Sailing
SailingEver since early sailors used square sails to help add speed to their oars, the sailboat has become increasingly more complex. The type of construction varied with the availability of materials. Wood was a common material, but was not available in areas like Lake Titicaca where the boats and sails both were constructed of reeds from the shoreline. When iron and steel became available, wood was replaced for the most part. And finally, the invention of steam removed sailing, for the most part, from daily shipping. Today sailing is enjoyed as recreational, and racing has become a very publicized event.
To understand modern theory, you must first look at the development of sailing in the working boats of old. Early developers knew that the speed of the boat was proportional to the size of the sail. They put huge sails on boats in efforts to speed shipping. Yet, the size of these sails were so large they became unmanageable without mass amounts of crew. Where labor was cheep, the Far East, huge sails were fitted, but for the rest of the world, a knew solution needed to be found. Sails became split into smaller units and ships carried more masts. Some ships had as many as seven masts and forty nine sails set at once.
Bit by bit, the sails evolved into triangles with moving points and arms that could turn, enabling people to sail upwind. From here we approach today. With computer assisted design and programs that can sail the boats before they are even made, we enter the twentieth century.
One must realize that a sailboat may not sail at the wind and certain angles to the wind. This is called the luff zone. The efficiency of a boat in upwind situations can be determined by the angle at which the boat no longer gains forward momentum. The first sailboats had fixed sails and heavy improperly balanced ships. They were very inefficient and slow.
Today modern technology and mathematics join together to create boats that fit the formulas. Everything about to be described effects another characteristic of the boat's handling and capabilities.
When talking of sailboats, buoyancy and stability are the first two areas of concern. With the force of high speeds, the boat must stand true in the water and move precisely. There are two "centers" of concern in a sailboat that should be described. These are areas where numerous forces exerted on the boat and rigging come together.
The center of effort, or CE, is the geometric center of the set sails. The center of effort is the balance point of the sails and is very important to the speed of the craft. Also, the center of lateral resistance (CLR) aids in proper sail trim and boat balance. This is the center of all underwater portions of the boat. Without these areas in balance, the drive, forward motion, of the boat would be lost.
It was Archimedes who first saw that a boat would...
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