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How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

onemetre.net

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Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#51

Post by anon7000 »

Zeetah wrote: post #46

I know nothing about sailing. I've been on a few sailboats. I love the idea of wind power - probably why I like flying remote control sailplanes. I would love to volunteer on someone's race/sail boat to get some experience. I'm happy to take the ASA introductory course or ? course. Any advice on how to move forward? I'm in the Seattle area.

Seattle area recommendations:

- Low-cost: If you volunteer at the Center for Wooden Boats (helping around the docks, helping with rentals, etc.), you get 1hr of boat rental for 3hr of volunteer, and you get free sailing lessons after 45hr of volunteering. Really friendly bunch! Great way to learn in smaller boats for free. Plus you pick up some skills while you're volunteering. Or you can buy lessons and become a member -- boat rental is relatively cheap here. There's also Sail Sand Point, which gets you out on lake washington on little lasers.

- If you want to get out on the sound, Seattle Sailing Club (SSC) has great instructors and friendly people. They offer most ASA courses (e.g. ASA101 over a weekend is a great introduction to sailing). This approach is more expensive, but good if your long-term goal is more "serious" sailing on the sound in bigger boats. You'll have more classroom time, a textbook, quiz, etc., and probably pick up more knowledge overall.

You can also look into Puget Sound Sailing Institute, which is a bit cheaper than SSC, but not as community oriented. More locations outside of Seattle though.

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#52

Post by zardo »

Zeetah wrote: post #46

I know nothing about sailing. I've been on a few sailboats. I love the idea of wind power - probably why I like flying remote control sailplanes. I would love to volunteer on someone's race/sail boat to get some experience. I'm happy to take the ASA introductory course or ? course. Any advice on how to move forward? I'm in the Seattle area.

Start with dinghy sailing, there are few places in the area you can take a class, rent boats, and race. You'll meet people, and become a better pick for a crew member.

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#53

Post by glitchcrab »

opwieurposiu wrote: post #23
mlhpdx wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I finished my first race Wednesday after a few years sailing casually. And, although it’s true that whenever there is more than one sailboat going the same direction it’s a race, being in a fleet on a defined course is much faster paced and precise. My analogy to driving is that cruising is being able to drive on empty roads, and racing is driving in traffic — it becomes about understanding the flow and rules spoken…

The hardest thing for me to get used to is that unlike cars, sailboats do not have brakes! Even the "throttle" is under your control only indirectly. Out in the ocean with nothing to hit this is not much of an issue, anyone can do it. Close to other boats and rocks and other hazards it takes some practice. Pros can to sail into the harbor, luff up and grab the buoy without touching the engine. Having no brakes really…

I've been teaching dinghy sailing since I turned 18 (20 years now, give or take) as a voluntary position in a youth group and whilst the fundamentals of sailing yachts and dinghies are much the same, dinghy sailing is a much more dynamic and (oftentimes more fun) discipline. For example, whilst it's true that there's no brake on a yacht (save for backing your motor hard astern), in a dinghy you have the ability to do stuff like backing the sail which gives you much more control. It's _so_ satisfying when it's blowing hard to come steaming up towards a safety RIB then turn head to wind at the last moment, back the sail hard (literally push the boom over), jump onto the foredeck and then step off into the safety boat with the painter in your hand.

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#54

Post by glitchcrab »

livelaughlove69 wrote: post #48
livelaughlove69 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have just started sailing in the UK. I can't recommend it enough. It's great time away from the computer in nature but still doing really complex technical tasks. The best thing imho is to find and join a local club. There are many that aren't snooty (having Commodores etc) and it's pretty affordable. Members will always be looking for crew. I really wish I had done it sooner.

I should say -- better in my experience to find a community run organisation run by its members than a commercial operation in my experience. A lot of clubs run on the enthusiasm of their members and this means lower prices and more opportunities to get involved

Definitely agree here. I've been dinghy sailing for near 20 years now (in the UK) and most clubs will require you to do a couple of days a year as safety boat helm/crew (depending on experience) - it's not a lot of time to invest and it benefits everyone in the club.

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#56

Post by metalman »

stass wrote: post #2

This site is an absolute treasure trove of technical material on sail and hull design, with a focus on model yachts but most of the physics scales up. It covers aerofoil theory (momentum, circulation, lifting line), sail twist, downwash, planform effects, Reynolds number, hull resistance, appendage design, VMG, and more. Lots of spreadsheets and practical calculators too—bulb shape optimization, wetted surface area,…

Nice to see an enthusiast/engineering site that is putting cutting egde design ideas into the public domain. Grew up with boat builders on the south shore of Nova Scotia, and knew and learned from some of the last people to build and crew working schooners, that were also raced, I a boy, and they proud old men. Also know current builders and restorers of blue water boats. A few years ago I stumbled onto footage of a big hydrofoil cat that was the first boat to break the 50 knot barrier, you could tell that any celebrating was waiting and would largely be to celebrate still bieng alive, big seas, 50+kn, and quite clearly nothing but flinders left if anything broke and they plowed into a wave.,..,........they were standing on deck

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#57

Post by adriand »

efitz wrote: post #29
jp57 wrote: post #6

I've been getting into sailing, solely for the purpose of cruising and sailing for fun with no interest in racing. As I've started talking to sailors, I've realized that you need to gauge whether you're speaking with a racer or a cruiser. Racers will claim these are not mutually exclusive categories, because of course racers can also cruise. But racers who cruise will ultimately talk to you like racers. Racers are, a…

Exactly right. I’ve known from when I started sailing 35 years ago that I was a racer. Sailboat racing is amazing; it’s this incredibly complex exercise involving physical boat handling skills, teamwork, leadership, communication (in a jargon that itself takes a year to internalize), as well as physics, geometry, meteorology, and minute observation of effects (that dark patch on the water or the flutter of a telltale…

That sounds like so much fun. How much of a demand does it place on you physically, ie how fit do you need to be to do it well?

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#59

Post by CalChris »

lasermatts wrote: post #14

I've been super interested in sailing since moving to San Francisco and running around the marinas/Embarcadero. Did some digging and found a sailing school that I haven't asked about classes (yet) https://www.spinnaker-sailing.com There's even a school that offers boatbuilding lessons in Sausalito -- a bit too far/much of a time commitment for me! https://www.spauldingcenter.org/current-offerings

Cal Sailing is a good way to get on the water and learn the basics. You can learn dinghies, keel boats and windsurfing. After you're comfortable with basic keel boat crewing, you can probably get a ride on a boat in the Friday night beer races at the BYC. I started at Cal Sailing and eventually raced at the Rolex Big Boat Series at the St. Francis.

Larry Ellison started at Cal Sailing and Lowell North was dinghy chair in its previous incarnation as a UC Berkeley club.

Goofy fun place.

Re: How a yacht works: sailboat physics and design

#60

Post by neom »

adriand wrote: post #57
efitz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly right. I’ve known from when I started sailing 35 years ago that I was a racer. Sailboat racing is amazing; it’s this incredibly complex exercise involving physical boat handling skills, teamwork, leadership, communication (in a jargon that itself takes a year to internalize), as well as physics, geometry, meteorology, and minute observation of effects (that dark patch on the water or the flutter of a telltale…

That sounds like so much fun. How much of a demand does it place on you physically, ie how fit do you need to be to do it well?

I started sailing in high school and I was fat and out of shape but I was good and I was told I could have been very good. The joy of sailboat racing as the comment above made very clear, it's a brain game. If you're interested you can learn to sail, and race, pretty much anywhere with water, most places have some club or group that is racing Lasers, it's a good place to learn, how fit you need to be depends how far you want to go but it's not the primary factor in being good as far as I can tell (I'm an ok sailor these days, but some of the folks in here are clearly very good).
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