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
You are correct that a square sail is far more limited on its point of sail and can’t sail as close to the wind, its better suited for running
This is why even “[square-rigged](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Sail_plan_ship.svg/1024px-Sail_plan_ship.svg.png)” ships had triangular bow sails (jibs and spankers) that would help them sail close to the wind. The sails on the bow could catch the wind coming from the side of the boat which pushes the boat mainly sideways(cancelled out by the keel) but also slightly forward, this isn’t nearly as fast as running with the wind 30 degrees off of port but most of these ships were super slow anyway. The HMS Victory was quite fast for its era at 11 knots (20 kph) so even if the triangular sails can only move it at 2 knots that’s not awful.
Latest Answers