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.
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The same way that airplane wings generate lift. Sails act like wings and generate “lift” in one direction. As long as there is wind in any direction, you can create a force vector to push the ship.
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