Sailing Colorado

The wind has four different effects on a sailboat, which must be understood by the amateur sailor before he can begin to see why his boat performs differently under different conditions of wind and sailing course.

The wind drives the boat ahead-most important of all; it also drives it laterally or, to speak in a nautical term, causes it to "make leeway"; it heels the boat over, and lastly, turns it around, according to the balance of her sails, distribution of weight, and what is known as the "center of lateral resistance." The proper handling of sails and rudder is what enables the sailor to so utilize these effects of the wind that he may sail his boat in any direction.

Leeway is one effect to be avoided, and for this purpose boats are given either deep, stationary keels or centerboards, or some other device for providing an extensive lateral surface below the water.

Heeling and the stability of a boat go hand in hand. The boat must be prevented from capsizing, and this is done either by putting lead or iron on the keel, or carrying ballast in the hull in order to lower the center of gravity, or by building a broad and shallow boat such as the cat boat, which is very stiff in a breeze and does not heel readily, but when a certain point has been reached, is apt to capsize quickly in the hands of an unskillful sailor.

The fourth effect is that of turning the boat around. This is done when the center of effort on the sails does not come on a line with the center of lateral resistance. This is always the case in a poorly balanced boat. A well-balanced boat requires very little movement of the rudder to hold to a course.

Any novice can understand how a sailing boat can travel with the wind, but why it should go forward when the sails are close hauled is a question of dynamics which we will not try to explain in this short article. An easily understood explanation of why boats go ahead instead of sideways can be made by taking a V-shaped block of wood and pressing it between the thumb and forefinger. If sufficient force is used it shoots forward quickly. The thumb may be likened to the wind and the forefinger to the water on the opposite side of the boat. The pressure caused by the wind pushing the boat against the water on the opposite side causes the boat to go forward.