They could hang several triangle shaped sails, called jibs, between the foremast and the bowsprit. They could also hang triangle shaped sails running fore/aft between the masts called stay sails.
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