For context, though I hope whoever has the answer already knows this, a full rigged ship is a sail driven vessel with three or more masts that are all “square rigged” (the sails run perpendicular to the hull of the ship). Think basically any pirate ship in any movie.
Now, I have a rudimentary understanding of the tacking process, but I still feel like I am missing something. Everything that I’ve read online sais that they could sail something like 67 degrees sharp into the wind…what I dont understand is that in my head canon that still puts the majority of the wind force on the front end of the ship, so how exactly did they move forward and not backwards?!?
Please explain like I am a particularly stupid 5 year old, I have been trying to wrap my head around this for a project for months now and I am just not getting it.
In: Other
I find it easier to think about a more modern boat to explain sailing into the wind, since that’s showing the process in a more ideal scenario.
So imagine a boat with a mast, and a mainsail hanging backwards off the mast. To sail into the wind you pull the sheets in, so the sails form a curve that starts at the mast and ends towards the back of the boat. This shape is similar to an aeroplane wing and generates a lift force. Why it generates the force is for a different post.
Let’s imagine that the wind is a northerly, coming from 0. The boat is pointing about 45°. With the sails acting like wings, they generate a lift force on the boat, let’s say it’s pointing 90°. Why doesn’t the boat go in that direction?
The other piece of this is the keel. This is a long, thin part of the boat that sticks down far into the water. The keel means the boat can only easily go forwards and backwards. Since there’s a lift force on the boat that’s partly pushing it forwards, the boat goes forwards.
You can’t go directly into the wind, usually you would go at about 45° to it. To go into the wind, you keep changing direction and zigzag towards the wind. This is called tacking.
A square sail can also be turned sideways so it forms a wing, it just isn’t a very good wing. You will notice that many these old ships had a vertical trapesium shaped sail at the back, called a gaff. They also have triangular headsails at the front. These sails are much faster for going into the wind, but still not nearly as good as modern sails. Part of the answer with old boats is that they had more time to wait until the wind was going in a useful direction
Latest Answers